Ireland Part 5: Islands and Waterfalls

With the promise of better weather, we decided to squeeze two adventures into one day, knowing we only had a few days left before heading back home to the states. First, our plan was to go back to the Ross Castle and give the area another try. This time with some convincing, David got me on a little boat to the Innisfallen Island.

When we first got to the Ross Castle, there was an orchestra from Germany called Stadtkapelle Bobingen setting up in front of it to take photos. We settled down on a bench by the lake. There were far fewer people here this time, making it much more relaxing to watch the ducks and swans on the water and all of the people while soaking up the crisp cool air. I was hoping the orchestra would put on a little show when they were done taking pictures, and they came through for me! It was so charming to see them in their traditional garb playing music in front of a historic castle. It’s not something you see every day! That is one of my favorite things about coming to Ireland. I’m always taken by surprise by something new, every day. 

After about an hour or so, we made it over by the dock to get passage to the island of Innisfallen. I was intrigued when I read about it, but I was nervous when I found out you could only get there by one of the tiny boats waiting to be hired. The thought of how easily those things could tip over into the cold water was a tad daunting, but I mustered up a bit of courage and we were ready to go.

Our little boat had four other passengers on it, our boatman, and his little old Pomeranian companion. I actually ended up really enjoying the boat ride because it was incredibly scenic and we got a great history lesson about the island from the boatman. 

He explained to us that Innisfallen means “Fallen Island” in English - Fallen being the name of a monk who once lived here. Innisfallen is the largest island on Lough Leane, which is the largest of the three lakes of Killarney.  Lough Leane translates to “The Lake of Learning”, possibly influenced by the scholarly history of the island.

There were monks living on the island for 800 years between the 6th and 14th century. All of the ruins of the old buildings are from the 11th, 12th, and 13th century. Unfortunately, between the 6th and 11th century, all buildings were timber, and there is nothing left of them. In the 11th century, the monks living there joined an order called the Augustinians, and thats when the stone buildings were put up. 

During their time on the island, the monks wrote a book called the Annals of Innisfallen, which are historic entries detailing medieval Ireland that were originally written on animal skin in latin. There were two and a half thousand entries in the book. The first entry from the year 433, and the last in the year 1450.

Once he dropped us off at the island, we had an hour to explore before he came back to pick us up, which didn’t seem like enough time at all. The island was as enchanting as I had read it would be. It was quiet, secluded, and it almost felt like we had the whole place to ourselves. There was so much beauty, nature, and history to soak up all at once. It was fascinating to observe all of the structures and imagine what it must have been like when the monks lived here so many years ago. Little families of deer frolicked here and there. I kept thinking how lucky these deer are to live on this private island full of lush green grass and plants to eat, with virtually no predators to worry about. The latter seemed especially true as they were fairly comfortable with our presence.  

One of the structures we checked out had a small celtic cross statue in the center of it, I believe it to be known as the Wishing Stone. There were tons of coins at the base. I pulled out a few Euro’s to leave for the stone, as to leave a small piece of us with the island, in return for the large impact it has left on me.

Our time seemed to go by far too quickly, and before we knew it our boatman was there waiting for us at the shore. I could have spent all day on this island, but we still had one more adventure planned for the day: The Torc Waterfall. Fortunately, our next destination was only about five and a half miles away.

Very quickly we learned that our experience at the waterfall was going to be much less peaceful than the lovely Innisfallen. There was absolutely no parking in the lot, and there was zero chance of us getting a spot anytime soon with how crowded it was. We ended up driving down to a small hidden parking area about a mile away and had to walk the rest of the way to the entrance. From there, it would be about a ten-minute hike up to the top of the waterfall. I was experimenting with a photographing technique used for waterfalls I recently learned so our ten-minute hike ended up taking about a half an hour. I could not believe how many people were there. You would think we were at an amusement park or something. There were hundreds!

Once we finally got near the top of the hike where the waterfall sits at the base of Torc Mountain, I was overwhelmed by the crowd. 

My husband and I crawled down some rocks by the water to try and get a better vantage point for photos. Though I was successful, my husband was attacked by a bee and fell. He landed on his wrist on another rock and was stung. He twisted his wrist pretty bad, but he handled it all like a champ.

I still wanted to hike up a little further and get some shots of the top of the waterfall, but I was bombarded by selfie sticks and children running around, knocking into my tripod. Yet somehow I was the one apologizing for being in the way. I was in disbelief at how people would just walk up to the edge, turn around for a selfie, and walk away, not even taking a second to appreciate what it is they are standing in front of. And at this point, I was having a hard time appreciating it too because I was so distracted and frustrated. I never made it any further. I didn’t have it in me to fight through the crowd. 

We hiked back down, fairly disappointed with the turnout. I can only imagine how magical this place must be without all of the people. My heart broke when I heard a lady behind me saying with disdain, “I don’t see what’s so great about it.” 

Even though our experience at the waterfall was a bit of a letdown, it was overall a fulfilling day. The Innisfallen Island was the ultimate experience for a nerd like me. It doesn't get any better than nature, history, adventure, and good weather all rolled into one.

The waterfall was a sight to behold, behind the crowd of people. I am still grateful for the opportunity, and I hope some more of the people there appreciated it the way it deserves.

We retired to the hotel where we rented the Robin Williams movie “Hook” from the lobby, ordered spaghetti and onion rings from room service, and called it a night.