Kerry, Rings, Merrows and the end of the WAW

County Kerry covers the south-western tip of Ireland, renowned for its rugged hills and scenic beauty.  Each of those peninsulas sticking out into the Atlantic Ocean is worthy of a week's discovery.  We only have three full days and deteriorating weather.  How an earth are we going to do them justice?  And will we spot any Merrows?

Merrows?  They live in Tír fo Thuinn, the Land Beneath the Waves, surfacing along the Kerry coast to interact with fishermen, warn of storms, marry humans, or lure them to their death.  They move between sea and land using a magical red cap, the cohuleen druith, which allows them to breathe and travel underwater.

After a bit of research our itinerary pans out like this.

Day 1 - Sun 18 Oct - the Ring of Beara

We have sunny weather, and Beara with its coastal views, high pass and being not quite as famous as its siblings gets today's nod.  

We head for Glengarriff on the coast, but there's a nice little waterfall a bit off the beaten track at Esknamucky that's worth a look.  Pauline's getting increasing anxious as we descend into the valley with the road getting narrower and narrower, the turns tighter and tighter, and the grass on the centre strip greener and wider.  When it seems we're about to end up in a farmer's paddock we're spat out at a parking area and an absolutely delightful little stream.

A 15 minute walk upstream brings us to the waterfall.  Perhaps no great shakes by NZ standards, but a great way to stretch legs after an hour's drive.

As we make our way down the coast we hit the turn-off to the Healy Pass.  We don't need to cut across the peninsula as there's lots to see further south, but the prospect of a twisty mountain pass is too good to refuse.  As we negotiate the hairpins on the way up I'm thinking how good this road would be to do on two wheels.

It appears others have a similar idea.

There are reminders that we're still on the WAW as we stop at the Gour lookout.

We hit the beach at Allihies

and are disappointed to find the nearby Copper Mine Museum closed from mid-October.  Bummer - missed it by three days.  While travelling in mid-autumn means we're not fighting for space with thousands of other tourists, it does give us some challenges with the weather and finding cafes and attractions closed.

But no matter.  

Around every corner we come across jaw-dropping vistas, but can't photograph them all.

The Ring of Beara?  We'll give it a 9 out of 10, and it's our fault it didn't score a perfect 10 as we arrived a few days late.

Day 2 - The Slea Head Drive on the Dingle Peninsula

For consistency this should be called the Ring of Dingle, as just like Beara we take a clockwise loop along the coast to the extremities of the peninsula, but the Slea Head Drive it is.  

Before setting off we need to clear the ice from the windscreen - the first time we've experienced a frost on the trip.

First stop is Inch Beach.

But we didn't really come to Ireland for the beaches.  There are derelict castles to see (this is Minard Castle)

and sheer cliffs at Ceann Trá

and cafes with a view.

But the most unexpected pleasure was the Blasket Centre near Dunquin.

Behind Pauline are the Blasket Islands, just 5km from the tip of the Dingle Peninsula.  In the early 1900s this was a thriving Irish‑speaking community of fishermen, storytellers, and writers, but life was hard and over time the young men and women left the islands, either to the mainland or to Springfield, Massachusetts in the USA.

The island was evacuated in 1953, when the population had dwindled to such an extent it was no longer viable for anyone to live in such a remote location.

The Blasket Centre is a museum dedicated to their memory, and it's extraordinarily well done.

Each of the major writers is described, and community and fishing life graphically displayed.

Outside are representations of Blasket women and a child at a water well.  

The sculptor took inspiration from the Merrows that were known to inhabit the ocean off the Dingle Peninsula.  Legend has it that a fisherman stole a merrow’s red cap, forcing her to live on land and marry him.  She bore children but eventually found the cap and returned to the sea.

Pauline is intrigued by the mosaic patterns created by the dry-stone walls as they climb up from the glaciated valley floor.

On to the Gallerus Oratory, a masterpiece of early Irish engineering.

