Page 210 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

Then we headed south to Kerry and Fahamore to
visit my younger brother’s niece, Erin, who first visited
Ireland with her parents as a youngster. She stayed
with her grandparents in their cottage a number of
times. Now in her mid-30s, she lives a 15-minute walk
away with her spouse, “Roo” ,and their two young
daughters.
My kids Maddie and Anders - 16 and 18 as I write -
stayed with me in the cottage my parents purchased
all those decades ago. My parents house has been
spruced up and turned into a guest rental. We were
there in early June, before the tourist season heats up,
and had the place to ourselves.
We repeated some of the walks I’d taken with my
parents decades ago, often starting our days with a
stroll over to Erin and Roo’s house to see their daugh-
ter, Ezzyv, who was then a darling 3-year-old. (The
youngest daughter, Isla hadn’t arrived yet.) Of course,
there were horses along the way to feed with carrots
and apples.
On one exceptionally warm and sunny day, we trave-
led by boat out on the bay with Erin, Roo and Ezzy to a
small island for a picnic. And for some exploration of
monastic ruins that included a souterrain, or under-
ground passage, that we all crawled through. Another
afternoon, Erin gave us a paddle board tour of the bay
just steps from the home she shares with her spouse
and their young daughters.
We also rode steeds along the water with
O’Connor’s Beach Horses Trekking (beachhorseriding.
com) and into the sandy dunes that felt like they were
a world away from the ocean.
And one morning, while the teens slept in (they like
to do that), I donned scuba gear and traveled with
Waterworld Watersports (waterworld.ie) out to Gurig
Island to to look for lobster, anemones and crabs in
nooks and crannies of seas praised by the late Jacque
Cousteau for their rugged beauty.

210 WDT MAGAZINE WINTER 2018