Day 28 - Killarney to Brandon Creek
Today we took the other famous Irish ring drive, the Slea Head Drive which starts and finishes in Dingle. All tourist traffic has to travel clockwise with only locals permitted to travel anti-clockwise.
After an hour's drive to Dingle where we stopped for a coffee we then set off on the drive. First stop was Inch Beach, a beautiful beach which could have easily been found on many Australian coasts. We decided not to stop at the petting zoo and Hold a Baby Lamb corner, enjoying the dramatic Atlantic Way cliffs and rocky outposts.
The view at Dunquin Pier was very striking, overlooking the North Atlantic Ocean and the Blasket Islands. It was blustery but we were lucky to have blue sunny skies and no rain. The pier is a famous, steeply winding concrete pathway to the harbour. We grabbed some sausage rolls at the food stand and sat on the chairs enjoying the magnificent view while the wind blew the flaky pastry back all over us.
Our luck with the weather ran out as we were walking along Dooneen Pier where the rain drove us back to the car. We encountered very few large buses and the Slea Head road ended up being a much easier drive than the Ring of Kerry, and also had (to our eyes) more beautiful scenery.
We arrived at Brandon Creek, where we stopped for the night at the local (and only) pub. M went for a walk to visit an old stone fort on the slope of Mt Brandon, Cathair na bhFionnúrach which was excavated in the 1990s, before heading back to the pub where our room has a lovely view across the sheep paddocks and the dramatic landscape.
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