#714. A road trip on the Wild Atlantic Way

Last year in June, I travelled on the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland
For many years, I wanted to spend a week of vacation completely dedicated to photography.

And I must say that I was not disappointed, there is really a lot to see, beaches, cliffs, castles, incredible views, it’s impossible to make a list and we were very lucky to have a very good weather.
The trip is easy to prepare, the road is very touristy and everything is well documented on the Web, I started with this site: https://www.wildatlanticway.com

 

 

Important advice, pay attention to distances. The roads are narrow and curved. The wild Atlantic route is a coastal road of more than 2000 km, so if you do not stay at least 2 or 3 weeks, it is better to focus on a few counties. You will not be able to see everything.

Our trip started in Cork and we traveled from South to North. I have heard that organized tours usually go from north to south. I decided to do the opposite. I prefer to drive the sun behind me, it’s easier to find the right places for the photos.

We spent a night and a half in Cork, it was a rainy day. I was not very impressed, especially compared to the rest of the trip.

Then the next morning we took the N71 from Cork to Killarney with a few stops in Kinsale, Timoleague, Bantry. We could have made more stops, lots of nice villages and beautiful coast, but our schedule was pretty tight.

 

 

We stayed 2 days at Killarney Manor. The area of ​​Killarney is a very nice place, but to visit well it would be necessary to stay more than 2 days. This is probably the place I liked the most for the whole trip.

 

 

It is also a good starting point for the “Ring of Kerry”, a beautiful and very popular panoramic road. Unfortunately, for lack of time, we missed Skelling Island.

Then we continued our trip north to Connemara National Park, with a stop for one night at the Spanish point.

On the way we made a brief stop to see the cliffs of Moher. This place is on all tour guides as one of 10 things to see in Ireland. Yes, it’s pretty spectacular, but nothing special for me. I must say that the light was not good.

 

 

The next stop was in Connemara National Park, where we stayed for 2 days at the Leenane Hotel.

 

 

During our very short stay in Connemara, we visited the small town of Cfiffden and the sky road. The name is well deserved, this road is really fantastic. Again, as for the Killarney area, two days are really too short. But it is of course the limitation of such a trip.

 

From there, we also visited Kilemore Abbey and the Victorian Garden, set in a truly beautiful natural setting.

Our journey was coming to an end and we spent our last two days in Dublin. On the road, we stopped an hour at the monastic site of Clonmacnoise.

 

 

Dublin, of course, was a very different atmosphere, and after a week of landscapes and seascapes, I enjoyed urban photography and street photography. And if you like beer, no visit to Dublin is complete without a stop at the Guinness Storehouse.

 

 

Some more photos from the trip :

 

 

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