Past Dunquin the road leaves the high cliffs and swings north into gentler country, and Ballyferriter, Baile an Fheirtéaraigh, is the first real village on that side. It sits in a green bowl of small fields between the mountain and Smerwick Harbour, and it feels like the centre of a very old district. The area has a lot of history packed into a short distance, which is part of the pleasure of riding it slowly.
Two places in particular repay a short detour. The Gallarus Oratory, a small, upturned-boat-shaped chapel of drystone, stands a few kilometres east and has survived intact for well over a thousand years by most estimates, kept dry inside by the precise way the stones are laid. In the other direction, on the shore of Smerwick Harbour, a headland called Dún an Óir, the Fort of Gold, was the site of a sixteenth-century siege. In 1580 a force of Spanish and Italian soldiers sent to support the Irish rebels surrendered there to English troops, and most of them were killed. It is a bleak memory, but the headland is quiet now, with sheep and views.
The village has a small museum that explains the local heritage, as well as a pub or two, a shop, and a school where children still learn through Irish. This is Gaeltacht country, so conversation, road signs and noticeboards come in the old language first. Peninsula life is slow here, and a coffee stop tends to turn into a longer chat than you meant.
The riding is easy and pleasant. The road is narrow and enclosed by hedgerows rather than walls, with broad open bends and little traffic away from the busy coastal strip, so you can relax a bit after the exposure of Slea Head. Be careful of loose gravel at junctions and the wet patches under trees, and watch for tractors on blind corners. The light is best in the late afternoon, when the low sun picks out the stone walls and lights the Three Sisters hills across the bay.
Don't plan on fuel in the village. Dingle, roughly ten kilometres away, has the nearest forecourts and the bigger shops, so keep the tank topped before you head round, especially if you plan on lingering at the oratory.