Another day another weather pattern. The day started at the Eccles Hotel in Glengarriff with little wind, chilly and dry. As the morning progressed the wind increased as the clothing layers did and by early afternoon there was the occasional spot of rain which by 2pm had become very heavy powered by a stiff breeze. It was a day when photography was difficult with little detail in the sky and muted light on the ground. Tricky to create anything remotely approaching artistic so, with a few exceptions created by moments of decent light, here are a series of photographs that purely illustrate the Ring of Beara, todays tour. It is a nice run through little towns and scattered farming communities along the south side of the peninsula to Dursley Island which can be accessed by a rickety cable car shown above, and not my cup of tea. In fact it is ideal if you plan to hike on the island. I was not planning to and with a sore calf (I don’t know why) my hiking is pretty restricted at the moment. The return leg along the north shore was much more rugged with steep inclines and some impressive rocky terrain. This area was a copper mining area around Allihies where the museum boasts a lovely coffee shop, well worth the stop. Pretty soon after that the day became a wash out as the wind and rain set in. A tried a side trip to Glenbeg Lough confirming that my photography was done for the day so I dropped into Kenmare to top up the car while I downloaded the photos to my laptop before rolling up the road to Tipperary where I’ll stay for a couple of nights. The road from Kenmare to Tipperary passes through the local National Park with spectacular scenery as far as I could see and it will be on my itinerary tomorrow as it also completes the Ring of Kerry. I have individually captioned each photo to help make sense of them.

Departure from the Eccles Hotel in Glengarriff (Not as smart as it would like to be but fine for an overnight. The next two are from the pier at Adrigole while the light was pretty good.

Castletownbere has a big claim and the fleet of well worked boats to match it.

Who remembers the Guinness toucans?

Casltetownbere is a colourful little town with all mod cons.

The wind was whistling at Dursley Island and there was a decent chop on the sea to keep a couple of lobstermen busy.

 On the road back I saw these nice little ornaments.

Heading over to Allihies the last of the decent light showed the farmland leading to the rugged section of the trip past the copper mine with the lovely beach front and centre

I fear this might be my best view of Skellig Michael

Allihies is certainly the most scenic location on the ring

As Sheryl Crow sings, “Every Day is a Winding Road” and the road east of Alllihies rendered this title appropriate

By now the wearther was closing in so time for a final look at the Ring of Beara and the misery of Glenbeg Lough