Moll's Gap is the point where the road from Killarney to Kenmare tops out in the mountains of south Kerry, and for most riders on the Ring of Kerry it comes as the finale rather than the start. The N71 climbs from the lakes through bare, boggy hills and then drops to a car park and a roadside café with a view that can only be described as large. Below you the land falls to the valley of the Owenreagh, and across the way the dark summits of the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, the highest mountains in Ireland, show their ragged outline.
The gap takes its name from a woman called Moll, who ran a shebeen, an illicit drinking house, on the road when it was built in the 1820s, and who is said to have kept the workers well supplied. The road was one of a set of new routes cut through these roadless hills in the same decades. Further on, the viewpoint known as Ladies' View, a few kilometres toward Killarney, was named for the ladies of Queen Victoria's court who admired the lakes during her visit in 1861. The lakes and woods of Killarney National Park spread out below, and the park holds the only native herd of red deer in Ireland.
On a motorcycle, this is a lovely, flowing piece of road, with smooth surfaces, easy curves and long views, though the traffic can be heavy in summer, when coaches drive the Ring of Kerry in an anticlockwise direction, nose to tail. Overtaking is risky, and the best way to deal with them is to go clockwise, or to start early. Weather comes straight from the Atlantic, so showers, mist and a sudden hard wind are all part of the day, and a good waterproof is not optional. In summer, midges can attack at rest stops.
Fuel is not available at the gap, so fill up in Killarney, seventeen kilometres away, or in Kenmare, a pretty town on the other side with good restaurants and pubs. The café at the summit sells tea, soup and scones, and is a fine place to finish a day.