Should You Take a Vacation in South Kerry?

So what’s the verdict on vacationing in South Kerry? That’s a little complicated. It’s certainly one of the most beautiful places you could ever hope to see, and Marian and I both loved it. Just to remind you, this was the view from our backyard every morning:

If that doesn’t get you drooling, you belong to a very different species than me. Unfortunately, there was one problem in paradise, and it wasn’t the weather, which was great the whole time we were there. It’s the roads, which are basically insane. Here are the four stages of driving in South Kerry:

  1. Frequent bouts of white-knuckled terror.
  2. A mild but continual state of alarm.
  3. Meh. I’ve seen worse in West Virginia.
  4. I wish I could have driven these roads in my old Porsche.

I got to Stage 2 within a few days, and I suppose I would have gotten to Stage 3 in another few weeks or months. It’s certainly true that over time you get better at centering your car in the narrow lanes; better at anticipating the curves; and better at trusting that cars coming in the opposite direction won’t barrel into you. Nonetheless, the roads have no shoulders and the lanes of even major routes are barely wide enough for a car, let alone a bus. This is what you have to put up with practically every minute you’re on the road:

There’s a vicious circle at work here. Because the roads are so treacherous, it makes a lot of sense to ditch the idea of driving and instead put yourselves in the hands of a tour operator. This in turn puts more buses on the road and makes driving even more treacherous, which prompts more people to take tours, which—well, you get the idea.

But it gets worse. I’m a relatively panic-free kind of person, and I’m also—surprisingly, I guess—fairly good at judging how much room my car has. But lots of people are considerably more nervous than me and/or not so good at judging how much room their car requires to get through a narrow space. Long story short, Marian spent much of the trip in terror even though she never drove the car herself. Just being a passenger was enough.

So this is a tough call. South Kerry¹ is a wonderful place to visit. But the state of the roads makes it hard to say it’s a relaxing place. You just spend too much time focused intensely on the road and gripping the steering wheel really hard when a tour bus barrels by about six inches off your right side. If you’re the fighter jet type, go ahead. But if you’re nervous about navigating even small roads in the United States, it’s not a good idea to drive around in South Kerry. As much as I loathe tour buses—and I loathe them even more now—that’s the better option for you.

¹We only saw a small part of Ireland, but oddly, the road problem seemed to be limited to the south. North of Kenmare, the lanes widened a few feet, and that makes a world of difference. I’m not sure if and where the dividing line really is, but the south half of County Kerry really does seem to be uniquely scary.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate