Donoghues White Villa Farm Caravan & Camping Park, Killarney, County Kerry, Munster

The day dawned drizzly and not promising great things weatherwise. After breakfast I sat reading excerpts from our guide book, with special emphasis on the Gap of Dunloe, a route The Chauffeur was keen to do at some stage of our stay here, and which I had suggested might be tacked on to today’s itinerary if time and inclination allowed. While the guide suggests that late in the day offers better light and less conjestion, we decided on a whim to drive it early to avoid fellow travellers who are in fact discouraged from using the road, that it is “not designed to handle motor traffic at busy times, and should be left free for walkers, cyclists, pony trekkers and jaunting cars”, this latter we assumed to refer to “Sunday driver type tourists”.

We headed south through Killarney, turning south near Beaufort, soon heading up toward the Gap, passing Kate Kearney’s Cottage where a number of harnessed up pony traps were readying themselves for the tourist trade. Soon we were enveloped in low cloud, the rain more than drizzle, but we continued on up the single lane tarsealed road which winds itself up through limestone littered landscape, populated by sheep decorated in the same fashion so many women’s heads are in England, those who have purple, pink, green or blue hair. In New Zealand just more than an hour south of where we live, there is a tourist attraction called Sheepworld, where the sheep are dyed pink to titilate or draw in the tourist; I reckon these to be the same here, although Chris suggested they might be coloured to aid identification on the wild landscape, grey with rock, covered in green bracken and purple heather. The jury is still out. I do understand that sheep are often marked with  coloured raddle or spray to identify those which are in lamb, or to be culled, or to be branded for some sensible shepherding purpose, but the level of colour here in Killarney up near the Gap is something else entirely.  

While the top of the surrounding mountains, Tomies Mountain at 735 metres ASL and Purple Mountain at 832 metres ASL to the east and the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks to the west, were not visible through the mist and mirk, the scenery was still breathtakingly beautiful, as we passed high shallow reedy lakes, waterfalls gushing down the slopes and the occasional long abandoned stone building adding ambience to the over all experience. After passing over the Head of the Gap, we descended down into the broad Black Valley,  little of the promoted scenes visible, but again breathtaking and so very atmospheric  in the rain. Here we were hemmed in by the 784 metres Broaghnabinnia at its western end. Here the inhabitants reputedly all died in the Great Famine of the mid-19^th century.  Today there are a few little settlements through the valley, but none of it looks particularly prosperous.

Finally we emerged out on to the Ring of Kerry, the N71 here, and turned in keeping with the rules for travel on the Ring of Kerry, north to join those who travel correctly in an anti-clockwise direction, on down toward the Killarney National Park. Curiously we passed many cars travelling in the opposite direction; these were folks who chose to ignore the advice and would later find themselves abused by “law-abiding” tourists, or were instead travelling south to Kenmare.

Soon we entered the National Park, Plan A for the day. The area about the lovely Killarney Lakes, 10,236 hectares including mountains, woods and lakes are included into this wonderful National Park. The centre of the Park is the 4,300 hectares Bourn Vincent Memorial Park which was presented to the Irish State in 1932 by a generous benefactor.

As we travelled back toward Killarney, we passed lookout spots along the edge of the several lakes, one of these Ladies’ View, however the visibility was so poor there was little point in checking it out. We pulled into the twenty metre Torc Waterfall, the first activity noticed, a host of pony traps touting for business and here we saw the words “jaunting cars” and then realised that these were “jaunting” carts, and that we as a car on a jaunt over the Gap of Dunloe were not  a jaunting car or welcome: too late. The falls are quite lovely as is the short walk up to see them, even in the rain. 

On we went, now targeting the Muckross Estate, although we were not keen to get caught up in the commercial tourist venture. We thought we would drive in and out again if it looked as if there were no option but to fork out the tourist dollar. Contrary to my suspicions, this is a fabulous spot to come for free, especially if you self-cater with a picnic lunch. There are trails all across the estate, all part of the National Park, suitable for walking or rambling, if the more sedate pace is more your thing, or more energetic cycling. The paths cross the grazed paddocks, or are they fields here? I am not sure. Paths follow the lake shore, and zigzag through the woods. 

We set off for Muckross Friary, a walk of over a kilometre and an opportunity to stretch our legs. We encountered cyclists, walkers and delightfully, a number of jaunting cars, offering such a romantic scene.

