Kerry: Going over the Cork and Kerry mountains

Bonane Loop, Cork/Kerry

WE set off from the car park alongside Molly Gallivan’s shop and café. A signboard, with a map, details three routes; we take the Fionn McCool Loop, marked with blue arrows. A yellow post indicates the entrance into a field and as we ascend gradually we see the valley below and the huge mountains opposite, one with a cairn on top. We will be crossing the valley and walking below these hills.

Walking on a gravel path toward the ridge, we pass antique farm machinery, a Famine Ruin, peat cuttings and a reek of turf. These are features of the Molly Gallivan Farm Tour, with an informative board providing interpretive details of each. The setting alone says much about life on a Kerry farm in the past.