Three Rings

“Your card has been retained” said the ATM machine. No excuse, no apologies… just “retained”. 

We were planning to attempt three rings in one day (Kerry, Skellig and Valencia) and hoped for an early start.  (The Irish seem to be fond of “rings”…the Ring of Beara, Ring of Dingle, Ring of Kerry… )My card being retained didn’t seem like a good omen for getting anywhere… let alone getting there early. 

Long story short. I have my card back thanks to a rule breaking girl inside the bank (which opened 1.5 hours after the card was swallowed), my money is still intact in my accounts… but my stupid credit union, who I informed of my travel dates, has put a hold on the card. Grrr. Nothing to do toady but get on to the Three Rings!!!

This day’s photo obsession for R was rainbows as we had them aplenty. Again it was a nasty forecast, but our best option for the long drive.  Healy Pass, now a familiar friend, gave us the best views for last and our first rainbows of the day. 

On the Kerry peninsula we got off the “Ring” as soon as possible and took a road that cut through the middle. Some one had spray painted “hard way” at the turn off to this road… and further on were the initials sprayed again. H. W. R. We dubbed it the Hard Way Road, and it was one of my favorites of the entire trip. It was actually a narrow road through the Ballaghbeama Gap and the landscape was very different from others we have gone through. With lots of super narrow ups and downs with few places to stop it was up to R to get most of the shots. (even though we saw only one other car the entire time!! you never know) She did great considering the conditions. 

From there a short stint on the Kerry ring with the goal of getting off on the Skellig ring and down to Valencia Island. The ferry to Valencia was closed, so we took the “long way” round to the south where there is a bridge to the Island. The views back to the peninsula and those of the Fogher Cliffs were, again, spectacular. I think I’ve become jaded actually. After a short 1/4 mile walk to a cliff view (after waiting out a gale and more rainbows) my response was… “well it’s not nearly as impressive as the Mizen”.. 

Good NIGHT… it was spectacular, but I was quickly dismissing it. IS there such thing as too much beauty?

The drive was an exhilarating one given the passing storms winding passes and views which were un-capturable. The last hour before dusk was the rainbow frenzy as we drove for at least that long with rainbows on one side or the other… or completely over us. (At the same time it was pouring.) R shot photos like the possessed and I’ve included her favorite from the day here at the end. 

Lucky rainbow end to a seeming not so lucky beginning.