The Franciscan Friary of Muckross was founded in the mid-1400s, by Donal MacCarthy, a local chieftain. The community here were Observantine Franciscans, so called because of their rigid observance of the orders; rules on matters such as diet, clothing and possession of private property. Like every other such institution, the friary was suppressed by order of Henry VIII, but was formally re-established in 1612. The friars were eventually driven out by the Cromwellians in 1652.

The friary was quite a surprise, mainly for the fact it was so very intact. The vaulted bell-tower which was inserted after the church was built, is unique in Franciscan foundations in Ireland in that it spans the full width of the church. The church yard or cemetary is still very much in use, as was evident by the dates on the brighter and shinier gravestones.

We climbed up the stairs into the more elevated restored rooms and delighted in the area available for exploration, given that this had in the first place merely been a waypoint for our walk.

We lunched outside the compund under an ancient yew tree before setting off again along the maze of walking and jaunting car routes, encountering a red deer doe, an absolute bonus to our walk. The park is apparently home to pine martens, red squirrels, otters and Irish hares, and Ireland’s only herd of red deer to which this straying doe evidently belonged. My companion remarked that he would have been more delighted to have encountered a pine martin or a red squirrel than a random red deer, and I agreed with this sentiment.

Our path along the lakeside took us past patches of ripening blackberries, some more edible than others and through lovely groves of oak. We emerged near Muckross House which with the nearby working farm can be visited for a fee. We were well satisfied with our walk and the charm of the estate without indulging in further paid entertainment, so resumed our drive, on toward Killarney, still within the National Park, then onto the edge of the town before re-entering the National Park on the northern edge of the lake. Here we found Ross Castle, administered by Heritage Ireland, hence offering free entry to us. We wandered about the waters edge with the hundreds of other tourists, many taking advantage of the kayak tours, boat trips or the ever popular jaunty car ride, before booking for the guided tour of the castle at 2 pm. We filled in time in the exhibition room where the castle’s history was spelled out in parallel with that of this country.

Ross Castle is a tower castle as opposed to the grander edifaces built purely for fortification purposes such as that at Trim. It was built way sometime in the late 15^th century by the O’Donoghue family who ruled the Killarney area at the time. Up to 3,500 of these Tower Houses were built through the Irish countryside in the 1400s and 1500s.

By 1700 the castle had changed hands twice. The O’Donoghues were allied with the Earl of Desmond during his failed rebellion and so the castle fell into the hands of the McCarthy Mor family. It was subsequently granted to an English land surveyor Sir Valentine Browne who, in 1688, built the fortified house against the side of the castle, the living conditions inside the tower not meeting with his idea of a modern residence.

By the mid-18^th century, the castle had become a garrison, most of the original walls removed and Valentine Brown’s house demolished. A new barrack block had been built, as well as additional accomodation . The castle remained in the Browne family right through to the 20^th century, a remarkable feat given the political upheavals that plagued the country, cunning and strategic inter religious and “tribal” marriages paved the way for much of this.

One of the underhand plans was when taxes were demanded of Browne, the Earl of Kenmore  who had this property and the house in Killarney where he preferred to live, he disguised the barracks as a medieval ruin, narrowing the windows to mock arrow loops and removing the roof, thus avoiding tax on what could not not possibly be a residence. Instead it became an icon for tourism that has thrived in Killarney since the 1750s. It remained in the family until the death of the last Earl of Kilmore in 1956. At this point debts needed to be settled and the castle and the estate went up for sale. An American developer with grand designs for the entire lakeside lurked with US dollars in the sidewings, however John McShain, another American with Irish roots who had been involved in a great number of valuable building projects, including the renovation of the White House in the late 1940s, came to the rescue and bought up the whole estate. In 1970 he generously gave it all to the Irish people, hence OPW has been in charge ever since. They immediately set to work restoring the castle, a twenty year project funded in part with EU monies and in 1993 the castle was reopened to the public.

 We thoroughly enjoyed our tour, our guide informed about the customs and history of the time, as well as details of the work required to restore the tower to its medieval status. But after that it was time to head home, via the local Aldi where we stocked up yet again, having done so just yesterday and returned home with shopping bags of goodies to fill our evening. While we might be judicious with our tourist dollar (or euro) let it not be said we are the same with our self-catering budget.

Arriving home I found the washing I had done yesterday afternoon almost dry and another hour soon finished it off, but now as I write this, rain has arrived en force and I do fear for our driving tours of the days ahead.