The day starts ill-omened.  There are heavy grey skies, and wind lashes at the B+B, and the few "feelers" we had out for a ride to Killarney or point in between Killarney and Bantry delivers no news all morning, in spite of our numerous phone calls around town to likely drivers.  Finally at 11:00 a.m. we load the bikes and set off for Glengarriff with Ursula's final advice to stop at the Eccles Hotel on the outskirts of Glengarriff and seek information there.  We have reasonably light traffic and few hills to deal with and a wind to eat but in short order we reach the hotel and bad coffee.  We inquire at the front desk, at the restaurant, and with a grounds keeper, and by 12:15 Pat Powers arrives on the scene with his van after I briefly dicker with his father by phone and settle on £40 for hauling the two of us to Killarney.  By 1:55 we are settled in Killarney, having saved ourselves two days of difficult highway and Ring of Kerry biking - narrow roads, heavy traffic, including carriages and lorries and wet conditions.  Pat is a very nice young man, a recent college graduate who is looking for work in Environmental Science.  He is most accommodating and often stops along the Ring of Kerry road for video ops for Mike.  He joins the chorus of anti-French sentiment when he tells the story of a local pub owner who noted that two French bikers had spread their wet clothes all over the pub table by the fireplace, were nursing one half-pint, between them, and proceeded to take food out of their sacks and eat.  The pub owner was so outraged that he assembled his strapping teenage sons who in strong voice told the bikers to remove themselves and their wet garments.  As they were exiting, the pub owner hurriedly went upstairs and poured a bucket of water on the two.  Pat considers this a satisfying bit of revenge on the arrogant and cheap French.  We reach some good heights between Kenmare and Killarney and the road curves back on itself often.  The views are grand; it is the same route Marcia and I drove on our first day in Ireland.  However, we ended up on it at night and saw none of the great vistas, beautiful lakes, and snow covered peaks.  We just saw the horrible switchbacks, the "boulders" on the road that suddenly moved because they were in fact sheep, and the narrow roads that seemed inadequate for two cars to pass let alone trucks.

By the time we reach Killarney, I am moving from slightly woozy to nearly car-sick.  I get fresh air just in time; we walk to the bus depot to get information on bus connections to Shannon Airport on Saturday or Sunday, depending on weather, etc.  We have numerous departures both days, and so we are satisfied that we'll get back to our exit B+B with great ease and plenty of time to spare on Sunday.

We have a sandwich at a pub in Killarney and then walk the streets a bit.  We are struck by the many tourists packing the sidewalks.  Every other shop is a gift or souvenir shop.  It's a bit tacky.  A number of lads are hanging around hoping to encourage some business with their horse-drawn 2-wheeled hackneys. In spite of the crowds, they are doing a slow business.  They're a friendly bunch, and they tell us that these crowds are nothing compared to July.  They long for High season but they give us directions to Dingle, and we exit town.  As we turn off the main highway and head towards Dingle, we see mountains ahead of us and to our left.  We have some hills for the first 4-5 miles and then things settle down to a roll, but we're going directly into a strong west wind and don't make great time.  But that is not important because we will reach Dingle Town tomorrow, and we'll have until perhaps Saturday to explore this most interesting peninsula.  In fact, my guide book says that west of Dingle (including the Blasket Islands) is the greatest concentration of ancient sites in County Kerry and probably all of Ireland.  Dingle Town itself is famed as the farthest west city in Europe: "Next stop, New York!" There is also the Conor pass, the highest pass in Ireland at 1,500 feet.  We shall do it because it's there.

At Milltown the postmaster tells us that busses pick up and deliver students between Limerick and Dingle Town throughout the week and esp. on Sunday as they return to college.  We will check at the tourist office in Dingle Town, but we are even more encouraged now that we may not need to bike back to Tralee for a bus to Shannon.  We may be able to take the bus directly from Dingle Town, which will allow us to stay in Dingle through Saturday night.  There's certainly no shortage of great music and museums and islands and historical sites to visit in Dingle.  This will be a grand finale to a grand adventure.