Ring of Kerry, Skelling loop, The Blind Piper pub: Ring of Kerry tour day 5

Following Ballynahinch, we spent two nights at Cahernane House Hotel (a lovely, lovely place built as a country mansion in the 1870s) just outside of Killarney town. It was a wonderful respite and I twice treated myself to room service so that I could sit by my spot of garden (see 4th photo) and read and write (I bought a journal in Dublin on Day 1 and diligently pressed flowers and leaves between the pages I wasn’t writing on) and rest.

Day 5 had us driving the Ring of Kerry and Skellig loop. The former is a circular route over the Iveragh Peninsula of southwest Co. Kerry that takes in a variety of towns - Kilorglin, Glenbeigh, Cahersiveen, Waterville, Caherdaniel, Sneem* and Kenmare also feature on the Wild Atlantic Way (an itinerary that winds from the upper reaches of Donegal down the Western coast and around to Cork). The Skellig loop takes you to the mainland point offering the best visual of Skellig Michael (aka Great Skellig), an abandoned 7th century Christian island monastery built on the furthest out of the Skellig Islands. You actually can visit it but doing so requires clear weather, a multi-hour boat ride, and a solid amount of physical fitness.

*Sneem is one of my favorite place names ever.

As an aside, skellig derives from the old Irish word sceillec which translates roughly to splinter of rock.

Star Wars fans know Skellig Michael as the location at which Rey finally finds Luke in The Force Awakens. I was dying to see it and take photos for the boys. What a marvel it is; to think of 7th-century folks schlepping way the hell out into the Atlantic, surely in somewhat rudimentary boats with, at best, minimal life-saving equipment. And THEN they decided to build and live on the furthest thing from land that they encounter. Closer to god, I imagine. Seriously, it is a nearly-miraculous accomplishment and place. Google it and peruse the photos of its sheerness and remoteness (then add a freezing, dark winter day to the mix) and its trails, buildings, and so forth. I very much want to hike it one day.

Anyway, what was supposed to be a day of incredibly gorgeous views was dashed by constant rain. It was our first such day, and although the fog and bluster were often beautiful in their own right and surely made for an authentic Irish experience, it was a shame to arrive back at Cahernane with a relatively empty camera roll.

But that is travel for you. And the wind made the county flags whipping in the wind all the grander. Just a few days hence, Co. Kerry (whose colors are green and yellow) would play Co. Galway (maroon and white) in the All-Ireland Gaelic Football final. Kerry would win.

And, the chilly rain made my lunch of beef-and-Guinness stew with champ potato at The Blind Piper pub even more satisfying than it already was. Divine. If you’re ever in the area, do stop at The Blind Piper! It is a pub extraordinaire!

Cliffs of Moher and the Burren: Ring of Kerry tour day 4

It was rather sad to check out of Ballynahinch, but it meant we were heading south, back through Galway, and down to the Cliffs of Moher. I had always wanted to see the Cliffs, sucker that I am for steep, dramatic views. And, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Cliffs are part of a grand CGI mashup in the scene during which Dumbledore and Harry apparate to the crashing sea, enter the cave, and undergo the horrors necessary to find one of the horcruxes. Neat!

But first, on our way to the Cliffs, we visited Corcomroe Abbey, an early 13th century Cistercian monastery in the Burren region of Co. Clare.

The Burren is a vast limestone plateau (indeed, “the word ‘Burren’ comes from an Irish word “Boíreann” meaning a rocky place”), and in its southeastern area lies Burren National Park. Within the park can be found “examples of all the major habitats within the Burren: Limestone Pavement, Calcareous Grassland, Hazel scrub, Ash/Hazel Woodland, Turloughs, Lakes, Petrifying Springs, Cliffs and Fen.” Fascinatingly,

The Burren region is internationally famous for its landscape and flora. A visit to the Burren during the summer months will leave a person amazed by the colourful diversity of flowering plants living together within the one ecosystem. Arctic-alpine plants living side by side with Mediterranean plants, calcicole (lime-loving) and calcifuge (acid-loving) plants growing adjacent to one another and woodland plants growing out in the open with not a tree nearby to provide shade from the sun. Also found here are certain species which, although rare elsewhere, are abundant in the Burren. Even more amazingly they all survive in a land that appears to be composed entirely of rock.

