9/6: Kenmare-Valentia Island: Fairies, Pyramids & Charlie Chaplin Oh My!

We spotted these striking figures by the harbor as we left Kenmare and headed toward the famous Ring of Kerry peninsula. I must have missed the sign indicating what they were and who sculpted them! 

Travel writer Rick Steves described the Ring of Kerry on the Iveraugh Peninsula as having been the "perennial breadwinner of Irish tourism for decades." We looked forward to traveling the winding coastal road, i.e. the Ring, as it would take us past the region's many lakes and the country's highest peak. This was the first time we'd heard of a 'glacier lake' with a long, smooth limestone outcrop carved by a glacier 10,000 years ago. 

The preceding day we'd lucked out with the weather as we explored the Beara Peninsula immediately south of The Ring. Today was gloomy and quite misty but fortunately no downpour so I was fine getting out of the car and walking around the delightful town of Sneem that was only half an hour west of Kenmare. Steven, though, preferred to stay dry in the car as he hates getting wet. Unlike any of the other small towns we'd seen so far, there were two squares or parks in tiny Sneem, separated by a one-lane bridge as if there were two divided communities. Who wouldn't want to walk around this brightly painted town with fun murals to look at?!

In the North Square was a memorial to former French President Charles de Gaulle as he was Irish on his mother's side and he stayed in Sneem for a few weeks following his retirement from politics in 1969. Locals call it 'dagallstone'! French-speaking readers can read de Gaulle's sentiments below after clicking on the photo to enlarge it. 

Or, here's the English translation!

Normally there's just a small rapid here but the recent rains had caused the rapids in the Sneem River to be pretty intense. 

The one lane bridge connecting the two town squares was built in 1910.

When I hurried back to the car, Steven told me he'd just found out there were some 'pyramids' in Sneem that we should see so off we went to look. After Sneem won the National Tidy Towns Award in 1988, Irish artist James Scanlon built the pyramids in a nearby field calling them The Way the Fairies Went using colored glass and stone to create these magical places.

On our way back to the car, I took a few minutes to see Sneem's South Square and its statue of Steve 'Crusher' Casey, a local son who was the world's heavyweight champion wrestler from 1938-1947.

Imagine having to paint this harlequin design - I'd want to paint outside the lines for sure!

Back to the Ring of Kerry:

Ya gotta love these two-lane 'highways' in Ireland where the speed limit was 80 kph, about 55 mph!

Ten miles further was the turnoff for Staigue Ring Fort described as one of the largest and finest stone forts in Ireland and which was probably builtin the early centuries AD before Christianity came to Ireland. The fort was located off a very deserted road through the hills. 

The fort must have been the home for a very wealthy landowner or chieftain who had a great need for security as a wall up to six meters high and four meters thick  - built entirely without mortar - enclosed an area thirty meters in diameter. 

The fort was only accessibly through a narrow covered passage in the wall. Archaeologists figured the fort would have been full of houses, out buildings, and possibly temporary structures. The top of the wall was reached by a series of steps crisscrossing the inside of the wall. An earthen bank and ditch around the fort gave further protection. 

Steven was all set for the rain with his rain pants and raincoat - I told him he needed something brighter for the next trip as he just blended in with the background!

My sense of curiosity didn't extend to getting down on my hands and knees to figure out what was in the hole!

I don't think I've worn this raincoat since I'd bought it from LL Bean for our first overseas trip in 2013 that started in Iceland and ended up in Cambodia 3.5 moths later, but boy, was I glad I brought it to Ireland. 

Gorgeous fuchsia plants, native to South America, have taken over the hedgerows on Irish lanes.

Oops, we needed to squeeze by!

A view south across to the Beara Peninsula we'd driven along the day before:

This ruined hospital with IRA ties was founded in 1910 by a local Englishwoman who was sympathetic to the Irish Republican cause. I read that no one wanted to deal with the ruins for fear of raising a political ruckus. 

Just beyond the former hospital was Carroll's Cove. Its pretty beach had some of the warmest water in Ireland and lovely views of Kenmare Bay but it was still too dreary to think of lying on the beach. 

Those living in the 'caravan' or trailer park had great access to the beach. 

We stopped instead at Derrynane House, the vacation home of Daniel O'Connell, a great 19th century Irish statesman known as the Liberator and father of Irish independence. His campaigning pushed through the 1829 Catholic Emancipation Act which allowed for Catholics like himself to take their seats in the British Parliament.

The Entrance Hall: 

O'Connell visited Derrynane to escape the pressures of political life but he still spent several hours every day working in this study.

On February 1, 1815, O'Connell fought a duel in which he killed John D'Esterre, a member of the Dublin Corporation, who had challenged O'Connell to a duel for describing it as 'a beggarly corporation.'  This was the pistol he used.

As he grew older and increasingly devote, O'Connell felt increasingly guilty about his having shot D'Esterre. In 1829, he wrote, 'there is blood, human blood, on my hand.' Tradition has it that he wore a black glove in his right hand when he received Holy Communion. 

As head of an ancient Irish family, O'Connell took the Gaelic tradition of hospitality very seriously and his worldwide fame attracted distinguished visitors from around the world to his Dining Room. A portrait of O'Connell (1775-1847) showed him with his hand on a petition seeing 'freedom of conscience' for Catholics. 

He and his wife Mary had a dozen children, seven of whom survived into adulthood. 

The Drawing Room was where his resident piper entertained the family and guests!

The room's ornately carved chair had tiny harp strings and wolfhound collars made of gold!

In 1838, Pope Gregory XVI granted an indulgence to anyone praying at the family Chapel and O'Connell was granted the special privilege of having a portable altar. 

