Day 29: Ring of Kerry, Ireland

We drove back to Killarney National Park this morning. We arrived later than we wanted, around 10am. We first visited the Muckross Abbey. It was pretty intact compared to other abbey’s we’ve been to here and it had stairs up to the 2nd and 3rd stories. It had an amazing yew tree growing inside.
We went to the Torc Waterfall next. The kids found a less used path to some little falls and cold pools upstream of the main falls. Swimming for some cold hardy folks followed. The main falls were beautiful, too. The loop hike we wanted to take from the falls back to the car was supposed to be 35-40 minutes, but took 1.5 hours instead. Map error? Map reading error?
We were hungry when we reached Ladies Point. We had a picnic at the awesome overlook. So pretty, the pictures aren’t that flattering, but it is so pretty.
Each bend of the drive revealed different and equally picturesque scenery. We didn’t have too much trouble with tour buses and for the most part the road was wide. Before we left Florida my cousin asked me to stop at the resort she stayed at when she got engaged a few years ago and get their custom teddy bear sent to her. With help from Adi, I was able to get the resort to mail her the bear!
We visited an old stone ring fort. This was the only really busy and narrow part of the loop, because it is off a backroad. I was nervous about how far the front end of our rental stuck out and the concern was justified. I should probably have been a little more careful pulling over to let cars pass. We lost some paint on the front bumper to a rock in the grass on the side of the road. Paying for full insurance  was an excellent choice.Sorry bmw.
The kids went swimming at a beach next. Edon did more cliff diving with kids visiting from Cork. From there we did the Skellig Loop and then we headed back to our B and B. We got home close to 10pm. A great day again.
It is so hard to add pictures from the phone because they are so small I can’t tell the good ones from the only okay ones. Sorry if they aren’t great.