Wolfhound Tours- Day 3- Hiking, Irish Red Stags, Killarney National Park and Muckross House

Another adventure packed day planned. We left Kenmare and drove towards the Ring of Kerry which is an area of the Kerry Peninsula that has lakes, beaches, forest and Ireland's highest peaks.  We hiked on the Kerry Way across Windy Gap. You can hike for 5 days on this trail. It started with clouds over the mountains, but became a beautiful, sunny day. We hiked and just enjoyed nature. Spotted a dewy spiderweb.







We met up with Dave and immediatley started hiking up another part of the Kerry Way. We were going to get to the top to see if we could spot the protected Irish Red Deer. Dave was hoping we might sight a stag since rutting season had begun. Thru the mossy woods we hiked.





We reached the top and climbed up a stone wall. Far on the ridgeline, we saw a stag and several does.
When we returned, there were more deer in the field.


Some people in the group ended up with very wet feet. Parts of the trail had been wet and muddy and they did not have Goretex shoes. It was time for lunch. We do pack alot into a day with Dave. A lunch stop at a lake outside of Killarney gave everyone a chance to relax and dry out their feet a bit. It was a beautiful, peaceful lake.



A short drive took us to Muckross House (1843), Abbey and Torc Falls. We hopped onbikes and headed toward the Abbey. Muckross Abbey is one of the major ecclesiastical sites found in the Killarney National Park, County Kerry, Ireland. It was founded in 1448 as a Franciscan friary for the Observantine Franciscans by Donal McCarthy Mor.
There is a large tree growing insdie the courtyard. When we arrive, there was a gentleman playing the Irish Pipes. The acoustics were amazing and it was magical to listen to him play.






We rode past Muckross house. Very Impressive. Some of the group toured the inside.

We rode to Torc Falls. We passed an open field and there were many Irish Red Deer and a huge Stag.


It was off to Portmagee for the night. We stopped at the Valentia Island Lookout point. We could see the town, harbor and islands. It was misty and cloudy, but the views were still amazing.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wolfhound Tours- Day 5- Dingle Way, Slea Head, ruins and ring forts

Image
After breakfast, we headed towards the coast. Those looking for a hike were dropped off at the Dingle Way trailhead. There were only three of us. Marty, Emilie and myself. The trail hiked up the mountainside and followed the stone walls. As we got to higher elevation, the views were incredible. We felt sorry for the rest of the group for missing such views. We hiked along with the sheep. We passed a small waterfall, ring forts and many, many stone walls. We could see the beach where we would meet the rest of the group. At the top, we also had views of the Blasket Islands. Our hike ended at Coumeenola Beach. The beach was beautiful with jagged rocks on the edges. We  hiked about 7 miles.                                        Dave gave us a demostration of Hurling- a national Irish game. A bit crazy with a ball and stick. Once agai...
Read more

Durnstein and Melk-Austria

Image
This morning we arrived in the small town of Durnstein. One of the apricot centers of Austria. Everything apricot!!!!!!. Liqueurs, schnapps, lotions, soaps, candies and more. This quaint town has a population of 400. They also are surrounded by vineyards and produce many wines, mostly white. They have the perfect climate for white wine grapes.  Durnstein has many historical sites such as the Augustiner Abbey with the beautiful blue clock tower, the remains of Kuenringer Castle where Richard the Lionhearted stayed after the Crusades and a small town area with shops. We tasted many varieties of apricot liqueurs and other products. We are bringing liqueurs home. Walked back to the ship and we sailed thru the Wachau Valley. Vineyards are terraced up the hillsides. Beautiful churches and castles can be seen from the water. We had a picnic lunch on the sky deck as we cruised. Around 2 pm, we arrived in Melk, Austria. We visited the Benedictine Abbey Melk which is the first Benedicti...
Read more

Heli HIke onto Franz Josef Glacier

Image
Only 7 of our group chose to do the Heli Hike. The rest will go do a hike in the area. We were dropped off at the tour operators and outfitted with a jacket, pants, socks, boots, mittens, crampons and a bag. Everyone was weighed and then placed in the helicopter. We flew up the valley and landed on the glacier. After a safety briefing and putting on our crampons and getting our hiking pole, our guide, Zac had an axe which he used to cut steps into the ice on steeper sections. He showed us an ice cave and asked if we wanted to go through it. Everyone said yes. He tied a rope on each end and one by one we lowered ourselves down and though. It was wet and very slippery and even a bit scary, but fun. After we finished with that, we hiked up towards the large pieces which Zac told us were over 6 stories tall. The sun came out and you could see the blue ice. Incredible! Some areas were starined and streaky with dirt and sediment which gave them black and white...
Read more