Kenmare and Bantry

Between 2004 and 2007 I led hiking and biking trips in France, Switzerland and Ireland with Backroads, a San Francisco based active travel company. I had a great time and met some fantastic people.

So it was lovely to be back in Kenmare where the leader house  was based for the Kerry and Cork trips.

One of the apps I was using to find spots to wild camp, park4night, said that people had stayed near the pier just beyond the no overnight camping signs. However, the lady at the tourist information office told me that she had been in touch with Kerry County Council who confirmed that it was OK to overnight and if anyone said anything just to tell them that we had permission.

Although Ireland is getting better it has a long way to go before it gets anywhere near to France for welcoming motorhomes.

Kenmare Pier
The view from Cheery

So we all rely on information submitted to these apps when we don’t want to go to a campsite. One person had updated a spot to say the place is now closed as some farmer had transported a huge amount of earth to create a dyke around the lay-by. Another had parked overlooking the sea which was just outside a caravan park. They didn’t stay the night as a van pulled up beside them and started playing loud rock music for hours.

The other thing is bins or the lack there of. In Ireland you are billed for collection of your household rubbish based on the weight of your bin. Yes, the government have outsourced this to private companies and it is not unusual to see bin lorries from three or four different companies in the one housing estate. I found this out the hard way when visiting my mother. I had put the bins out and saw the bin lorry come and go without picking it up. So I chased it around the estate to demand they come back only to be met with ‘Sorry but that house is with another company’.

In any case those wishing to pay less started to put their rubbish in the public bins and so some councils took all the public bins away. I mentioned this on one of the motorhome forums only to be met with an ‘OMG take your rubbish home with you’ guilt trip. Sorry mate but if I’m here for five weeks I’m not storing rubbish for the whole trip. There are still bins outside shops and when we stay on campsites there are usually bins available. Apologies, rant over.

Scotty
Scotty

When I started with Backroads they flew me to their headquarters in San Francisco which is where I first encountered Scotty who loved coffee and Ireland in equal measure. He was a great help to me as a new leader and became a great friend. So it was lovely to catch up with him in Crowleys where there a bit of a session going on.

Trad Music
Seisún at Crowley’s in Kenmare

The following morning we had a wander around the colourful town that is Kenmare and met up with another legend from my time with Backroads.

John Moriarty
Whisky Legend

John Moriarty knows everything there is to know about whisky. We would have a whisky tasting at Park Hotel, Kenmare with John after a sumptuous meal in their restaurant. The phrase he kept repeating each week was ‘Never put water in whisky as they’ve taken years to get it out’.

We got back to Cheery and got ready to head off. 

‘Bantry looks good and not too far’, said I.

So with a stop off at Manning’s cheese emporium in Ballylickey we got to the pier where there was dedicated parking spaces with services for €10 per night. It’s only a few minutes walk to the town centre where we enjoyed a nice pint in Ma Murphy’s which has a grocery store at the front and bar at the back.

Sláinte
Sláinte