Motorcycle in Ireland part 3 Ring of Beara

18/06/2022

Motorcycle in Ireland – part 3 Ring of Beara

Previous posts from this Ireland trip can be found at the previously published Part One and Part Two respectively. This particular blog post features a really enjoyable day on a motorbike that finished off with me taking in the absolutely excellent Healy Pass.

My trip to Ireland was relatively brief, but because of the decent weather, the interesting roads and the exceptional scenery the first couple of days had been truly excellent. On the third day it got even better. I had an excellent breakfast at my accomodation in Kenamre and was well set for the day. After leaving the Rose Cottage cafe accomodationI set off towards Bunane, Glengarriff and Rodeen and then towards Inchinaleega and Coomeen.

The Ring of Beara

The Ring of Beara (click here for map) is a pretty wild and pretty beautiful route to ride. Before I go any further I will say if you are a biker it’s a route that you should consider adding to your things to do/roads to ride list. I doubt you will be disappointed.

It’s not huge in terms of mileage, probably only between 80 and 90 miles or so. The route takes in parts of County Kerry and County Cork with many of the roads being small, tight and twisty. I would imagine that at certain times of the year the roads are probably exposed to some pretty extreme weather. Despite this the surfaces are generally good and you will find plenty of illustrations of this in the picture gallery I have included at the end of this post.

It’s not difficult to find your way around the Ring of Beara. Even without a sat nav I doubt you would struggle as it’s pretty well sign posted.

Some of the views are as exquisite as they are breathtaking and it’s an area and a route that I hope to go back to with my wife next year. It looks a great route to drive around as well because it seems there are so many opportunities to stop and take a walk. I think sometimes being in a car can make doing that a little easier, especially if you are carrying cameras and not wearing heavy biking gear. You can read more information about the Ring of Beara here.

The Healy Pass

Although my decision to come to Ireland was pretty much a last minute thing, it didn’t stop me from spending a short amount of time looking at maps and doing a little internet research. Because of this I knew that fairly nearby to the circular route I would be doing was the Healy Pass and it was easy to incorporate this into my days ride.

The Healy Pass runs between Lauragh in County Kerry and Adrigole in County Cork. One of the online articles I read said that The Healy Pass ‘should be a priority road’ when putting together a trip on the Wild Atlantic Way. It’s fair to say I wasn’t disappointed. It’s not particularly long, I think it runs for about six miles … but it’s a fine six miles and if you do it twice then it’s 12 miles and you’ll definitely want ot do it at least twice. Because it’s so good I doubt there are many bikers who would only want to ride this pass once. Check out the pictures of the Healy Pass below.

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There is also a decent place to stop for refreshments after you have ridden over the pass and it’s called Pegs Shop – and if you are travelling that way then you cant really miss it. More pictures from the days ride are included in the picture gallery below.

You can go the fourth and final part of the Ireland trip at this link