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Subscribe now 10% Above: Muckross House and gardens, Killarney, County Kerry. Below left: Moll’s Gap. T


here is much debate as to why Kerry is affectionately known in Ireland as the Kingdom. Some speculate it originates in the old Irish term for the Kingdom of Cair while others, usually natives, point out they are


undisputed kings of Gaelic football. One sunny morning on the Dingle Peninsula I cracked the mystery as I had surely met the king himself. He sat confidently on a high throne surveying his subjects who were spread across the glorious landscape below. My clumsy intrusion was noticed immediately though he took his time before slowly adjusting his gaze to consider what to do with me. It was my fifth day in Kerry and I had started to go native.


My friends and I rented a cottage on the gentler slopes of Mount Brandon and I was out for an early spin after a night of


music and conversation in the local pub. High stone walls lined the narrow paths that defined the fields. Each field was long, upland to lowland, and from a distance it was hard to tell the sheep from the litter of great granite boulders that were dotted about. One especially large specimen overlooked a narrow turn on the road and thereupon, seated above his flock, was the most regal sheepdog I have ever met. For several days thereafter, Charles and I (for I decided his name was Charles) went eyeball to eyeball in the morning sun. He never looked away or backed off and, in the gentlest way possible, he typified Kerry – strong, dignified and fiercely proud to be the best. Kerry towns sound like a good tune: Dingle, Tralee,


Kenmare, Killorglan and Killarney. Perhaps it’s a jig or a reel as like the landscape it goes up and down with twists and turns. Kerry is where the Atlantic Ocean clashes with the mountains of the South West. It is a place of great peninsulas and magnificent bays. It features quiet lakes and splendid waterfalls where the landscape changes in a heartbeat; thunderous green to yellow ochre, all in the same vista. Appropriately, the county colours are green and gold. It rained on the first day of our trip. We arrived by train


into Killarney and decamped in a downpour. We were a small group of enthusiasts who decided to take on the ultimate challenge and tackle the Kingdom by bicycle. Our plan was to get to the Black Valley on the first day; this involved a big climb to Moll’s Gap and downhill from there. Rain was not on the agenda. We kitted up and trundled about waiting for a lull. Eventually, during an acceptable drizzle, we set off on our journey through the parklands of Muckross House.


4 Ireland of the Welcomes | July/August 2014 CLICK HERE


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