Ring of Kerry and Killarney National Park

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17 October 2008

A brilliant last day in the West of Ireland.

In continuing fine weather we woke to the glorious view over our bay and the Skelling Islands. After packing up we made a visit to Skellings Chocolate Co. to taste and buy some of their delicious sweets. Then it was a continuation of our trip around the peninsula up and down more passes and admiring the ever changing coastal and mountain views.

We had lunch in the car park of Derrynane House, the home of Daniel O’Connell, an early Catholic emancipation campaigner. Afterwards we took a delightful walk through the house gardens, onto the beach and then to a small island, accessible at low tide on which stood a graveyard and ruined abbey founded by St Fionan in around 700.

Our continuation eastwards on the coast and then into the mountains brought us at 4.30 to Moll’s Gap, a pass at the entrance to Killarney National Park, a protected area of peaks and lakes. One of its most popular attractions is The Gap of Dunloe, a glacial defile between two of the major peaks in the area. We were able to approach this from Moll’s Gap via Black Valley (so named because all its residents died in the Famine) on steep, narrow and winding roads which in many places only just had enough room for the van to pass. A stunning drive particularly in the evening light.

We were able to spend the night at the foot of the Gap on a large car park and had an enjoyable evening in Kate Kearney’s Cottage, an adjacent pub, listening to a band playing mainly Irish music to a coach load of American Tourists.

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