Getting used to waking up to bleak overcast skies apparently this is summer weather and as the Irish folk tell us “It’s as good as it gets”. So here’s hoping it will turn out a beautiful sunny day like yesterday for us to climb the Cliffs of Moher we have fantastic views of the cliffs from our motorhome.

Spoke too soon sitting waiting for the rain to stop it’s nearly 10am can’t see the Cliffs of Moher shrouded in the mist and rain should have taken my photos yesterday when the cliffs looked spectacular rising some 200m and extend for 8kms. Can see the 19th century O’Brien Tower a Victorian viewpoint on the highest point of the cliffs.

What a miserable day to be driving in the rain to Killarney the countryside is very wild travelling through forest on the A479 to pick up the N67 Wild Atlantic Way winding our way through a fine mist of rain lucky the views are the same old countryside we always see when driving.

Ennis Tymon is a bright colourful market town on the Culling River quite busy for a Saturday as we pass through to the N85 to the large town of Ennis. Rolling hills now of the usual farmland occasional houses by the roadside the land (clay or peat) looks too soggy to grow anything apart from stock for the animals can see black plastic bales of hay in some fields.

The road is very busy lots of tour coaches, motorhomes and cars coming from the other directions, someone ought to tell them the Cliffs of Moher have disappeared in the mist of rain unless it has cleared by now. Passing through the outer suburbs of Ennis nice size blocks and homes, over a few bridges see the ruins of Clare Abbey on the left and by the N85 motorway see our first group of gypsies camped selling their wares. Not much to look at through the thick buffer of trees on both sides of the M18 motorway get glimpses of farmland, etc.

Still raining when we reach the Toll Bridge (€1.90) before Limerick then through the tunnel under the river more bridges as we bypass Limerick to the M20 motorway limited views through the buffer of trees, circle under the M20 can’t see the Limerick Racecourse is close by only glimpses of horses and cattle grazing.

On the single lane road N21 hit a traffic jam bumper to bumper before Adare starting from Adare Manor Golf Club pass the ruins of the Adare Castle by the River Maigre all the way through the very busy colourful town of Adare.

Drove through many small villages and larger towns with glimpses of the farmland countryside with mountains in the distance, would be lovely if we could pull over for a rest but there are no rest pull over bays. Stroke of luck when we reached the large town of Newcastle West I spotted a Tesco Supermarket a good place to stop for a rest and lunch plus stock up on supplies.

Views now of the Mullaghareirk Mountains the top you cannot see through the rain and mist. As we approach the large colourful town of Abbeyteale we leave the County of Limerick to enter the County of Kerry so many Counties in Ireland. Coming down the mountainside we have panoramic views of Castleisland which we circle round to N23 then N22 near the Kerry Airport with the view of the Slieve Mountains and there are lots of mountains and rivers in Ireland.

Unbeknown to us there is a big Charity Cycle Race on today (like our City to Surf Fun Run in Perth) over 10,000 cyclist participating in the 180km Ring of Kerry fun raising cycle and we were caught in the middle of it. The only map I didn’t pick up from the Tourist Information at Galway was the one for Killarney so we had no escape driving through the city trying to get out of town we ended up on the Ring of Kerry road where we could go no further at Torc Waterfalls in the Killarney National Park due to the police blocking off the road for the cyclist. The police were great told us the race finishes after 8pm, not to stress have a cuppa and it is okay to camp the night there even helped us with sights to see.

A lot of activity going on with the bike race and a wedding party having photos taken at the waterfalls, so we parked next to the ambulance and joined the wedding party to the Torc Waterfalls. A good way to get rid of the stress and enjoy the views of the National Park and waterfalls nearly as good as the Glenariff Falls in Northern Ireland.

What a night the little carpark was full many for the cyclists and wedding party, others for the falls and trails of the National Park, but by 10pm we had had enough of the noise why would anyone come to see the waterfall or park at that time of night so we moved to a quieter part of the carpark.