The next morning we packed up, said goodbye to Irene the goat – one of the two goats who lived at our AirBnb – and headed south to Killarney. It’s about a 2.5 hour drive, and we had a few hours to kill before being able to check in at glamping, so the plan was to hike around Killarney National Park until then.
Unfortunately there is no visitor’s center or central place to park. We ended up on the Ring of Kerry which is beautiful but another narrow, curvy road – plus cyclists! When we saw a random church on the side of the road with some parking spots, we pulled off. There was a nice trail/road (maybe Old Kenmare Road?) to walk on, so we went for a little 30-minute walk to break up the car ride.
After our jaunt we backtracked on the Ring of Kerry to what looked like a visitor’s center which turned out to be the Muckross House. There was a parking lot and a bathroom and a restaurant, so we grabbed some lunch before walking around the grounds. We decided against the tour of the house and instead walked to the old schoolhouse and then the Muckross Abbey.
Then we got the go-ahead that we could check into glamping early, so we headed there! I cannot recommend Killarney Glamping at the Grove enough. Linda the owner is super sweet and accommodating, and the glamping site is awesome. There are 5 tents total, and the interior of the tent was the largest living space we had of the entire trip. The bathroom (toilet and sink) behind the sliding door was probably the largest bathroom as well.
Each tent also has its own little kitchen area, so we went to the grocery store to get dinner as well as breakfast items for both days. Camping/glamping always makes me think of pancakes, but I was disappointed not to find any instant pancake mixes at the store, and we had to settle for oatmeal and eggs. We also got some pre-marinated steak and pre-made salad, so dinner was easy peasy.
Before dinner I went for a run to scope out Ross Castle. Despite it being a tad further away than Apple maps told me it was, it was pretty cool, and we added it to our list to visit the next day. To add to the list of reason glamping was my favorite, the shower was so good. The water was hot, the pressure was great, and it was probably the biggest shower of the trip, too. Since I spent so much time being a little chilly, having access to reliable hot water was very exciting.
After dinner and dishes, it started raining, so instead of enjoying the fire pit, we grabbed some games from the communal area and played Connect 4 and cards on our front porch (with the heat lamp). It was a lovely evening!
Sara Morrison 