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NORTH KERRY & SOUTH CLARE
What to see, where to go – everything you need to know
Exercise your mind and body in Kerry and Clare
The double-engined steam locomotive straddled an elevated rail, with
coaches having a compartment on either side of the rail.
This granted the whole enterprise a certain instability so that, for instance,
if a cow was being brought to market, two calves would be sent also, to
balance it on the other side. The calves would then be returned, one on
either side of the rail.
Sadly, almost nothing of this engineering marvel remains.
The resonance of the phrase Your Country Needs You lives on, however,
in world politics.
Lord Kitchener, the man whose face adorned the recruiting poster which
encouraged the young men of these islands to join-up for the Great War,
was born just outside the town. Most historians accept that the Kerry
man was largely responsible for determining the outcome of the First World
War, for better or for worse — not because of his poster of course
but because of his military acumen.
The outcome of the Great War is still a resonance in European politics
to this day.
The Listowel Writers’ Festival is celebrating its 37th anniversary
this year and the calibre of guests is eloquent tribute to the high esteem
in which the event is held: British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion, Roger
McGough, Gerard Donovan, Melvyn Bragg, Joseph O’Connor, John Banville
and Colm Toibin.
The festival runs from May 30-June 3. www.writersweek.ie
The Listowel Races, now entering their 149th year, continue on directly
after the Writers’ Festival.
Should you book yourself in to the Listowel Arms Hotel, you’ll be
at the epicentre of the scribes’ activities and also have a first-class
view of the nags on the racecourse just the other side of the River Feale.
The much-loved old Listowel Arms Hotel is rich in history. A new restaurant,
kitchen, banqueting area and bedrooms all overlook the River Feale.
Tel: 00 353 682 1500
Racing takes place over the Whit Weekend at the start of June with a seven-day
festival being held in September. For more info visit www.listowelraces.ie
Should nosh be more your thing than nags, the 2007 Listowel Food Fair
takes place from Thursday, November 8 to Monday, November 12.
The full programme of events will be on the website in October —
www.listowelfoodfair.com
Outside of festival time and racing weeks, Listowel is a pretty village
set round a central square, boasting a 15th century castle, once belonging
to the Fitzmaurices. A riverside walk along the gently babbling River
Feale will set you up nicely for a meal in one of Listowel’s many
restaurants or pubs.
 Ballybunion
Ballybunion, a traditional seaside resort on the Atlantic coast, has
become a haven for surfers and windsurfers.
Rollers, having made a 3,000-mile journey across the ocean, are perfect
for beach-breaks and foamies by the time they reach the Kerry coast.
The beach itself is dramatic — a promontory which divides the strand
into two carries a lofty, ruined wall of the Fitzmaurice family castle.
In the summer gloaming, this is a magical landscape, a shadowland of ghosts
from the past.
Towards the north are precipitous, cave-riddled cliffs, amongst the most
operatic cliffs in these islands, echoing to a baritone ocean and a soprano
of screeching seabirds.
Alfred Lord Tennyson was well impressed by the area; the poet was inspired
to compose lines for Merlin and Vivien which he wrote on the spot:
‘As on a dull day in an Ocean cave
The blind wave feeling round his long sea-hall
In silence: wherefore, when she lifted up
A face of sad appeal, and spake and said,
“O Merlin, do ye love me?” and again,
“O Merlin, do ye love me?” and once more.’
For views to the east, the summit of Knockanore Hill just outside the
town gives wonderful vistas across the Shannon to the far distant spires
of Limerick.
For many people, the main reason for heading to Ballybunion is Ballybunion
Golf Club, considered to be amongst the top-10 courses in the world.
Part of its charm — its remote location — has sadly prevented
the course from being selected for many top championship events. Still,
a number of the world’s best players have found their way to the
famed course.
Tom Watson had this to say: “I am now of the opinion it is one of
the best and most beautiful tests of links golf anywhere in the world,”
while the great course designer Robert Trent Jones had this to say of
his visit: “It was the finest piece of links-land that I had ever
seen.” |
