Killarney and The Ring of Kerry

Killarney is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, which is part of Killarney National Park.

Killarney House and Gardens provide a break for urban explorers. Renowned Muckross House, with its 15th-century abbey ruins and massive yew tree, is just outside the town and well worth a visit and a stroll.

Here the gardens offer plenty of space – Explorason is off chasing a rabbit!

The camellias and azaleas are incredible.

Wild daffodils and other magnificent flowers poke their heads through the early Spring soil.

Here the grandeur cannot be missed.

The old house is a splendid example of yesteryear.

The earlier hurricane that ravaged through Ireland shows tell-tale signs of deprivation, as trees from 100 years ago are uprooted and thrust into the air like rockets launching into space.

But this is a great lesson in counting the rings in the trunks and telling the age of these magnificent beasts

Primroses are planed prettily in the garden.  Ireland may be suffering financially, but it is doing its best to restore and maintain history at quite a cost.

Beyond the house lies a lake and the Irish who don’t mind the weather pound their way along the pavements, ignoring the winds.

You can see by the scarf on Explorason just how strong the wind is!

Next, we drive along the Ring of Kerry.

Here the landscape harshly changes. I’m so glad I was privileged to see this or I would never have believed it with my own eyes.  Dry winter grasses make for the equivalent of a harsh dry grass on the opposite sides of the world – in Australia. But this is Winter.

It is burnt from the cold and bleakness.  Yet it holds a stark beauty.

Lakes and waterways are prevalent.

Mists roll in – adding to the mystique charm if the Ring of Kerry.

And then we stop.  We stop and we see green. Lush moss and it is in mounds.

It may be the wettest Winter in history for Ireland, but the beauty it has created is magnificent.

Resplendent of when Leprechauns danced the rock mounds, this is a magical area.

Your mind can really expound and visualize exactly why this is the ‘green country of the world’.

As we pulled the car aside to take a quick pic, it was incredible to find this goat head mounted in a tree.

I did not plant it – someone else has been here before – but what a great place to pull aside.

Mossy and eery!

Next came the famed Tunnel Rock – how long would that have taken a man from yesteryear to have chiseled out?

Amazingly soon after, we sat in a pub and saw Irish men from years gone by, actually creating this masterpiece!

The Ring of Kerry will present sheep, goats, and cattle if you look for them, but they munch on wild foliage that seems sodden by months of rain, so most right now are kept from the quagmire of muddy fields.

Ruined castles also can be found on the roadsides as you drive along.

Toward the end of the day, colorful old villages come to life amidst the rain washed streets.

All in all, you need to drive the Ring of Kerry if you come to Ireland.

Your eyes will be pealed to the mystic misty fields, and mashy hollows as you drive by.

It was definitely a visit I will never forget.

Time to go back to our hosts home to the warm fireside, and a hearty bowl of Irish stew – yum

For more information visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killarney