Baaaaad Traffic in County Kerry
November 20th, 2008 | by Jamie Pearson 9 comments
A few years ago, my Mom and I took my kids on a vacation to Ireland. We decided to stay in an absolute pearl of a town called Kenmare, on the Ring of Kerry. It was ridiculously cute.
I can clearly remember looking at a map and thinking that we’d be able to see the entire country in a week. The distances looked that cozy.
But Ireland has many ways of making you slow down. This is one of them:
It’s actually quite sweet, provided you’re not on your way to the airport.
Note also that the road is way too narrow for two cars to pass. If you meet a car coming the other direction in Ireland, get out and stare at the driver Clint Eastwood-style. Otherwise you’ll wind up backing up to the last turn-out, which could easily be a quarter mile behind you.
As a tourist, you should not be expected to do this.
In the unlikely event that you don’t hit a few sheep, you will almost certainly go off the road and get stuck in the mud for the rest of your natural life. Who would you call for help? How would you call them? Don’t risk it.
Photo courtesy of my Mom.
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Jessie V on November 20th, 2008
i am laughing – we live on a road like that, we call it our sidewalk road. GREAT photo!
DeliciousBaby on November 20th, 2008
ha! when my friend went to India he was given the advice “always take the train” Why? if a cow gets in the road, you could be stuck all day waiting for it to move.
marina on November 21st, 2008
I lived on a similar street, only ours was cow traffic and ox. it was great.
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Linda (minnemom) on November 21st, 2008
Very interesting! Are the majority of the roads that narrow?
heatheronhertravels on November 21st, 2008
Hope you weren’t in too much of a hurry, the sheep look friendly anyway
Dominique on November 21st, 2008
Reminds me of traveling out in places like South Dakota, and how the bison owned the roads out there!
:)
globalgal on November 21st, 2008
This is kind of what I imagined Ireland like in my dreams. You’ve got to see at least one sheep!
Soultravelers3 on November 22nd, 2008
Funny and so true! Hey, we were in Kenmare and all around the famous Ring of Kerry, probably in that exact spot. You did not even mention that they drive on the “wrong” side of the road there. ;)
Can you imagine driving all over Ireland in a RV ( not made to drive on left)? That is what we did in July and August of this year and the whole country is made up of roads like this! The many huge tour buses and semi trucks coming from the opposite direction were more thrilling than the sheep!
Ireland has the worst roads, worst mass transit, worst inflated prices and worst dreary, cold-in-summer weather in all of Europe, but the people and music make up for it. We especially liked the Burren, Basket Island and Dingle area and those rare occasions that the sun would come out ( and the sun starved Irish people would run out with bathing suits & sunglasses to try and grab the five minute of sun rays before it would disappear). ;)
Out of the 28 countries that we have been to on our open ended world tour so far, Ireland was the hardest to visit and took more than twice as long to go the same distance due to the roads!
Aswathy on December 5th, 2008
Its such a beautiful country side, well its sure that its not the place for all. Its just all away from the crowd and only good to be visited when on a long vacation.
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