Built around the 7th or 8th century using dry-stone corbelling, its self-supporting arch-like roof and walls that shed rain outwards means it's remained standing after centuries of Atlantic weather.  It's original purpose was as an early Christian church, monastic prayer cell, or perhaps a funerary chapel for a local chieftain.

After looping back to Dingle town we have an opportunity for another pass to see the northern beaches.  How could we resist?  From the crest of the Conor Pass we have fantastic views to the south where we've come from

to the north where we're going.

The Femoyle beach?  Well - it's got hills, water and sand.  A lovely beach, but perhaps we don't need to visit every one.  

We skip the Castlegregory beach and head back south by yet another pass.  Pauline's driving and would rather not as the narrow twisty roads with poor visibility increase her stress levels.  I'm happy to take the wheel until we hit the coast and she takes us home.  Dingle gets a 10/10.


Day 3 - two Rings for the price of one

Our luck with the weather hasn't lasted.  We wake to heavy cloud and the prospect of later rain.  We'd anticipated this and chosen to do the Rings of Kerry and Skellig due to their low passes and more indoor activities.

We set off early for Muckross Abbey in the Killarney National Park on our way to the Ring of Kerry.  The abbey was a Franciscan friary, established in 1448.  

Like many other Catholic institutions it suffered repeated raids from the English, culminating with the friars' eviction in the Cromwellian period.  It's now roofless but remarkably intact, meaning we can wander through the chambers and stairs on three levels.  A huge, twisted yew tree, possibly as old as the Abbey itself, is situated in the cloister in the heart of the abbey.  Apparently it's the most photographed tree in Ireland, so of course we had to add to the tally.

We pass through Kenmare and climb up to to Moll's Gap for a coffee.  It hasn't started raining yet so get some great views out over the valley.

The Avoca cafe and shop stocks a superb range of woollen  

and coffee products. I was so conflicted by this decision I couldn't buy anything at all.

As we're descending to the coast I'm getting more and more frustrated with the Leon, its noisy ineffective transmission, and heat lost from the brakes.  As you do, I start fantasising about a solution.  What if I can find a rainbow, follow it to its end, capture the leprechaun guarding the pot of gold, and put him to work under the bonnet slowing the car by converting gravitational potential energy into petrol to be added back into the tank.  Works for an EV, so why not an ICE?  Sadly I don't think my fantasy will be realised any time soon.

We make our way down the eastern side of the Iveragh Peninsula through Sneem and Waterville.  The Ring of Kerry starts heading north at this point, but if we hang a left we can do the Skellig Ring as well.  It's raining cats and dogs (but not leprechauns) at this point, so the viewpoints get passed by in favour of Portmagee for lunch, and a trip over the bridge to Valentia Island.

Pauline found this one for me.  She mentioned something about a cable, and with a raised eyebrow I had visions of a cable car journey in the driving rain.  But no, she's discovered the Eighth Wonder - the Valentia Transatlantic Cable Station.  

Remember the story (from my childhood, maybe yours too) of Robert the Bruce who while hiding in a cave watched a spider trying to anchor a thread across a gap?  The spider tried and failed repeatedly, but eventually succeeded.  He took this as inspiration to resume his fight against the English and eventually won the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, securing Scottish independence.  This perseverance theme is repeated in American William Hickson's well known phrase, "If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again".

When we send an email to the other side of the world we assume naturally it will be in the recipient's mailbox in a few seconds, or a minute or two at the most.  But consider what it was like in the mid-1800s.  A message between North America and Europe took two weeks by boat - weather permitting.

Cyrus Field, a New York paper merchant, had a dream.  He wanted to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic, linking North America and Europe.  Valentia Island was chosen as the landing point.  He started in 1857 and the cable snapped.  He tried again, and the cable snapped again.  In 1858 after multiple failed attempts, the cable was finally completed and the first messages transmitted to great fanfare.  After four weeks, the cable died.  Continually taking inspiration from the spider, Field remained undeterred, tried again and again, and in 1866 finally managed an enduring cable.  The Victorian era Internet is born - at a few words per minute by Morse code.  By the 1890s it had risen to 50 words per minute.  In the 2020s with fibre-optic cables it's measured at over 84 billion words per minute.

