Discover Alone
“Tree wins patience contest here”
Muckross Abbey. You came for abbey walls? A yew tree would like equal billing. Muckross stands roofless in Killarney National Park, yet its stone walls still know how to frame the sky. Donal McCarthy Mor founded this Franciscan friary in 1448. I say 'founded', but it really just appeared out of the bog. It survived turmoil for two centuries before an attack in 1652 deliberately removed the roof. Smart move, really. Who needs a ceiling when you have open-air vibes? That destruction belongs to a hard history, not a spooky joke. In the cloister courtyard a great yew has grown for centuries. It places living branches in the middle of old stone, mocking my attempts at stillness. Walk around the nave, chancel and domestic rooms. You can still see how prayer and daily work fitted together. The ruin is reached on park paths with uneven ground. No roof against Kerry rain; check any current park notices before heading in. Pause by the yew, where the abbey's most determined resident has no need of walls at all.
Photo: NicholasH, CC BY-SA 4.0
Then Tom went looking for the oddest places around it.
Stop 2 · Hop back in the car, 5 minutes
Torc Waterfall
“Boar? Probably just me puffing”
If you hear a wild boar at Torc, check whether it is me puffing up the path. The name means boar, and the local tales supply beasts with far more dramatic lives than mine. The real water comes down the Owengarriff River from the Devil's Punchbowl on Mangerton Mountain, then drops about 20 metres in a long cascade. Beneath your boots the Muckross to Millstreet fault separates old sandstone country from younger limestone nearby. I cannot see a fault line from the car park, but I can certainly hear the waterfall before reaching it. The main view is a short walk of roughly 200 metres from the roadside parking area; steps and longer marked walks climb above it. Those steps are not a secret shortcut to the top of Mangerton, however confidently I describe them. Follow the path and let the spray finish my sentence for me.
Torc Waterfall is recorded as a waterfall in County Kerry.
From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) n1783001129Photo: Pam Brophy, CC BY-SA 2.0
More about Torc Waterfall →
Stop 3 · 5 minutes down the road
Mangerton North Top
“Ghost is lazy, sit down”
Mangerton North Top has a ghost living there who is too lazy to actually haunt anyone properly. He just sits on the peak and watches you struggle up the boulders, eating imaginary sandwiches. Dare you to say hello to it out loud.
Mangerton North Top is recorded as a mountain / peak in County Kerry. Summit height: 782 metres above sea level.
From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) n332372540Photo: Espresso Addict, CC BY-SA 2.0
More about Mangerton North Top →
Stop 4 · A 15-minute spin away
Innisfallen Abbey
“Monk clearing throat at night”
Innisfallen Abbey makes a low moaning sound at night that sounds suspiciously like a monk clearing his throat. It’s been an abbey for centuries but still looks a bit lost on its island. Go on a wet day, it suits the mood.
Innisfallen Island is one of twenty-four islands in Lough Leane, Killarney. Late 12th/early 13th-century abbey of Canons Regular of St Augustine dedicated to St Mary on or near the site of an early medieval monastery reputedly founded in the 6th century AD by…
From the National Monuments Service (Archaeological Survey of Ireland) record KE066-072Photo: Keith Salvesen, CC BY-SA 2.0
More about Innisfallen Abbey →The whole day on one map
See everything else around Muckross Abbey →
Over a million places across Ireland and Britain, all free. Explorer Tom has a story for nearly every one.