A calm night and clear first thing. There were a few midges around
as I packed up but not enough to be a problem. The heavy dew was a
problem though and like yesterday I had to be careful walking
through the wet grass. I was packed and on my way by 07:10 on a very
quiet N71 road heading towards Glengarriff.
Morning viewa t Glengarriff
Caha Pass summit tunnel
When I arrived there was a nice view of the bay and a filling
station where I could get rid of my rubbish. Once through the town
the road began to climb through the trees. Once above the tree line
I was in the open hillsides with the road still climbing up ahead.
It was warm and sunny but distant views were hazy. Thankfully there
were few cars and even the occasional cyclist. The gradient was very
steady and not too much of a problem. I reached what I thought was
the summit at a bend but it turned out to be false. The climb
continued to a tunnel through the last bit of mountain which was the
summit and took me from Co Cork into Co Kerry. A wayside sign called
it the Caha Pass.
On the descent
A lovely house in the garden
Closer view of the house extension
I like the Irish logic of cutting a tunnel through the top of a
mountain so that it is shorter. At 303m altitude it’s the highest
tunnel I’ve ridden through on my bike. There was a long open descent
towards Kenmare and the last few km were along a tree lined road
with many nice houses.
View
from the Ring of Kerry road
Kenmare town was quite busy and I called at the Liddle store to get
some bread and chocolate for my lunch. I passed a church where there
were crows of people dressed in their best. It looked like a wedding
gathering and even a coach bringing people in. I left the town still
on the N71. My original plan was to ride round the Ring of Kerry
road along the N70 but after swapping notes with John Naughton, who
knows the area well, he said the Dingle peninsula road was nicer. I
didn’t think I’d be able to do both so changed my plan to do the
Dingle ride instead.
Waterville
However, the roads had so far turned out easier than I’d expected
and I got ahead of my schedule. I decided to go for the Kerry road
and see how things went. I soon left the N71 and turned left on to
the N70 heading due west and wondering if I’d done the right thing.
Charlie
Chaplin used to spend his holidays in Waterville
The road was relatively easy but busy with traffic. I reached
the town of Sneem and saw the hills ahead, wondering what sort of
climb I’d have to negotiate to get through. The climb wasn’t too bad
and the views out to sea made up for it. The tourist traffic was now
getting very busy with many coaches stopping at designated view
point and crowds of people spilling out onto the road. Up another
long climb I reached the summit but no tunnel this time, just a
large car park packed with tourists. A long descent on an excellent
road took me down to the holiday resort of Waterville. There was a
wonderful bay at Waterville though the wind had now turned a bit
chilly for sitting around admiring the view. A statue of Charlie
Chaplin had a sign saying this was one of his favourite holiday
destinations. I bought a 5lt plastic bottle of water for 5Euros and
continued to look for somewhere to camp. I reached a bridge over the
River Inny where I saw a sign ‘Riverside Access’. I’d done over
64miles so decided to camp. I wheeled my bike along a fisherman’s
path and camped on grass by the river. I could just be seen from the
road only if standing on the bridge. I hadn’t seen any pedestrians
so thought I’d be OK.
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Whittle Wanderer
