Away after breakfast with a lunch of yummy Dubliner Cheese, relish and sesame crackers on board, we set out for one of Ireland's best known scenic drives, the Ring of Kerry.

Northwards we went, retracing some of our drive from yesterday, through Bantry and then onwards into Killarney National Park. Very scenic valleys and vistas awaited us, along with some feral goats roadside, nice Lough and a great mountain pass drive. All very scenic.

There were a few signs to places like Ross Castle, horse drawn carts and some standing stones but none of these were sufficient to tempt us from the comfort of the car. We made the decision to head down towards Port Magee and onto a side loop of the Ring of Kerry, the Ring of Skellig. The word Skellig means rocky outcrop and is only used a few times in place names. Glad we did.

We crossed a road bridge onto Valentia Island and drove out to Bray's lookout giving terrific views along the west coast and we were able to see through the hazy light, two sea stacks that are about 12km off the coast. One of them is a bird island with puffins, ganets and gulls galore, it's the shorter one. The other one is known as Skellig Michael.

A short drive away was the Skellig experience which gave us more information. In the 600s, a monk, St Finean (thought to have either a squinty eye or leprosy in his eye) decided to establish a monastery out on the sea stack island. What he commenced and what was constructed by many sets of monks who worked there is nothing short of unimagineably amazing. Still standing atop the 200m top, are a series of buildings that are reminiscent of bee hives. Given the harshness of the area with wild atlantic winds regularly lashing the islands, it is just mind boggling how they did it. There are something like 2300 individual stone steps on the Island, each hand cut and placed there. The 6 domes were thought to have housed a population of perhaps 12 monks. There is a saddle in the middle of the island (Christ's saddle). One side has the main settlement, the other taller side, has a shrine near the very top with a single rock dwelling and a dug out pair of rock water collection stones. It is thought this was a deeply religious place where men could be ultimately close to God. I just can't imagine the type of monk/person who did it all, but there must have been a subset of men who saw this form of dedication to God's work for whom this was a calling. A bit different sort of monk to those shuffling around pea garden's in Austria...really an amazing place. Somewhat mercifully for me, it was too windy and low season, so no need for me to confront the sheer drops and unpredictable winds of the area giving me the vertigo thing...

After this unexpectedly great diversion, we headed back to the farm again, enjoying the deliciousness of Dubliner mature white cheese. A beautiful cheddar and yes, you can 100% taste the farm where some of the milk comes from. All I can describe it as isa hint of the smell of the silage that they eat, along with the slightly salty, musty cattle smell...but actually insanely tasty.

A night in with simple tea and tomorrow we head off to New Ross and the south, via Limerick and Tiperary, as well as Blarney Castle!