Valentia Island and the Ring of Kerry.

                In the last post I expressed my joy in coming home. Well, after three months away researching in Virginia my fiancée Michelle has come home herself. The reunion was sweet, and after some time spent in Chester I followed her over the sea to Northern Ireland where her folks live.
                 Understandably things have been rather blissful; it's been lovely seeing all of her family and the horses, enjoying coffees out and happy evenings under the same roof. When Michelle let slip that she'd secretly booked us a trip away to Kells Bay House & Garden in County Kerry, it came as an unexpected cherry on top of a cake already tasty enough! Not that I could turn it down, of course - so off we set, to the sparkling south-western facet of the Emerald Isle.

                County Kerry is considered so beautiful the road circumnavigating most of it has been given the magical title the 'Ring of Kerry'. It certainly lived up to its name! We couldn't visit every treasure there and for the ones we did I couldn't capture their entirety with my camera - though Michelle knows I certainly tried! Before I write about the wonders of Kells Bay Garden, I thought I'd upload photographs from our exploration of Valentia Island and Killarney National Park, as these were created by the hands of God rather than horticulturists!

                The west of Valentia Island looks out into the Atlantic Ocean. Two tiny isles loom out of the misty horizon separating sky from ocean: Little Skellig and Skellig Michael (Sceilig Mhichíl).

Skellig Michael is famous for two separate habitations: a monastery of stone huts built by St Finnian, populated by unimaginably courageous men from the sixth to twelfth century, and jedi knight Luke Skywalker.

The view from Valentia Island: from left to right, Puffin Island, Little Skellig, and Skellig Michael.

The height of the cliffs, the white of the waves, and the strength of the winds are epic, and you truly are witnessing majesty. To attempt sailing out into it all, let alone to live on Skellig Michael, is hard to comprehend and rightly inspires the awe of the modern visitor.

               

                The next day, we ventured further inland along the Ring of Kerry, passing into Killarney National Park to see Torc Waterfall. It meant leaving behind the bleak coastal terrain and entering deep, deep woods of golden beech.

These trees tower above the road, their high boughs covered with thick green moss and ferns.
The continuous drop of their leaves fills one's vision, but one's hearing is met by the sound of human chatter - the falls and the continuing river attract a steady stream of visitors. Although the voices are an array of different dialects, the language barrier does not prevent offers to take photographs of other parties and consequent expressions of thanks.

With the falls (and our senses) so busy and completely enclosed by forest, it couldn't have been a more different experience to Valentia Island - touching an entirely separate part of the soul. Indeed, having returned to the north we've been asked if we had seen the 'Ladies View', another part of Kerry which is completely different to the islands or the wooded waterfall. I truly believe that one could journey along the Ring every year, and still find fresh landscapes waiting to be discovered and explored.