Ladies View

9/13– Our day today began with a visit to Killarney National Park.   KNP can be done as part of the Ring of Kerry, or as a destination of its own. It’s popular in guidebooks, with tours of the castle and grounds.  Being a bit tour-adverse, we drove to the places of most interest to us within the park.

The route to the National Park traveled via Molls Gap and Lady’s View.  Both were very wide open and scenic, our pictures really don’t do it justice.  Molls Gap is basically a junction with a lone store and café.  Lady’s View had two possible stops, one just went to an overlook and the other was where all the buses could stop and they had a giftshop and café.  We chose the former, it was far less crowded and the views were just the same.

The road led down into a forested valley and we stopped and walked to Torc Waterfall.  This was a pretty walk, but after seeing so many fabulous waterfalls in New Zealand, this one didn’t impress all that much.  Lots of tourists there as well.

I had researched a bit and saw pictures of some sort of ruin right on Lough Leanne near Killarney.  We had to scout it out a bit, because it sat behind a huge hotel and we had to traverse the hotel grounds to get to it.  This was very non-touristy.  We explored it a bit.  The actual name of it was McCarthy Mor Castle Ruins.  They were very old and not terribly large.  It was situated on the lake and the views of the lake and surrounding wetlands were very serene.   There was only one other person there and he was playing Danny Boy on the harmonica – talk about atmosphere!  When he had finished he came over to us and explained he and his son came to the hotel every year, but his son had died and he played the tune in his son’s honor.

Standing on the concrete wharf at the McCarthy Mor Castle Ruins, looking across Lough Leanne.

He was so eager to tell us where to go and where to eat and listen to music in Killarney, I didn’t have the heart to tell him we were just passing through to areas north.

We timed it right and got right on the ferry across Shannon River, otherwise, it would be an extra 45 minutes to drive around and across the bridge at Limerick.  It was a smooth crossing with no issues.

On tap was walking the Cliffs of Kilkee.  These are a slightly smaller version of the more popular Ciffs of Moher.  They are far less touristy – not a single tourbus!  They were very scenic, but windy.  The path along the cliffs extends for miles.  We walked for about half an hour and turned back.  I remember we were all bundled up and bracing ourselves against the wind, and there was a woman swimming in the ocean near the carpark!!

A scenic view along the Kilkee Cliffs.  You can walk for miles along the pathways above them.

We drove further out the peninsula and stopped to view the Bridges of Ross.  It was a path that went across some fields and around some chainlink fencing.  I honestly wondered if we were at the right place.  Finally we were at the bridges.  They are archways under the cliffs and not visible when you approach them.  Once you are past them and look back, you see them. I ventured across the bridge for Fred to take a photo, he wasn’t keen on walking on the bridge himself.

A trio of horses along the Kilkee Cliffs.  Have I mentioned that these western-facing ocean cliffs of Ireland are windy?

We drove to the little town of Ennistimon and found our B&B just outside of town.  We were greeted right away by Holly, the dog, and soon met our hosts, Tom and Marion.  Tom offered us some tea and biscuits and then asked what we had planned to do and see around the area.  He had maps drawn up with GPS coordinates of routes through the Burren and a loop to include the Cliffs of Moher.  He was trying to offer us a GPS to use (to presumably, insert the coordinates into) when we showed him my iPad with points of interest starred.  He was really surprised you could download googlemaps and use it to navigate their roads.  But he did give us great advice on where to park to visit the cliffs.  We still had some daylight left and he urged us to head to the cliffs that evening.  I’m really glad we took his advice.  The skies were clear and the late afternoon light was perfect.  We found the parking area he suggested, which was far from the tourist center and buses.  The views we had were wonderful.

The Cliffs of Moher, O’Brien’s Tower is seen on top.  This is Ireland’s #1 tourist destination.  Be prepared for crowds and strong winds.  Evening shots make for the best photos.

We had dinner that night in at the Byrnes Restaurant in Ennistimon.  It was a short walk from our B&B and Ennistimon’s only restaurant.  The food was good and we had a window seat with a great view of the river and stone bridge.

Our view from dinner was of the town’s bridge.  There were remnants of an old mill downstream.

9/14 – Today we spent the full day at Inis Mor, one of the Aran Islands.  The Islands had been highly recommended and there are three of them, two of which have ferry service.  Inis Mor is the small of these two and I picked it because we could walk around it ourselves, without needing a tour.

The ferry departed from the town of Doolin. We chose to go below deck, because it was cold.  The trip took about 40 minutes – can’t say it was scenic, because we were below deck.

We arrived at Inis Mor and I had a map of where to go and what to see.  A “pony and trap” pulled up beside us and the driver seemed really insistent we get in. He was really persistent, as though it was unusual for people to want to walk.  It was a beautiful day – why not?  Anyway, we got along quite well without the tour, thank you very much.

The many, many, many rock walls on Inis Mor (Inisheer).  I don’t think we can complain about the rocks found in our garden after having been here.

The island is very remote, as you can imagine. There were rock walls lining every lane, and I do mean lane as they were all very narrow.  Rock walls were everywhere, outlining property lines and creating alleyways.  We walked to O’Brien’s Castle Ruins and on to the wreck of the Plassey.

There was a geocache under one of the stones at the beach where the Plassey was.  If you look at my picture, it would seem like finding a needle in a haystack.  We soon found other geocachers looking around for the same cache and we all helped one another.  So that was fun.

Carrying whiskey, stained glass and yarn, the Plassey got caught in a severe storm and ran aground in 1960.  There’s a geocache under one of those rocks and it took about 7 of us to find it.

The ferry’s return included swinging by the Cliffs of Moher so you could see them from a different perspective.  The afternoon was warm and we decided to stay on deck to see the views.  The seas had much more swell in them, but I leaned against the railing and rocked and swayed with the motion.  Sometimes the ferry was at the bottom of a swell that you couldn’t see the horizon. But I was enjoying it. Unfortunately, there were folks onboard that didn’t appreciate the motion of the ocean.  So I’ll skip right to – wow, the views of the cliffs were great!!!

Fred and I made it back to land without incident and drove to the far end of the Cliffs of Moher.  We drove by the Doolin Castle (not ruins, not open to the public) and to Hags Head at the western end.  We had to walk a bit from the parking area and pass a fence (this was all private property and we paid the farmer for parking).  At the fence was a woman and young child (maybe 2yrs) and she commented that the wind was too much for the little one.  She wasn’t kidding!  I’m sure we would have liked this area so much more but the wind about blew us off the cliffs!  We took some quick photos and headed to Liscannor where we had a seafood dinner at Vaughans Anchor Inn.

Lough Leanne near Killarney

The Adventure Continues>>>