Killarney

Sat 29/8/26

While taking the stairs to our apartment on the second floor yesterday, I passed by beautiful pictures of Gap of Dunloe on the apartment's walls, so I decided to go there today (I've never heard of the place before). Last night I did some research, and it was decided we would walk halfway from the parking at Kate Kearney's cottage (free of charge) until the Head of Dunloe (highest point) with a distance of 6km then return back (12km total). It was too far to complete the whole way by walking and return back (23 km in total), and since we were driving, we would not take the boat from Lord Brandon's lodge to Muckross and return to Killarney, although that would be a nice adventure. 

We set out after breakfast and arrived at the parking lot at 8.45am and it was raining with no one else there. Only after the first Wishing Bridge we saw another couple walking. So we had the place almost entirely to ourselves that morning. It was absolutely beautiful and magical, I loved the views of the lakes (Black lake, Augher lake, Cushvally lake) river, waterfall, mountain, the bridges, the mountain pass, horses etc. There were accommodations located along the Gap of Dunloe, which would be so nice to stay there and wake up to the lovely views.

at the start of the Gap of Dunloe walk, near to Strickeen mountain access gate

walking by the river

by the Wishing bridge

Wishing bridge

Black lake

Auger lake with the winding Gap of Dunloe road 

Gap of Dunloe road by the Auger lake

in between Auger lake and Black lough lake

second bridge at Black lough lake

It finally stopped raining around 11am, when we were almost reaching the Head of Dunloe, but it was followed by heavy gusts of wind. I didn't dare to set up my tripod there due to the strong winds. As it has stopped raining, we started to see more pedestrians, cyclists and horse carts on our way back to the parking. 

Gap of Dunloe road

reached Head of Dunloe

Head of Dunloe

Gap of Dunloe walking route

We had our packed sandwich for lunch at the bench near the Wishing bridge while enjoying the views of the Black lake and sipping tea. 

From the parking lot, we drove back to Killarney towards Ross Castle (parking free of charge). We took pictures outside of the castle with the Lough Leane lake in the background, then enjoyed coffee by the lake. 

Ross castle

Since it was still early at 2.30pm, I decided to continue today's adventures for a scenic drive to Molls Gap and stopped for pictures at various viewpoints at Ladies View (view of Killarney Upper Lake) and near Dini's Cottage (view of Muckross lake). We wanted to have scones there, but Googlemaps mentioned it would already close by the time we arrive there, so we only took pictures at the lake.

Ladies View

Moll's Gap

Ladies view

Muckross lake

We then drove back to our apartment, refreshed then walked to a nearby halal Killarney Grill restaurant to have dinner. We had lamb qabuli and grilled chicken qabuli for EUR 13 each. 

lamb and chicken qabuli

After dinner, we walked around Killarney town and went to some souvenir shops for surveying. We would only be buying souvenirs at Dublin later. After about an hour walking around, we went back to our apartment and called it a day