Katie and I ventured on our own to this place I had read about – the town of Killarney and its adjoining national park of the same name. What at first was going to be a regular weekend trip turned into a very magical experience.
Killarney National Park, with its mountain lakes, was wet and cloud-covered the days we were there. Our first day was spent hiking around – we found a small tower and wandered through the copse and clearings and forests.
Our second day, we rented bicycles and took a narrow mountain highway (even through a tunnel that could really only hold one car at a time) and found ourselves in the Gap of Dunloe. We biked up and up to the peak – we even had to walk our bikes for the last part – and then enjoyed a smooth, winding passage through the gap over the stone bridges, past the mountain streams and the grazing sheep and horses. The entire canyon was so beautiful, yet so colorless.
Along our way, we passed sheep and horses and a mountain stream. We took a cab back to Killarney town to turn the bikes in on time.