Kerry’s Ring

I did this a while ago but didn’t want to pop it in the last blog as it may have given a surprise present away. Edu and I went to the Jameson distillery awhile back, it was OK but reinforced how I really don’t like whiskey straight. I don’t mind it with a bit of coke, but the challenge in the barman’s voice  when asking if you want mixer with your  complementary glass of Jameson’s told me that the Coke would be followed by a swift smack to  the head.

Also I learnt the difference between the US crap, Scottish & Irish Whiskey. The yanks only distil theirs once, the Scottish go twice & the ever patient Irish go for a third time for the sweet refined taste (Personally I’m happy with some Johnny Walker any day)

Shot up around the ‘Ring of Kerry’ last weekend, Ireland’s premiere day road trip. It started with a nice quick run up to Killarney early in the morning. Then onto ‘The Ring’ that loops around the Iveragh Peninsula. Lough Leane in Killarney is pretty cool & the surrounding country side has some amazing vistas but once you  get onto the coast road it’s nothing to write home about (Like I’m doing now) just a coast road where I wish the Citroen Berlingo would turn into an Ariel Atom.

We stopped for lunch at O’Carrolls Cove, Catherdaniel  a very safe ‘family beach’ (ie boring as hell) & ate at “Ireland’s only beach bar” –either a creative marketing ploy or an indicator of a sad state of affairs in Ireland.

Things got a bit more interesting after lunch as the  tourist books raved about Valentia Island & the monastery at Skellig  Michael…A quick look at the visitor centre showed that the monastery was a multi hour boat ride away with no guarantee of making landfall due to the weather. No bad, as from the visitor’s centre we could see a tower up on a cliff face. From the car park it looked like a sweet 15-20min wander. 50 minutes of torture later we were blown away…literally as there was a storm rolling in off the north Atlantic. After spending not nearly long enough playing on the rocks we were soaked through so had to get back to the car before hypothermia kicked in. OK that’s all for now but don’t worry I’m off to Ibiza on Thursday…so I should have some stories to tell ya’ll soon….If I remember them