Pauline is checking out her Morse code skills.

The two rings?  An 8/10, rising to a 10/10 in good weather and more time.

A dash for home and we count off our successes - the Ring of Beara, the Ring of Kerry, the Skellig Ring, and the Dingle peninsula.  There's only one big one to go - the Mizen Peninsula.  But will the weather play ball?

Day 4 - Mizen, east and the end of the WAW

Yesterday's rain has passed over, but squally showers are still blasting through.  We decide to take a punt on the Mizen Head signal station, sitting at the very tip of the Mizen Peninsula, the most south‑westerly peninsula in Ireland.  If we'd had the time we'd have taken in the adjacent Sheep's Head peninsula as well - but we cant do everything.  It'll be a long day anyway.

It's a couple of hours to get down there, but it's well worth the trip.  

There was never a proper lighthouse on Mizen Head - just a beacon, radio equipment and explosives for fog warnings. The station was fully automated and keepers withdrawn in 1993, with the buildings now used as a visitor centre.

The main lighthouse on the south coast is Fastnet, which you can see in the distance, 6.5km away to the south-east.

The the iconic footbridge over the gorge to the station is 45m above the surf crashing into the rocks below.  Your heart's in your mouth as you look down.

And wherever there's a down, there must be an up, with a good aerobic effort to accompany it.

The WAW is pretty much over at this point, and we have no argument that the leading W in WAW really does stand for Wild.  It's been a blast, literally and figuratively.

We head towards the south-east coast, skirting school traffic in Cork and rush-hour traffic in Waterford to arrive at our BnB in New Ross a bit after 6pm.  

It's been a long day, but we have a whole new lot of experiences to plan.  A Rock, perhaps?  As if we haven't seen enough already?  Stay tuned.

Burren and south

Day 1 - Thu 15 Oct - another Martello

As Frank is giving us an introduction to his BnB, he notes that Axel installed the wifi.  "Axel is a genius", Frank advises, "and is wife Sandra is really smart too."

I know Axel's a genius.  I've installed his Home Assistant integration to control my AlphaESS solar inverter, and have had many email conversations with him over the last couple of years.  We have similar IT backgrounds, have worked for similar IT companies, and both have a passion for solar, home automation, EVs and tech in general.  

As Pauline and I were planning our Ireland trip I was really hoping Axel would be willing to meet us as we travelled through Galway and south.  And indeed he was, suggesting walks to show off the best of his local area south of the city.

First stop the Finavarra Peninsula, and right at the tip is another Martello tower identical to the one we saw at Point Bar up north.  

But this one was different - the door was open and we could go inside.  I could immediately see why they were so formidable.  Rather than just being a round tower, there was a huge central column that supported the roof and the heavy cannons on top.

As we were discussing them I mentioned the one in Sydney Harbour.  What was that defending against?  Napoleon wasn't that ambitious!  I had a suspicion it was the Russian threat, and when I looked it up later I was partially right.  The initial scare came when two American warships entered Sydney Harbour at night in 1839, which prompted a defence review.  Construction was accelerated in 1853 at the start of the Crimean War as the colonial government feared a Russian naval strike on Sydney.  So now we have Fort Denison sitting on Pinchgut Island in the middle of Sydney Harbour, easily visible from the Opera House and Kirribilli Point on the Shore.  It has never fired a shot in anger.  It did, however, suffer friendly fire damage in 1942 when the USS Chicago mistakenly shelled it during a Japanese midget‑submarine attack.  That initial American threat came good!

Axel and Sandra have a delightful Border Collie called Fiadh.  No ideas, Pauline!

Next stop lunch, where I can finally indulge in some decent Atlantic seafood.

Day 2 - the Burren

We must have got on well as they invited us for another walk, this time to the Burren.  

On the way we drop in on Father Ted.

I must admit I've never seen the show, but to those in the know it's very funny.

