a walk round the corner - Kerry

Ballinskelligs Priory, coming from the beach
© Teresa Newham

OK, so not exactly round the corner.  And not just one walk, either - there were many:  along beaches, down tracks, across causeways, through gardens - a great opportunity to capture just a fraction of the delights this wonderful place has to offer!  Ballinskelligs Priory lies just off the beach; it's the place where the monks returned to the mainland after several centuries of life on the remote Skellig Islands.  Further along the beach I found flowers growing in  the walls of a ruin known locally as McCarthy's Castle:

some plants will grow anywhere!
© Teresa Newham

During the trip to Kells Bay Gardens I took so many photos my battery ran out, but there was enough juice left in it to snap this old seat, incongruously placed in the midst of some prehistoric-looking trees:

broken-down bench in Kells Bay Gardens
© Teresa Newham

I couldn't resist these pine cones, either - I loved the patterns they made and the contrast with the green of the leaves:

pine cones, Kells Bay Gardens
© Teresa Newham

We must have taken dozens of photos at this wreck on Rossbeigh Beach:  happily both wreck and beach survived the storm damage of February 2014, despite the wreck being moved along and up the beach by the mountainous seas!

wreck, Rossbeigh Beach
© Teresa Newham

I hadn't been to Kerry in June for more than twenty years, so it was lovely to see the flowers in bloom in the fields and hedges.  Everywhere was very green and I was thrilled that the fuchsias were out:

Fuchsias in the hedgerows
© Teresa Newham

Even when the weather was less than perfect, the views were still spectacular, as our walk round Muckross lake in Killarney National Park proved:

moody skies at Muckross Lake, Killarney
© Teresa Newham

The flowers were out in our friends' garden, too . . . .

French Lavender in an Irish Garden
© Teresa Newham

. . . . and in this field at Reenroe Beach - looking spectacular despite the rain (this is Ireland, after all!).

flowers at Reenroe
© Teresa Newham

This area of Kerry is a massive source of inspiration to me, as visitors to my website and regular readers of this blog know.  I hope it will continue to be so for many years to come!