O'Connell's last years were characterized by disappointment and division as his leadership was challenged by Young Ireland, a more radical group within the movement. His greatest blow was the Great Potato Famine from 1845-1850 when millions of people were facing starvation and he pleaded for assistance in the British House of Commons. 

Facing death and in low spirits, he began a pilgrimage to Rome to receive a blessing from Pope Pius IX but he died en route in Genoa. Thousands of people in Dublin lined the city streets to pay tribute to their dead leader in August, 1847 as his huge funeral cortege passed by. His deathbed was brought back from Genoa.

Out back was his summer house aka the Tower. 

There was, for a private home, a large forest also out back where we had a hoot searching out finding fairy houses along the Fairy Path!

After planning a monster meeting to gather public support for the repeal of the Union Act in 1843, O'Connell was arrested and sent to prison for seditious conspiracy. 

Following his release in 1844 after his conviction was overturned, he left prison in this chariot located in the Coach House. Drawn by six gray horses and with his grandchildren dressed in velvet costumes and white-feathered caps also on the chariot, it transported him past 200,000 joyous Dubliners lining the streets. The chariot or car was inspired by the ceremonial chariots of ancient Rome which carried conquering heroes in triumphant processions. Nothing like leaving prison in style, huh!

On the grounds of his estate was an Ogham stone, a primitive alphabet written by early Christian monks which used linear strokes cut into stone at sites scattered around the Irish Sea. We were pretty jazzed seeing this one because the last time we looked for one, google maps took us to a cow pasture instead!

After our interesting detour to O'Connell's home, we continued the Ring of Kerry drive. We had marvelously clear views at the Coomakesta Pass lookout point. 

This could be an iconic shot for Ireland, it was so beautiful.

We dragged ourselves away to the town of Waterville, a town popularized by the silent film star Charlie Chaplin and his wife who vacationed there. 

The Chaplin Paths brought us to the shoreline.

The Butler Arms Hotel had all sorts of movie memorabilia to ogle because Skellig Michael, the larger of the islands, is so famous among Star Wars fans.

This was the view from Ballingskellig Pier where a sign advertised boat trips to Skellig Michael where The Force Wakens!

We were all agog when we caught telescopic views of the distant Skellig Islands with their pointy tops. We hoped we'd be climbing the higher one the following day after getting much coveted tickets for a landing trip back in March. 

With the drizzle stopping and the clouds letting the sun back in, we were in for a treat with some great views along the coast particularly at St. Finian's Bay. 

However, the lure of decadent Skelligs Chocolate proved to be a greater attraction rather than more views right then!

I got a kick out of reading the fun lines at the chocolate store and factory where they were extremely generous with their samples. "There is no Chocolates Anonymous as no one wants to quit! When life gives you lemons, thrown them back and ask for chocolate!"

A good excuse to eat chocolate although I never needed one!

One minute up the road was St. Finian's Bay. By that time, it was so warm out, we went for a stroll along the beach and actually just sat in the sun for a while. If you'd asked me a month ago whether we'd ever be relaxing in the sun in Ireland in September, I'd have thought you were crazy, and yet, here we were!

St. Finian's Bay was about the half-way point of the drive around the Ring of Kerry - we would complete it in a few days. 

At times driving in Ireland is like being on a roller coaster!

From the summit of this hill, we could just make out the fishing village of Portmagee named after a notorious 18th century smuggler, Captain Theobald Magee, and the bridge from it over to Valentia Island, our destination for the next two nights. 

It was like gliding downhill all the way into Portmagee! It would be a lark doing it on a bike as long as no cars got in the way.

Another Wild Atlantic Way sign - this one promoted picturesque Portmagee, the jumping off point for boats to the Skellig Islands.

It has been wonderful driving through small towns in Ireland for this last month as they all seem to have public bathrooms that are centrally located, often quite attractive and always impeccably clean. I couldn't help but smile when I saw the sign indicating the one in Portmagee was the second runner up in Ireland's Top Toilet Award!

All over rural Ireland we'd been seeing signs like these encouraging people to get out and walk for their heart's health. Obviously Irish citizens have liked the suggestions as we have constantly seen people walking and jogging, in numbers greater than in the US, I suspect. I wish the US would also adopt such a program. 

This ferry boat was built by Dan O'Connell in the early 1900s behind the post office so it could ferry a doctor to Valentia Island. When the Community Center opened in the 1960s, it was also used to transport people to the local dance hall from their homes on the island. The ferry would take people back after the dances ended at 2 am!

The ferry was designed for rowing single handed and could hold nine to ten people. People on the island needing the ferry would stand in a designated spot and whistle to the ferry men (or woman) who would then go get them! When the bridge opened in 1970, ferry service was discontinued.

Mary: It was all I could not to laugh when I saw these Smarties garbage cans on the 'main street' in tiny Knightstown on Valentia. You were such a dear to provide me with  a stash of Smarties that will luckily do me for a while!

From our glassed in patio at our B&B in Knightstown on the eastern end of Valentia, we had a perfect view of the ferry that arrived and left every few minutes for the mainland. How utterly peaceful it was watching it come and go, sometimes just carrying one or two cars a time. 

Knightstown Harbor from our bedroom at Spring Acres B&B!

The murals were inspired by the maritime past, present and future of Knightstown, a salute to all those who have and will set out to sea from its harbor. Using the Maritime International Code of Flags, each panel spelled out a letter in Knightstown. 

Dinner at Boston Pub - thank goodness the food was good and the atmosphere seemed to be as authentic as it could get as the only other place to eat on the island was at the posh hotel next to our B&B!

Next post: Will we or won't we be able to land on Skellig Michael, that was the question!

Posted on September 23rd, 2019, from back in Dublin, on our last night in Ireland before heading over to Wales by ferry in a few hours!