The Burren? The name comes from Irish Boirinn, meaning “rocky place", and it's not hard to see why.  Of course we have to take a pic of Mullagh More to WhatsApp to the grandkids as the thieving Monkey continues his travels getting into all sorts of trouble.  And look, sunny weather!  Hiking this place in driving rain would not be a fun experience.

First time we've felt inclined to use our walking poles too.  The ground isn't just rocky - it's fall of holes.  We're walking on clints, being careful not to twist an ankle by slipping into grikes.  It's a typical karst landscape where the limestone bedrock has been sculpted and worn by glaciation and erosion over millions of years.

It was great meeting Sandra too, and Frank was right.  She and Axel both used to work for large IT companies, and that's how they met.  Both have since retired from IT and now run a cattery.  Needless to say we had lots in common, and geek talk didn't come into it much at all.

Thank you Axel, Sandra and Fiadh for showing us this amazing place.

I was particularly interested in their opinion on Irish reunification and animosity towards the British.  General consensus is that it's easing over time, but reunification will be measured in generations, not years.  There's still hostility to the idea in Northern Ireland by the Unionists who cling to their British identity, but a growing acceptance on both sides that reunification will occur long term.

I think the same is true of any conflict, whether Israeli/Palestinian, Russian/Ukrainian, or anywhere else.  First step is to stop the fighting, then introduce measures to reduce the friction.  Over time the anger and bitterness recedes as the conflict is relegated to history, and younger generations get on with their lives.  Perhaps simplistic as the human animal is well known for its aggression, not always held in check by a thin veneer of civilisation.  While conquest by force has succeeded in the past, it is less achievable in the global village we live in now.

We say goodbye to Axel and Sandra as good friends, and would love the opportunity to welcome them to our patch of paradise in the future.

Day 3 - south to Gneevgullia

We're heading south to County Kerry, but what to see on the way?  The Cliffs of Moher are a well known tourist attraction, but expensive and crowded even in the off-season.  We decide on the Poulnabrone Dolmen - a neolithic portal burial tomb which gets us up close and personal with more of the Burren.  That 4m long capstone weighs several tonnes, and you have to wonder at the effort expended to get it up there.  Essentially the trick was to build an earthen ramp and slide or lever the capstone up the ramp using timber poles.

A huge amount of effort for a burial tomb, whereas nothing of the neolithic houses remains on the flat section.  You can get a good idea of the clints and grikes that Pauline's standing on.

Interestingly, cattle graze this site in winter months.  You wouldn't expect there to be much feed, but in winter the water table rises, the limestone retains warmth, course summer vegetation turns to hay, and grass grows well in the mineral-rich pockets.

Pauline spots a man in a hi-viz vest watching over the tomb and engages him in conversation, as you do.  He's making sure no one damages the site, builds cairns of stones, or otherwise treats the site with disrespect.  It's a lonely job, and when Pauline starts chatting, there's no stopping him.  I amble over too, and over the next 20 minutes we hear all about the cost of living, the inability to buy houses, skyrocketing energy costs, how Dublin has become so expensive (apart from the IT types), how farmers' kids aren't interested in staying on the land, how people have become disrespectful... If it wasn't for the Irish accent he could well have been describing NZ.  Seems like wherever you go, things are getting worse than they were.  With Pauline tugging at my sleeve we finally manage to get a word in edgeways and beat a hasty retreat.

Next stop is Bunratty Castle, standing beside the River Raite in County Clare.  Built as a stronghold in the 15th‑century by the MacNamara and O’Brien families it's sympathetically restored, with a little bit of maintenance still ongoing.

But it's more than just a castle. 

 It's part of a "folk park" with excellent restorations of early farming cottages and supply stores.  Might be time to call in the thatcher on this one.

The old Post Office had a special appeal for Pauline.  

I suspect a new animal is on the cards when we get home.  Perhaps to keep the lawn in trim?

Meanwhile the story of the Farmer's boy had an appeal for me.

A walled garden capped off an excellent visit.  While today was mild and sunny, when the wind is howling in this part of Ireland you need something solid to protect the trees and plants.

