Organiser: Catherine
Why start a trip on a Monday?
The reason for the Monday start is to accommodate people who have other plans on the weekend - including the trip organiser!
Where are we staying?
Our base will be in Killarney, long a tourist mecca since Queen Victoria decided to visit and put it on the map. Killarney is the second largest town in Kerry and is on the edge of the Killarney National Park which contains some of the most stunning scenery in Ireland. Most of Ireland’s highest mountains are located in Kerry with 9 of Ireland’s 12 Munroes to be found in the National Park. The area is also famous for its lakes and Killarney town surrounds 3 of the biggest lakes. One of Ireland’s three remaining oak forests is here which is home to Ireland’s only native species of deer, the red deer. For any twitchers out there, Killarney is also home to a number of white tailed eagles which have been released as part of the conservation programme over the last few years.
Accommodation?
The plan is to stay in a B&B located within walking/limping/staggering distance of the town’s eateries and hostelries (yes, Guinness does taste much better in Ireland). A few of us did a scouting visit last September and can confirm that the B&B where we are planning to stay serves one of the biggest breakfasts you have ever seen. The landlady is in the Mrs Doyle mould and won’t let anybody leave in the morning until she has satisfied herself that they are sufficiently well fed. This might explain why none of us bothered with lunch throughout the whole stay.
For those who are interested in cheaper options there are a number of hostels in the town and for any masochists who are interested in camping, there are a number of camp sites around the town (although I really would not recommend camping in Ireland – there is a reason why the locals confine their camping to music festivals). It is probably worth mentioning at this point that the west of Ireland gets a lot of rain and Kerry gets the highest average rainfall of any county in Ireland. And Scotland is not the only place where midges are found...
How to get there?
There are two options.
For those who would like to fly, Ryanair operate flights from Stansted airport to Kerry airport which is about a 20 minute drive from Killarney. If you fly you may need to rent a car which can be done from Kerry airport. It is also possible to fly from the UK to Cork airport (about an hour and a half of a drive) or Shannon airport (about a 2 and a half hour drive).
A few people who are already booked on the trip are planning on getting the ferry and driving their own cars to Ireland. The options are to get the ferry from Swansea to Cork, sailing on Sunday 6 June at 9pm, or get the ferry from Fishguard/Pembroke to Rosslare on either the Sunday or the Monday. Killarney is about an hour and a half’s drive from Cork if you get the Swansea ferry and it’s about a 4 and a half hour drive from Rosslare. The advantage of the ferry route is that you don’t have to hire a car and there is no limit on how much luggage you can bring or how many souvenirs you bring back.
Activities?
The plan is to do the following walks which all take about 5-7 hours to complete:
These are all walks and involve little or no scrambling. However, the terrain can be quite difficult and very boggy in places and many of the walks take us close to the edge of very high cliffs. So a good head for heights would be an advantage but these walks are in the range of anybody.
Other stuff
If you are not feeling very energetic, there is still lots of stuff to do and see and being based in the town means that you will be within walking or cycling distance of most of it. There is lots of scope for ambling along the lakeshores and through the forests, visiting castles or stately homes, going boating on the lakes or sitting in a pub and drinking lots of Guinness if that is what grabs your fancy. It is, after all, supposed to be a holiday!
Skellig Michael: I am also planning to have a day trip to this island. Skellig Michael is a steep rocky island in the Atlantic Ocean about 9 miles from the coast. The island contains the ruins of a 7th century monastery, which is situated almost at the summit of the 230-metre-high rock. Skellig Michael became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. It is a spectacular and unique site. For the twitchers there are usually lots of sea birds in residence including puffins if we are lucky.
Boats go to the Island only in good weather and even then are not always able to land. So if the weather is good, the plan would be to do a trip there on the Friday for those who are interested. Good sea legs are required as the boats are small and the sea is usually quite rough.
If you are interested, please contact Catherine.