Killarney: A National Park, a Subpar Tour, and a Bike Ride

 March 10-16
      From the time of cliff walks and mountain climbs to the highly anticipated week of Spring break approaching, I could hardly focus on finishing papers with so much excitement in the air. Still without my GNIB card, which states that I am a resident of Ireland and allows me to go in and out of the country with no problems, I decided, along with Kathleen that it would be the safer bet to stay in Ireland during Spring Break, plus in the middle of the week was Saint Patrick’s Day, so of course we had to stay in Ireland to celebrate. Before we even figured out where we were going, we uncovered the last site in Maynooth that we had yet to explore, Carton House. This “house”, which is actually a hotel, is located on a golf course and a river. Kathleen and I walked along the grounds and talked, enjoying the rare afternoon sunshine, and avoiding the golfer’s dangerous swings. By Friday we had finally chosen to go to Killarney for a few days and then over to Galway to join some friends for St. Patrick’s Day.

Kath at Carton House

I think this is the hotel...

 Saturday morning came with an early morning wind, a bus ride that took too many stops, and then a wait in the frigid and breezy train station.  Once we finally made it onto the train I soon dozed off to sleep, only to be woken up in Killarney. After finding our hostel in an alleyway, we knew that it would be an interesting adventure. Hungry from our morning of traveling, we stopped at a place called Cathleen’s Country Kitchen for some traditional Irish breakfast along with a pot of tea. It definitely hit the spot. With food in our stomachs we set off for the main attraction of Killarney, its national park. We strolled through the expansive forest, as the afternoon sun streamed through the dense trees. There was hardly any sings that directed you towards the landmarks within the park, so we frequently found ourselves lost. At one point we veered off the path and ended up by the edge of a shimmering blue lake. Entranced by its reflective beauty, we sat by the water’s edge in peace. Once back on the path, we dodged the horse drawn carriages and marched on towards Ross Castle. Upon arriving at the castle we saw a wedding party just as they finished their ‘I dos’, and then sat on the bank of the lake in the shadow of the castle. We sat and talked there for over an hour until the sun started to dip behind the clouds in anticipation for the coming dusk. As we walked back out of the park we heard church bells ringing in the distance, knowing the main cathedral was near the entrance of the national park we concluded that the bells had to be signaling the start of vigil mass. Kathleen and I made our way into the church, took our seats and prayed as the mass began. Ready for dinner by the end of mass we walked back into town and read the menus posted on the windows of the restaurants. Most of the restaurants were not in a college student’s price range, so we finally settled on eating at Eddie Rocket’s, an American style diner that is similar to Johnny Rocket’s. Chicken tenders and a thick Reese’s peanut butter milkshake hit the lactose intolerant spot in me. Although it was so rich, creamy and delicious, the Irish milk and ice cream rattled in my stomach for the rest of the night.

Kathleen being pensive by the lake

Where's Kathleen?

Look Irish sunshine! A rare gem that is!

Ross Castle far

Ross Castle near

Stormin' the castle

The church we stumbled upon for mass

           

The next morning we decided to do the Ring of Kerry tour since it departed from Killarney. Kathleen and I stepped onto a tiny, trashed bus that smelled of old gym socks and since it was already pretty full we had to sit in the back. We should have known then that this tour was not going to be a good one. The bus constantly rocked down the narrow roads that hugged the edges of the cliffs that dropped off into the Atlantic Ocean, and every time it was parked the bus would move back and forth as we disembarked and then re-boarded the bus; not the safest feeling you want to have as you are getting off near the edge of the cliff. On top of that our tour guide hardly ever spoke to us, or told us what we were seeing, so basically I have no understanding of what the Ring of Kerry is or its top sights. Since the tour was a big letdown, we were happy to be back in Killarney by the evening, even if we did have to spend another night in our somewhat sketchy hostel. This hostel had one outlet for an eight person room, was filled with a variety of people of different ages and places, including the one woman who was in our room that wore at least nine layers of hippie style clothing, and overall the place was very dirty. Although it was not the best accommodations, it was enough for us to sleep there for a few nights.

Enjoy these pictures of the Ring of Kerry! I really don't know where the majority of these places are, and the weather did not cooperate, oh well it's pretty.

Some beach near where Charlie Chaplin lived.

Kath found America at the place we stopped for lunch

 Modeling at Ladies' Point

A waterfall in the national park

            On Monday we decided it was time to do the much anticipated bike ride through Killarney National Park. We were walking towards the hostel recommended bike rental shop, but on our trek we got stopped by an older Irishman at another bike shop, and within five minutes we were mounted on some bikes. We took off into the park and within no time I had already fallen off my bike. Granted it was not my fault! There was a horse drawn carriage that would not get out of my way, taking up the entire pathway, so I lost my balance while passing them and fell into the mud. Thankfully, I braced myself for the fall so I was able to get back up in no time, but the passengers in the carriage looked extremely concerned for me. Catching back up to Kathleen, we rode together through new areas of the park, stopping occasionally at look out points. As we made our way down one path, we suddenly ended up riding into a puddle. However it was no ordinary puddle, it was basically a pond. The water was over a foot deep and took over the entire path for about fifty yards down. We realized too late into the pond that there was no turning back, so we pushed through, but our pedals were useless. I eventually got down off my bike and waded my through the murky water to the end. With our feet soaked to the bones, and our shoes water damaged, we sat on a bench with our toes drying out in still frigid air. Appalled and frustrated with our damp circumstances, we waited a while for everything to dry at least a little bit. After some time we slipped on our soaking shoes and got back on our bikes to keep going; however we soon ran into another big puddle, so we had no other choice but to go back the way we came. We took off our shoes and attached them to the back of the bikes and rode back through barefooted this time.

The start of our biking adventure

A copper pond

Viewing point of a mountain

The evidence from the "Killarney Bike Path Flood of 2015"

P.S. My bike is not pictured because it is still on the ground a couple of feet away, from when I threw it out of frustration and being wet and cold. 

Muckcross House

            At this point we were done with these mountainous, flooded paths, so we went in the complete opposite direction to go to Muckcross House. As we had to ride out of the park and onto streets to get there, we started the long journey. Of course, as my luck would have it, while we were biking back onto the sidewalk, I couldn’t pop the curb and I came crashing down onto the pavement with the bike landing on top of me. Now this one hurt more than the previous one, but I got up and kept going. (I ended up having thirteen bruises on my legs from biking falls that day.) Anyways we made it to the house, with the occasional getting off the bike to walk in non bike friendly areas, but by the time we got there we were exhausted, hungry, and ready to be done biking. As the rain started to come down we biked back to the bike shop, returned our bikes, ate at the same country kitchen again, grabbed our stuff and went to the bus station. Next stop Galway for St. Patrick’s Day!