Our BnB is in Gneevgullia just to the east of Killarney, and well situated to explore County Kerry in the south west.  While Frank's bedsit BnB was on the cosy side, we can really spread out in this one.  A shame about the noisy shower though - when you've got gravity-fed cold water you need a decent pump.  Even I felt it oppressive, and that's without hearing aids.

So we're all set to explore the Rings.  Of Power?  No - of rugged scenic beauty.  Fingers crossed the weather holds.

Starting the WAW

Day 1 - Mon 12 Oct - east of Sligo

The Sligo region has a bit of everything.  Sitting on the coast just above Ireland's central western bump it has beaches, mountains, lakes and monuments.  It's a bit hard to decide what to see, and of course the weather plays a part.

With a misty start we kick off with the Gleniff Horseshoe Drive - towering cliffs, lovely waterfalls (could we be in NZ? - easily)

and a baryte mine and mill (definitely not).  Barium sulphate is valuable for industrial chemistry and manufacturing but we don't have mineable deposits in NZ - though interestingly baryte crystals have been found in Te Aroha's Tui mine.

We stop to fill up with petrol, and the Leon's computer says oil is getting low.  The car's only done 18,000km, and clearly it wasn't topped up before we picked it up.  I look for a dipstick to verify, but there isn't one.  At least in the engine bay I see it needs SAE 0W-20.  Seems a bit thin to me, but clearly I'm old school.  Does the service station have it?  Nah - only 10W-40.  It's old school too - it only stocks oil for last century's cars with dipsticks.  The Leon will have to carry on a bit longer.  It's still two bars above the Low level.

We're a few minutes out of the service station and see the Garda's flashing blue lights ahead.  There's been a nasty four vehicle crash and we're diverted down a side road.  Sobering to think what might have happened had we been travelling half an hour earlier.

The highlight of the day is the Benbulben forest walk.  The valleys here have been carved by glaciers and Benbulben is a classic example.

The mist adds to the moodiness of the place.  On one side we have the valley climbing to a towering tabletop mountain with adventurous sheep on the top slope

and on the other a forest reduced to matchsticks.

This is similar to the Kaimai buster.  Easterly winds accelerate down the slope taking out anything in their path, particularly large shallow-rooted trees in a bog.  This particular damage was from Storm Éowyn, which caused catastrophic forest damage across Ireland in the winter of 24/25.  Sligo was one of the hardest‑hit areas, and the clean‑up is still underway.

Where the trees have survived it's like stepping back in time.  What could appear here?  The Nazgûl?  The four horses of the apocalypse?  

Hopefully not - I'd prefer to see Enbarr galloping towards us from out of the sea.

This would be a horse worth having.  A horse that can run across land and sea without slowing, faster than the wind, never tiring, never stumbling, and able to carry its rider to the Otherworld.  Now that might be interesting.  The Otherworld isn't the afterlife - it's a parallel, supernatural realm that exists alongside the human world - a hidden dimension of gods, spirits, eternal youth, and altered time.  I'm willing to give it a try.

The cloud lifts as we turn the corner and head towards the Yeats trail.

Yeats? I have to concede a bit of ignorance on this one.  English never was my forte at school.  After a number of C- essays my Te Awamutu College English teacher made the rather ascerbic comment on my report, "Man does not live by science alone".  My maths teacher was much more generous.

William Butler Yeats - Ireland's greatest poet, a Nobel prize winner, a man who believed passionately in the spiritual power of landscape and took a lot of his inspiration from the Sligo area.  For Yeats, Benbulben was a symbol of myth, destiny, and the supernatural.  

He invokes the spirit of Enbarr in his poetry:

We rode on the sea’s edge; the sea

Drew back and we rode on the shore…

...

And the horse that carried us

Made no sound on the sands…

...

We rode where the light was woven and spun…

I can see why as we follow his trail.

On our way home we take in the Glencarr waterfall, 

another local inspiration for Yeats in his poem "Stolen Child".

