After Westport, we travelled though the Doolough Valley, site of a tragedy during the Irish Potato Famine (more here). Several persons died after walking several miles to ask for help and being refused (more here). The cross below is a memorial.
It’s an easy, and beautiful, drive in the car. We wouldn’t want to walk it, especially in March.
Just before we got to Leenane, we discovered that we hadn’t really seen rhododendrons. They were everywhere and BIG! It’s hard to see the color so far away, but the profusion is obvious.
Aasleagh Falls from a distance.
And up close. There are people above and below the falls for perspective.
A tree and more rhododendrons.
The pub where we had lunch. Found out later that it was suggested in our guidebook.
Killarney Lough, a tidal inlet which elsewhere would be called a fjord.
Kylemore Abbey was built in the 1860s by an Englishman for his wife. Since 2015 Norte Dame (the Indiana one) uses it for summer programs.
The wild flowers were abundant. Here irises.
And here daisies.
And here, of course, more rhododendrons.