Cill Airne is the Irish name for Killarney, the busy, cheerful tourist town in County Kerry that has been welcoming visitors since Victorian times, and it sits on the edge of one of the most beautiful landscapes in Ireland. Just outside town, three lakes lie in a valley below the highest mountains in the country, the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, with Carrauntoohil, at 1,038 metres, the highest peak in Ireland.
Killarney National Park protects the lakes, the mountains and the ancient oak woods around them, and it is home to Ireland's only native herd of red deer. Inside the park, Muckross House is a grand Victorian mansion with gardens on the shore of the lake, where Queen Victoria stayed in 1861, and Ross Castle, a fifteenth-century tower house on the lake edge, was one of the last strongholds to fall to Cromwell's forces. Torc Waterfall tumbles through the woods, and a short walk leads to it from the road. Visitors are often driven around the park in jaunting cars, horse-drawn carriages with drivers full of stories.
The Ring of Kerry starts and ends here, a loop of about 180 kilometres around the Iveragh Peninsula, with views of mountains, lakes, beaches and islands. The road south from Killarney climbs past Ladies View, named after Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting, who admired the view in 1861, and Moll's Gap, a rocky pass with views over the Reeks. The road is narrow in places, with tight bends, stone walls and sheep, and it is busy with tour buses in summer. By custom, the buses travel anticlockwise, and many riders choose to go the same way to avoid meeting them on the narrow bends.
The weather is a big part of the experience. Kerry is wet, with rain falling on most days, and the light changes constantly, with sunshine and showers chasing each other across the hills. The best times are spring and early autumn, when the crowds are thinner and the light is soft.
Killarney has fuel, food and every service, and its streets are lined with pubs, many with live traditional music in the evenings. Try a bowl of seafood chowder with brown bread, and a pint of stout, though save the pint for after the ride.