E8 Preview: Kerry Way

The shortest section of my hike turns out to be on the longest at 230 km in total. I am walking a single day on the route between Kenmare and Killarney in a single day. The two towns being the highlights, but in-between there is plenty to experience on route of a naturous nature.

This map approximates the route. It actually enters Killarney National Park further east.

So highlights. I believe whilst the route doesn't directly go over any of them it does weave through a bunch of mountains on the way so the views - I expect - will be spectacular. Towards the end of the hike I will be walking between the Torc and Mangerton Mountains which open up to Lough Leane (or Loch Léin - lake of learning) which I suspect will be spectacular, in front (on account of the Loughs) and behind (on account of Torc waterfall)!

Historically the region has it's own fair share of notable events and tradition. As I said above, the largest of the two Loughs is named Lake of Learning, this is because of the monastery on Innisfallen island. The Monastery was a key point of learning within Island in the middle ages and it is from here that a chronicle of the times was created, the Annuls of Innisfallen. Going even further back I will be going to Ross Island where copper has been mined since Pre-historic times with evidence of the Beaker People (early Bronze Age cultrue within Europe) here. Alongside the mines is Ross Castle, the ancesteral home of the O'Donoghue clan and the Brownes of Killarney. Built in the 15th Century it has it's own chequered past, being involved in wars and rebellions, and a particularly perplexing myth involving a lord sucked from his room into the lake where he waits in a palace keeping a close eye on everything that he sees.... Fish presumably.