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The 110-mile Ring of Kerry, which encircles the Iveragh Peninsula, can be driven around in a day, and most tourists view its spectacular scenery without ever leaving their bus or car. Consequently, anyone straying from the road or waiting until the buses knock off in the afternoon will be left to experience the long, slow twilights of the Atlantic seaboard in perfect seclusion. Part of the excitement of travelling round the Kerry coast comes from the clarity with which its physical outline stands out against the vast grey expanse of the Atlantic. Every gully, bay, channel and island is as distinct as it is on the map, giving a powerful sense of place amidst the isolation. If you really are limited to a day's exploration of the wild coastal scenery, it could be worth heading for Dingle, the next peninsula north, instead: its intimacy of scale means you can see a lot more without having to rely upon buses or cars. Cycling the Ring itself takes three days (not counting any diversions), and a bike will let you get on to the largely deserted mountain roads; just be sure your machine has lots of gears, and you have plenty of energy - the combination of gradients and strong winds can be gruelling. Buses serve the entire circuit from late May to mid-Sept only (2 daily); the rest of the year buses from Killarney only go as far as Waterville (Mon-Sat 1 daily) - but during summer, flotillas of tourist buses ply the Ring. You can get details of tours from the tourist office and for an extra charge some companies will drop you off somewhere along the way and pick you up the next day. Hitching is unreliable as traffic simply may not exist away from the main roads.
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