To the Cliffs! It was actually so stunningly bright that I struggled to take good photos, but I enjoyed a magnificent walk along quite a bit of the visitors’ path, the many views, and the sheep and cows grazing languidly in the highest pastures. My only disappointment was not seeing any puffins. Next time!

Roundstone, Clifden, and Kylemore: Ring of Kerry tour day 3

It brought me enormous delight to visit both Roundstone and Clifden. They were the primary settings for the third of Dervla McTiernan’s crime fiction series featuring Cormac Reilly (McTiernan is an author I only recently discovered, and I absolutely love her books, most of which are set in Galway and the west of Ireland.). I’d read The Good Turn while T and I were in Amsterdam, and it felt very exciting to then be in situ.

Roundstone is tiny but offered some amazing photo opps, including a real Galway Hooker which, despite the image the name may conjure, is a traditional fishing boat that can withstand strong winds often encountered in Galway Bay. The boats are shiny black with a red stripe running down each side of the vessel, parallel to the water, and a red sail. They’re really beautiful!

a Galway Hooker

Clifden was larger, and there I found a book I’d been researching and searching for, a biography of Grace O’Malley aka the Pirate Queen. If you want to read more about her, and I think you should, click here. In short, Grace was born around 1530 on Ireland’s west coast (some say Connacht, some say Clare) into a mighty seafaring family. From an early age, she demonstrated zero interest in following the expectations for women and instead became a fearless leader, feared pirate, and unforgiving warrior. Lore has it that when she first, as a child, asked her father to take him with her as he sailed, he said no, that her hair was too long and would get stuck in the ship rigging. So, she chopped her hair short, demanded again, and never looked back. When her father died, she rather than her brother, took over. One of her husbands died, one she divorced, she even took a lover. What a woman!

As I was checking out in The Clifden Bookshop, two Ukrainian women and their children came in. It quickly became clear that they were refugees newly arrived in Ireland. I assume that if they’re married, their husbands remain in Ukraine fighting. Anyway, their English was really strong (I am on day 168 of Ukrainian study, and mine is not strong, although I can tell you that I can cook dumplings with cabbage and that Khreshchatyk is a big street) and they were inquiring, with huge smiles, about children’s books written in Ukrainian. They had loved the ones the shop had been able to get: had any new ones arrived? The shopkeeper was so kind and dear- she kept applauding their English and apologizing that the new books weren’t yet here. One of the moms mentioned that her daughter especially loved unicorns and so any stories that included unicorns would be particularly appreciated.

I wished I’d had an armload of books to give them. As I left the store, the shopkeeper and I looked at each other, hands on our hearts. The spirit of some people, I tell you. I hope desperately that their loved ones are safe and that at some point they can go home again if they want to. Fucking Putin.

After snarfing a lunch that I have no real memory of, we headed to Kylemore Castle.

Essentially, it was built as a love letter from a man to his wife, and it is spectacular in every way. The location and angle of construction were chosen so that on clear days, a full reflection of the house could be seen in the Pollacappul Lough over which it looks. The grounds are as magnificent as the structure itself.

During a family trip to Egypt with their children, the wife fell ill and died. Distraught, her husband had her embalmed and returned to Kylemore. There he built a miniature, perfect replica Gothic Church in which he planned to inter her, but ultimately, she was buried in a small, understated mausoleum nearby, and honestly, that seems just perfect.

Kylemore Castle is now Kylemore Abbey, and visitors are welcome to explore parts of the home, the various outbuildings, and the 1,000 acre grounds which include a Victorian walled garden, a pig sty, and a small, stunning herd of Connemara ponies. They are spectacular creatures.

Everything was just so stupidly beautiful. On our way back to Ballynahinch, we stopped quickly to explore a bog, and this little guy came across the road to visit.