The Ham Nomads

02 Jun 2014. <IE> Kerry Ring, & Skelly Ring, Co. Kerry —

Ballycarbery Castle

"Celtic Knots"

Woke up outside the GAA Football Ground, still on the Ring of Kerry route. Moved about 500m north and about the same west - and found the road down left to Ballycarbery Castle. This one really is a ruin! There are archways that have simply fallen, leaving half of the archway in place — wouldn't want to walk underneath! Ivy covering the structure — the roots resembling huge Celtic knots! And birds nesting in the cavities in the walls. Walked about, spoke to fellow-travellers, took photos — then moved on.

Warren on Cahergal Fort

Susie at Leacanabuaile Fort

About another 200 metres up the road we found a turn to the right, a narrow country road (yes, another one!) up to the ring forts. These are both reached from the same carpark. The first one, Cahergal Fort, dates from the first century BC, and has been extensively reconstructed, but the colour and weathering of the rocks lets you know clearly what is original and what has been added. This really lets you know what a fort would have been like. The stones are slate, and have been laid as dry wall, stones laid on top of each other with no mortar between, being held in place simply by gravity and friction. It obviously works, as much of the fort was still there after over 2000 years. Within it were the bases of round houses — the reconstruction didn't go so far as to thatching them! The other fort, Leacanabuaile Fort, has had far less done to it. Inside you can see a clear round-house, with an attached square room — was this the lord's dwelling and attached hall? Anyway, we had a fine time exploring this one as well. The size of them is amazing, roughly 20 to 25 metres in diameter, with the outer walls going up anything up to 5½ metres. We were able to walk round the top of the first fort — there was turf on the top, and that was at least 1-1½ metres wide at the top, and much thicker at the base. We could even see the Ballycarbery Castle and the Ferta Estuary from this vantage point!

We then left across the bridge into Cahirsiveen, and went into a little cafe there for morning tea. Actually, it was a chocolate shop, but we resisted! We then went on to Portmagee (at this point on an offshoot of the Ring of Kerry — The Skelly Ring) and across onto Valentia Island. Decided, having crossed the bridge and checked out what was in the offing at the information office at the Skellig Experience (where they book boat trips out to the Skelligs, islands off the coast right here), not to do anything on the island, but to continue onward to a viewing point just south of Portmagee. Went up there — wow! The scenery just blows your mind! It took you up to the top of a 1000-foot cliff where you could see everything between Oileán na Cánóg (Puffin Island — no, the Puffins were far too far away to see!) and Bray Head - with the Skelligs in the distance! We then went back the way we came in — didn't want to put Susie through another bout of clifftop driving on roads half as wide as our van!

Back onto the N70 — the Ring of Kerry — and down to Waterville, a lovely seaside town backed by a lake (Lough Currane) — apparently it's a fisherman's paradise! WE took a pause there, had lunch, Susie had another walk while Warren napped (is this starting to become a theme?). Then we continued on our way, up round another serpentine part of the road which had viewing points overlooking some of the most exquisite scenery you could ever hope to see!

We decided to get around to Castlecove and take another 4km country road up to Staigue Stone Fort, another of these 2 to 2½ thousand-year-old ring forts. Went up to the fort — much the same as the other two we had seen earlier on in the day, except that there was no sign of any inner buildings. There was also a small charge for entry, whereas the other two had no charges involved. Of all three, the one we would recommend for a visit is Cahergal Fort! The weather was lowering, and we had half a mind to stay the night there and hope for better weather in the morning. And that's where we are, and where this blog entry is being written.

View from Van at Staigue Fort

Distance driven — today, 51 miles ( 82 km ); to date, 1,860 miles ( 2,994 km )