Where the wandering water gushes

From the hills above Glen-Car,

In pools among the rushes

That scarce could bathe a star,

We seek for slumbering trout

And whispering in their ears

Give them unquiet dreams;

Leaning softly out

From ferns that drop their tears

Over the young streams.

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a faery, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

Just let me enjoy the imagery and don't ask me to write an essay about it!

Day 2 - understanding the Wild in the WAW

As we wake the rain is coming down in sheets.  The wind is howling and peals of thunder echo across the valley.  This doesn't look good for our plan to visit the Sliabh Liag (Slieve League) cliffs.  But we're starting to understand Irish weather, and how to interpret the weather forecasts.  If we can arrive around lunchtime we might be able to appreciate them in sunshine, or at least an absence or rain.

To get there we have to backtrack a bit to Ardara.  Strictly a bit further north than we needed to go, but this gives us the opportunity to drive the amazing Glenglesh valley in the Dartry mountains

When we get down to Killybegs we head west until we fall into the Atlantic Ocean.  The Sliabh Liag cliffs rise almost vertically 600m above sea level, but we have to earn the ability to see them by hiking 2km from the car park.  Mercifully the rain has stopped, but to compensate the wind has increased.  It is blasting off the Atlantic so hard we're almost knocked off our feet.  It's so strong that streams running down into the sea are blown back up the cliff, drenching everyone walking the path.

It's at about this point I'd like to reach for Fragarach.

Forged by the gods, it has a number of remarkable properties:

• The Truth-Forcer: When the tip is held against an opponent's throat, it compels them to answer any question truthfully and strips them of the ability to move or lie
• Unstoppable Blade: No armour, shield, or wall can block it, and it can cut through any material effortlessly
• Wind Command: The wielder can place the surrounding winds under their command
• Unhealable Wounds: Any wound inflicted by Fragarach is fatal or impossible to heal by normal means.

I'm after the third property right now, but no doubt the others would come in handy too.

With no Fragarach readily to hand, we admire the wind blasting the Atlantic onto the cliffs instead.

We just have time on the way home to see the south side of Lough Erne.  Both a scenic area and a major renewable‑energy area, thanks to the Erne hydroelectric scheme and multiple wind farms clustered around the lower and upper loughs.  It's good getting up close and personal, and at one stage it seems we're driving through the step-up transformers in the hydro substation.  With pics of substations and wind turbines holding limited interest, I offer this much more attractive if windblown pic instead.

And the view when we get to the Cliffs of Magho overlooking Erne is stunning.

Just down the road from our BnB are the Creevykeel stones, one of the finest Court Cairns in Ireland, and built around 3,500 BCE.  It was used as a ceremonial and mortuary site for rituals, gatherings, and ancestor veneration.  

I like that latter idea - perhaps the grandkids can take some inspiration.

Day 3 - heading to Galway

It's a long haul past Galway to our BnB and it's still blowing a gale, so we have to pick our route carefully.  We decide against Strandhill beach (just a surf beach) and the Lough Gill scenic loop  (done Erne) and head south to Louisburgh.  This puts us at the start of the fantastic Doolough valley drive to Leenaun.  Think wind funnelled by a valley.  What was already gusting to 100kph was so amplified it was blowing sheets of water off the lake.

It's such a spectacular sight that I'm preferring the current weather to brilliant sunshine.

Decision point at Leenaun.  Do we have time to hang a right and head through Connemara to the coast?  Yes - we're only in Ireland once, so on to Clifdon and the upper Sky Rd to the lookout.  

Bleak, spectacular and wild - we can definitely confirm that the Wild in the WAW isn't false advertising.

Apart from rush hour traffic in Galway our trip to Frank's BnB was uneventful.  A small bedsit but fine for our purposes, and the wifi is great.  

Compare that to our previous place where the wifi signal was so weak they had to give us a 4G router, and that promptly ran out of data.  More ICT advice freely given.

Tomorrow I catch up with my mate Axel, and I hope Pauline doesn't get too bored with all the geek talk.  Say tuned.