Plenty of reasons to be wild about Kerry

I LIVE in a beautiful part of rural Co Kildare and I love the landscape and the wildlife that surrounds me. But now and again I get a hankering for something different. And I have to admit that Kildare is slightly lacking in high mountains and dramatic seascapes.

So I had no hesitation about accepting an invitation to spend a few days in Kerry, a county that’s about as different to Kildare as it gets. I was staying in a house on the north shore of the Kenmare River during a glorious Indian summer – hot, sunny days without a cloud in the sky and crisp, cold nights.

I woke early on the first morning, went downstairs and, through the front window, noticed something splashing in the bay. I took binoculars and a mug of coffee out into the sunshine and spent half an hour watching a pod of about 20 dolphins playing those inexplicable dolphin games. You don’t get to see that in the Grand Canal.