Beara Peninsula Ring from Kenmare

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Kenmare

   Kenmare sits at the head of a long sea inlet, with mountains on both sides and the Kerry hills rolling away to the north, and it is one of the best-placed small towns in Ireland. It was laid out as a planned town in the late eighteenth century by the Lansdowne estate, and the streets still form a tidy shape around a central market place, with colourful shopfronts, craft shops and some of the best restaurants in the south-west. Because it stands where the Ring of Kerry meets the Beara Peninsula, it is a natural starting point for either.

   Read the complete Kenmare write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Kenmare is where the day begins. Next is Healy Pass.

2. 2. Healy Pass

   Tim Healy would be astonished to know how many motorcyclists have his name on their lips. He was the first Governor-General of the Irish Free State, and in the 1920s he took an interest in this road, which had been laid out by famine relief labour in the 1840s, when starving men were paid a few pence to break stones. The pass was later improved and now carries his name. It crosses the Caha Mountains at 334 metres, between Adrigole on the Cork side and Lauragh on the Kerry side, and it is one of the finest short roads in Ireland.

   Read the complete Healy Pass write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Healy Pass comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Castletownbere, mostly downhill.

3. 3. Castletownbere

   Castletownbere is Ireland's busiest whitefish port, and it behaves like one. The harbour is protected by Bere Island, a long, low shield of land lying across the entrance, and the waters inside are deep enough for trawlers, so the town's main street faces a working quay of fishing boats, nets and ice, rather than a promenade of visitors. Pubs on the front have been catching the thirsty crews for generations, and the smell of diesel and seaweed is stronger here than the smell of tourism. It is a place that gets on with its business, and travellers can simply watch.

   Read the complete Castletownbere write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 52 km into the recorded legs you reach Castletownbere. Next is Allihies.

4. 4. Allihies

   The colourful houses of Allihies look cheerful against the bare brown hills, but they were built on the back of a hard industry. Copper was mined here from 1812 until the 1960s, on the western end of the Beara Peninsula, and at its height around the 1840s, hundreds of men, women and children worked underground and on the surface. The mine owners, the Puxley family, brought in skilled miners from Cornwall, and their descendants left the tall stone engine houses, with their chimneys, that still stand on the hillside above the village like ruined chapels. The Allihies Copper Mine Museum, in a former church, tells the story of the mines and the people.

   Read the complete Allihies write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Allihies, about halfway. Next is Glengarriff.

5. 5. Glengarriff

   Glengarriff is where Ireland's Atlantic mildness is most obvious. The village sits at the head of a sheltered inlet in Bantry Bay, with a mountain wall behind it, and the climate is so soft that subtropical plants thrive. Out in the harbour, on Garinish Island, also known as Ilnacullin, a remarkable garden was laid out in the early twentieth century by the owner, Annan Bryce, and the architect and garden designer Harold Peto. Italianate pavilions, a walled garden, a Grecian temple and rare trees and shrubs from around the world fill the island, and a short boat trip from the village takes you across, past a colony of seals basking on the rocks.

   Read the complete Glengarriff write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Glengarriff sits at 75 km, late in the day. Next is Kenmare.

6. 6. Kenmare

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Kenmare write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 147 km.