Our tours are designed to immerse our visitors in the areas we visit. We intentionally base our tours in one spot, and then explore the location, learning about the history and the ecology of the area. On our most recent tour to County Kerry, we had the opportunity to go out one night to view ancient rock art with archeologist Aoibheann Lambe who has been making a lot of discoveries of rock art in County Kerry.

Aoibheann took our small group out to a field near Caherdaniel village that I had walked past many times before. There was a large rock, perhaps 20 feet long by 8 feet wide, sitting in the field. When we approached the stone and shone the torches straight on, all we saw was the bumpy surface of a field rock. However, Aoibheann had thought to take a closer look, and she helped our group to as well. When she shone her flashlight at an angle that mimicked the slant of the sun at the winter solstice, a large panel of cups and lines grew out of the shadows. While there are still more questions than answers about this prehistoric rock carving, our trip with a local expert revealed a whole new depth of understanding of the landscape we spent the week in. For the rest of the week, those of us on that walk pondered each majestic rock that we happened upon and wondered whether there were stories told on its surface that we had yet to unlock.

A cave in the cliffs in Ballinskelligs Bay

The landscape of County Kerry is rugged and beautiful and one of my favorite things to do is simply to wander the back roads, in car or on foot, to see what we discover. One rainy day recently, Kathy and I walked the small road that reaches out onto Hog’s Head, a peninsula separating Ballinskelligs Bay from Derrynane Bay. While the day was wet, and the gap between hills that provides access to the Derrynane side of the peninsula was wild and windy, we had a beautiful wet walk. On our way back, we spotted a slight difference below us along the shoreline. Only our slow pace allowed us the opportunity to notice the cave carved out of the cliffs well below us, with the waves crashing in.

While Ireland has an abundance of slugs, Kerry has an unusual variant. The Kerry Slug is found only on the Iberian peninsula (Spain) and in County Kerry. These slugs do not appear different if given a cursory glance,but a closer look reveals the unusual spotted pattern that indicates the rare Kerry slug. While this one was spotted on the pathway leading up to a ring fort in Cahersiveen, our tours include a naturalist walk to be sure that we learn about the unique ecology of the area we are visiting.

While our most recent tour was of the Kingdom of Kerry, some of our group arrived at the airport earlier than the rest of the participants. We went for a short visit out to the Mooghaun Hill Fort and walked the woods and ancient ramparts. Hidden here among the trees, an almost perfect fairy mushroom ring makes a complete circle. The largest mossy tree trunk in the photograph is growing right in the middle of the circle, but the mushrooms simply grow up to one side of the trunk and continue right on out the other. These magical sights are only noticed when we have the time to slow down and take a closer look at our surroundings.