Killarney National Park

Sunday I ventured down to County Kerry to do some hiking at Killarney National park. This is somewhere I had been three years ago when I cam but have wanted to return to. The landscape and scenery at Killarney are absolutely breathtaking. The town is situated just off the coast of a large lake connected to two smaller lakes and surrounded by Ireland's highest mountains.

I went with Agathe and her friend Estelle from France. We did a round trip hike of 16km (roughly 10 miles) beginning and ending in Killarney town with our furthest point being Torc Waterfall and the surrounding mountainside.

At this park you could hike all day and still not see half of the sights. You could easily take 3-4 days to hike all through the countryside here. I would certainly love to return and do a biking trip here but I do not know if I will have enough time.

One suggested trip is to rent a bike in Killarney town, bike to Ross Castle and take a boat though the lakes to the other side of the park where you can bike through the mountains through the Gap of Dunlow and finally back to Killarney town.

Beginning of the End

As May begins the general look and feel has been doom and gloom. Everyone is preparing for their final exams and papers knowing full well that they'll be leaving soon. On Saturday one of my best friends here, Audrey, left to return to France. It was hard to say goodbye for everyone. Audrey was always one to go to a pub to watch the Rugby match, and that being the case, that very night was the big rugby match between Munster (west Ireland) and Leinster (east ireland) for the Heineken Cup semi-final. Munster had only weeks earlier completely decimated Leinster yet that sad afternoon, with one fo their biggest fans gone to France they just couldn't do it. It wasn't even a good match to watch it was just sad to see them being run over but a far inferior team.

As the game stretched ona nd got worse and worse, so did the weather. We watched the match on a big outdoor screen seeing as it was Limerick's Riverfest weekend. by the end of the amtch the sky was dark, the wind was roaring and the rain began to fall. Sad day for Munster.