Up early on our second day in Killarney to pick up our bikes. We decided to push the boat out (literally) and pay for the 1.5 hour boat trip, with bikes on board across 3 lakes, under Brickeen Bridge and down two rivers to Lord Brandon’s Cottage. Oh wow, are we glad we did. It was amazing. Our skipper Donald, son of Donald who was in the boat behind, was so knowledgeable and entertaining. We stopped at Inisfallon Abbey ruins for a look around. At our next stop we got off the boat to allow Donald to navigate some narrow rapids. Donald senior made his passengers get out and pull the boat through! We were lucky enough to see eagles and deer along the way.
After a coffee at Lord Brandon’s, we set off on the bikes. First problem was we missed the turning and cycled about 5 km before realising! It was a lovely ride anyway, so back we went, thankfully mostly downhill to start the very steep ascent to the Head of Dunloe. The ride down through the Gap of Dunloe was amazing, narrow, twisty and busy with walkers, cyclists, cars and the horsedrawn jaunting buggies. We stopped at Auger Lake, and the iconic Wishing Bridge. At the bottom we had a welcome cup of tea at Kate Kearney’s Cottage before heading back to the campsite. A 27 mile cycle ride in total. We’ll sleep well tonight!
