The day began with a jaunting car ride through Killarney National Park ($15), the oldest of 6 national parks in Ireland, formed in 1932 when Senator Arthur Vincent and his family entrusted Muckross House & Estate into the care of the Irish State. The carts seat 6, and our driver was John, with his horse named Sally. Here's a pic of another horse and cart.
Steeple in town and an old thatched roof home in the park's entrance. Below, John and horse Sally...
It took about 45 minutes and was a nice leisurely ride on quiet paved roads. The mountains, lakes and scenery were beautiful! John pointed out red deer, native to Ireland since the ice age. We passed an 1849 house, and streams full of trout and salmon.The park covers 26,000 acres, encompassing the infamous McGillycuddy Reeks Mountain Range which includes Ireland’s highest Mountain, Carrauntoohill standing at over 3200 feet.
Mammals living within the National Park include otters (rare in Europe), stoats, hedgehogs, pygmy shrews, Irish hares, rabbits, rats, wood mice, mice, badgers, foxes, red squirrel and, since 1983, the American mink. It was cool and sunny and a relaxing way to start our day. From there we left Killarney and headed southwest around the ring of Kerry, approximately 100 miles.
We passed through quaint Killorglin, home of Puck Fair. In Irish this is Aonach an Phoic, meaning “Fair of the He-Goat” and is one of Ireland’s oldest fairs. Every year a goat catcher goes up into the mountains to catch a wild goat. The goat is brought back to the town and the Queen of Puck, traditionally a young school girl from one of the local primary schools, crowns him King Puck. This signifies that the festivities may begin! On the 3rd day – minus his crown – he is brought down to be led back to his mountain home. Here is the King Puck statue:
We also passed through Carahan, the home town of Daniel O'Connell, known as the father of the nation and the man who brought Catholic emancipation to Ireland in the early 1800s. Then we had a quick stop at the Kerry Bog Village to learn about bog farming and have an Irish coffee.
The terrain grew hilly with more narrow winding roads and interesting sights...
Then the sea appeared, and across it, the Dingle Peninsula where we'll be tomorrow.
Next was a brief stop in the seaside town of Waterville, once home of the legendary Charlie Chaplin.
Can you read Irish?Then we crossed the Coomakista Pass, in an area known as the International Dark Sky Reserve. Protected by the Kerry Mountains and hills on one side and the Atlantic ocean on the other, it is approx. 700 sq km in size and offers dark, un-light polluted skies, inhabited villages, helpful locals, remote wilderness, long sandy beaches, and numerous lakes, islands and rivers. It is ideal for star gazing.
Can you spot the 3 mountain sheep? It's lambing season....
Our next stunning vista was while crossing Moll's Gap, named for Molly Kissane. She ran a shebeen, a small pub, on a rocky breach during the construction of the original Kenmare Killarney road in the 1820s. The terrain was rocky, mountainous with scrub brush and could have passed for Wyoming!
Next was a brief photo stop at Ladies View. The view here is probably the best known of Killarney and is a major attraction for visitors. Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting visited here during the royal visit in 1861. They were so taken with the view that it was named after them.
Finally we stopped for 30 minutes at the Torc Waterfall, not far from our home base for the night, back in Killarney. We walked about 10 minutes into a shady forest to the falls. Nice...
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