Past & Present:
Walk Through the Ages in Southwest Ireland
Walk Through the Ages in Southwest Ireland
When I took a 19th century jaunting car ride from the gate of the estate to the door of Muckross House I had a flash of comprehension: this is why Ireland walks.
Not that Paddy the horse wasn't a sweet old thing, and there was even a pillow of sorts on the seat of the cart. But the gnarled forest and silvery lakes came through like a bad old film jerking up and down until I wanted to shut my eyes while they fixed the projector. Walkers passed us, and I envied them. They stopped at will not preordained viewpoints and took pictures of mysterious hollow trees as well as the 15th century abbey. Obviously if one were to see the "real Ireland" as more than a blur that was the way to go.
Southwest Ireland, specifically the counties of Kerry and Cork, is too magical to breeze through by car or bounce through by cart. Every turn on the coastal road is a new way of seeing: a mirror harbor where a red boat drifts towards to a wooded isle; the stubble field with its vertical ogham stone marking perhaps the grave of some ancient prince or hero; the gorse and heather covered hill.
There are no straight lines. We do not "go down the Beara Peninsula," we take the looping "Ring of Beara" or better still, follow the "Beara Way" as the footpath is called. The path runs for 130 off-road miles according to one guidebook. This is serious walking.
The road around the Ivaragh Peninsula may have a number, but it is better known as the Ring of Kerry. The "Kerry Way" footpath is 110 miles around starting at the market town of Kenmare. They say you are never more than 115 mile from the sea in Ireland, so as the magpie flies, a straight-on walker might have been midway across the country using the days and energy required for a single loop. One mischief is that things are much farther apart than they seem on the map.
Alas, we came short of time to do what should have been done ("Time enough" the Irish say, but they live here after all) though we walked when we could and made the most of slow driving on roads that see traffic only in July and August.
Traditional Irish friendliness towards Americans ("Sure, you're from Boston are ye? You may know my cousins the O'Haras") and familiar language eliminate culture shock. Yet Gaelic (Irish) is taught in the schools, and on the Dingle Peninsula's "Dingle Way" in villages such as Ballyferriter Irish is what everyone speaks. On Dingle it is assumed you have come to see Banna Strand, the beach where the movie "Ryan’s Daughter" was made 30 years ago. The "Saint's Road" is said to have been the footpath preferred by St. Brendan himself. (St. Brendan the Navigator went on to discover America eons before Columbus, but that's another story.)
Reaching the remnants of Stone Age, Bronze Age and early Christian occupation requires hiking not strolling. The idea of saving these structures for posterity is a comparatively new one, and many ancient markers were dismantled for use as building stones or burned for lime to fertilize the fields. What remains qualify both as archaeological treasures and Found Art.
Stone circles are typical of the southwest. They were the center of pagan activity for the winter solstice, and some have a center grave marked by a boulder. The circular shape may well have saved them from destruction for they were credited to the "Little People" and left alone. Enormous chunks of limestone poised on the crests of hills or plunged into streams are seen as evidence that Finn McCool or the great Cuchulainn Himself tossed them about. Obviously they were handy ammunition whether used against giants or blackbirds. On the other hand they could have been left behind by glaciers.
Ruins run the gamut from primitive to the late 19th century. More than 300 stone huts, forts and cave dwellings constitute the "Ruins of Fahan" on Dingle. Outside Castletownbere is Dunboy Castle, stronghold of O'Sullivan Bere, last holdout for Philip of Spain against the forces of Carew and Elizabeth I. A sign on the stone tells us the castle was destroyed---not surrendered---in 1602. The spooky mansion usually misidentified as the castle was built in the late 1800s and gutted by fire in this century.
Prehistoric cairns have been assigned romantic tales as well as names. You can take these as seriously as you like, but it is prudent not to call them "history." Preservation is now seen to have practical value, and the Irish are famous for being able to tell a good story. Every August at Killorglin they put on an updated version of the once orgiastic "Puck Fair," a three-day event considered one of Ireland's top festivals. The Open Forest concept---the use of public land for leisure and recreation---includes maintained trails, picnic areas, beaches and car parks. There is a modest fee for parking, and picnic grounds are marked from the road with the international icon of a t-shaped bench and tipped pine. Many nature trails have leaflets available from dispenser boxes, and the Forest and Wildlife Service guide booklet is available in tourist offices.
Kenmare holds a "Walking Festival" in May, though in this temperate climate where fuchsia hedges bloom, palm trees nod and Mediterranean gardens flourish in sheltered spots, only mid-winters need be shunned. Glengariff (literally "rugged glen") was a choice holiday spot for William Thackeray, George Bernard Shaw and other literary figures. They visited Garnish Island with its famous Italian garden and most likely many of the 100 isles that fill the harbor. Perhaps they also took the paths to Lady Bantry's Look-Out, Cromwell's Bridge, Leary's Point, and The Blue Pool.
Bed & Breakfast cottages are thick as shamrocks, and the Irish Tourist Board (Bord Failte) publishes a list of approved establishments in its "Bed & Breakfast Ireland." The going rate for a double room with private bath is less than $50 per night including full Irish breakfast of juice, porridge, bacon and eggs, bread and marmalade, coffee or tea. Out in the countryside farmhouses and cottages with a spare room and shared bath are much less. There are also hostels, campgrounds and self-catering cottages.
At the high end of accommodations are the luxury country house hotels. For example, Sheen Falls Lodge on the outskirts of Kenmare has spa, swimming pool, tennis, horseback riding, fishing on its own 15 miles of turbulent stream, more than 300 acres of wooded paths and a Michelin-star dining room. From May through September the tariff approaches $400 per night double with breakfast. The demesne dates from the 1600s and was a spoil of Cromwell times.
Killarney National Park, nearly 40,000 acres of woods, lakes, mountains, abbey, working farm and the Muckross folk museum and estate, is 20 miles northeast of Kenmare. In 1981 it was designated by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve, part of a world network of natural areas where conservation, research, education and training are major objectives. The last herd of red deer in Ireland live in its uplands; native and migrant birds populate the woods and waters. At the Visitor Centre in Muckross House you can pick up booklets for the self-guide walking trails. You step out the door, and you're on your way.
In case there's any doubt, the "real Ireland" begins right here.
Irish Tourist Board
345 Park Ave, NY NY 10154
Tel: 212/418-0800 & 800/223-6470
e-mail: info@irishtouristboard.com
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