The Blind Piper, Caherdaniel
Tucked into the tiny village of Caherdaniel just off the Ring of Kerry, The Blind Piper is the kind of country pub everyone means when they recommend one. A turf fire, honest food built on local produce, a stream-side beer garden and live traditional music make it the social heart of this stretch of coast - and a favourite refuelling stop for road-trippers and walkers alike.
You could drive through Caherdaniel in a blink - a handful of houses on the coast road between Waterville and Sneem - but the village keeps one of the best-loved pubs on the whole Ring of Kerry. The Blind Piper takes its name from Mící Cumba O'Sullivan, a celebrated uilleann piper born nearby in the 1830s, who lost much of his sight during years spent emigrated in Massachusetts before returning home to Kerry. His playing survives only on a scratchy early recording - a lament he distrusted the machine enough to call the Devil's handiwork - but it was good enough to move some of the great pipers who came after him.
Inside, the pub is low-ceilinged and dark-timbered, warmed by an open fire and hung with photographs of local musicians, and it has the easy, unforced atmosphere that can't be manufactured. The kitchen is a cut above ordinary pub grub, leaning on local seafood and Irish meat - think chowder, fresh fish and hearty roasts - and there's a beer garden beside a running stream, with space for children to play. Traditional music sessions are a fixture, the regular night being Thursday, with more music through the summer.
It's an easy roadside stop with parking in the village, ideal after a morning at Derrynane House and the beach, or coming down off Staigue Fort. Food times and the music schedule shift with the seasons, so it's worth a quick check ahead in the quieter months.
Photos
