Another cold miserable day in Ireland wild camping in a natural small rocky harbour to the sea probably used by the locals to go fishing. Sheep are grazing round us shared an early morning coffee with the young French lass who is travelling round Ireland by herself and her husband doesn’t mind her going off and seeing the world.

The weather forecast doesn’t look good for today so I don’t know if we will see much of the Ring of Kerry seeing all we saw from Cahersiveen to Sneem Pier was mist, fog and it rained nearly all the time. Now for the hair raising drive along the track back to N70 on the ring of Kerry. The land here is very rocky, barren and as the farmer said the soil isn’t good for farming.

Back to driving in the mist over the mountains through the countryside, can just make out the farmhouses and fields in the valleys, passed through forests and woods. We have noticed in Southern Ireland there are no roadside rubbish bins and the reason being a new law has been passed where house owners pay by weight of bin this makes it hard when we wild camp, plus people can’t dump their rubbish to save money. Lucky for us when we passed through the tidy town of Sneem (voted the tidiest town) I spotted bins by the footpaths and dumped our rubbish or forced it in the small hole.

Peaceful drive through tree-lined road listening to the radio with glimpses of forests, woodlands, farms, houses, lots of resorts and B&B’s in Tahilla, glimpses of Kenmare River and a trout fishing lake. The mountains in the distance are hidden in fine mist, have lovely views of the Kenmare River as we drive round the mountainside and there was a road maintenance holdup where the road has been resurfaced no more bumpy road.

Hate the one lane bridges we cross, as you have to give way to oncoming traffic, which can be a lot sometimes. Climbing up the mountain now with glimpse of the river and views of Beara Caha Mountains on the other side of the river passing through towns till we turned inland at Kenmare. Didn’t stop as all the towns now look the same beautiful coloured buildings and it is probably a lovely town but the constant drizzle is a pain.

Travelling through Maggillycuddy’s Reek mountains the road is quite bad to drive on needs resurfacing, but the beautiful views of the forest and woodlands, B&B’s houses and marshlands make up for it. The land is very barren in parts but it doesn’t stop the sheep from grazing. Climbing up on roads cut into the mountainside with panoramic views of the valley below, as we wind our way up through Molls Gap and down the other side of the mountain with views of a stream meandering through the center of the valley way down below. Stopped a few times to take in the panoramic views even though it is a bit misty and a slight drizzle.

Entering the lush green forests of Killarney National Park driving by many lakes, pulled over for lunch at the view point to Upper Lake and Lough Leane. On a clear day the views would be spectacular but today they are shrouded in mist. Weaving our way down the mountain we stopped at many viewpoints including Ladies View to admire the Upper Lake and Lough Leane, which merges with Muckross Lake then back to Lough Leane near the town of Killarney.

Passed Torc Waterfalls where we first wild camped when we arrived in Killarney a few days ago, decided to have a look at Muckross House and Gardens in Killarney National Park but it was too commercialised for us. Crowds of people and tourists taking jaunting car rides through the gardens, which are very beautiful but it is a money making machine with ticket tours of the elegantly furnished rooms which portray the lifestyle of the landed Gentry and downstairs servants employed in the house and the traditional farms complete with three working farms from the 1930’s. Shops and restaurant to spend your hard earned cash in.

Time for us to find Fossa Caravan and Camping Park on the other side of Killarney on the Ring of Kerry. What I hate about the Irish sites is your pay €1.00 token for a seven minute shower and everything else, using the gas cooktop in the kitchen, laundry is expensive €5.00 a wash and €1.00 for every 20 minutes in the dryer, which doesn’t dry your clothes. I got extra time because I complained like the other campers. Now we are lovely and clean, done our chemical and waste water dump plus filled all our fresh water containers, as you don’t drink from the water in your tank.