Ray and Mary of Walk With Me Tours are back on the road for a busy season for 2023. The year 2022 was a great year for us and we expect it to be likewise for this year 2023. Our private Day Tours to the Ring of Kerry, the Skellig Ring & Valentia Island are proving most popular.
There have been some changes on the Ring for the coming year and as we know nothing stays the same. Our good friend Brendan Ferris retired from his very popular Sheepdogs Demonstration at Kells on the Ring of Kerry but he will continue to farm in the foothills of the MacGillycuddy Reeks.
The good news is that there is a new show with sheepdogs at Kells and is being provided by Tom O’Sullivan from Killarney and is proving to be very popular. Tom is the current international champion with his Border Collie dog North Hill Tess on the BBC TV show ‘One Man & His Dog’. Tom’s show is a definite stop on our Ring of Kerry and Skellig Ring tour.
Other things happening on the Ring centres around Killorglin and one of Ireland’s oldest festivals – Puck Fair which dates back over 400 years. Last Summer during August when the festival is held each year, we experienced temperatures in excess of 32 degrees Celsius (94F) and King Puck had to be taken down from his throne due to the excessive temperature.
King Puck is a wild mountain goat that roams the Kerry hills and he is made King for three days during the festival. He usually commands a position on his enclosed throne high up over the town square in Killorglin. The very concerned animal rights groups complained through the Irish national radio network of the effect of the heat on King Puck. The local festival organisers agreed to take King Puck down from his throne during the day and returned him to his throne at night, much to the amusement of all attending the festival.
A must visit on our Skellig Ring tour is the visit to the Kerry Cliffs outside Portmagee. This attraction is owned and managed by a local farmer John Joe and his family. These cliffs at their highest point look out on the Skellig Islands and are fast becoming as popular an attraction as the Cliffs of Moher where we also visit on our tours.
As previously mentioned by us, nothing stays the same and the Skelligs Chocolate factory where we take people for tastings during our tours is under new ownership and management. However, the good news is that it has largely remained the same and continues to welcome international and national visitors to the factory.
Our private tours to the Dingle Peninsula, the Beara Peninsula and further afield to the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, & Connemara in County Galway continue to be booked by our clients.
Looking forward to meeting new visitors to Ireland in 2023 and all our returning visitors from previous years.
