Feeling a bit the worse for wear (in spite of my OJ infusion), I abandoned my plans to hitchike to the village of Callan, and instead took the easy way out. I took the train out of Kilkenny, south to Waterford. There, I switched to a bus that took me west to County Kerry, where the landscape got more dramatic. At one bus stop, a small doll was taped to the bus-stop pole.

I stayed two days at the Kilarney Youth Hostel, which is actually not in Kilarney at all, but a good 6km hike outside of town. I booked two nights there so I could hole up in comfortable surroundings for Christmas. It's a nice old manor house, very clean, very comfortable, very friendly. There were plenty of interesting people there, and I stayed up late on Christmas Eve around a friendly table of convivial travellers sharing whiskey and talk.

I spent Christmas Day hiking. Near Kilarney is Kilarney National Park, and near that is the Gap of Dunloe. The Gap of Dunloe is a big dramatic valley. I went and walked to it, and then up it.

The hiking was beautiful. A few locals were out for Christmas Day constitutionals, but basically the valley was empty. I felt invigorated by the rugged scenery and the cool weather. I passed several quaint cabins, and several abandoned buildings of stone or wood.

The further up the Gap I hiked, the fewer houses and people I encountered. There were several gorgeous small lakes (tarns) in the valley. I had lunch on the shore of the middle tarn, and as I ate my salami, cheese, and crackers, rain began to blow in. It came in pellety gusts that chilled me, but I kept walking up. A cynical old sheep was grazing high up on the mountainside.

As I neared the summit of the Gap, I was delighted with the rugged conditions. The precipitation and wind increased. The vegetation got more tundra-like. The sheep stared at me with goggle-eyes. I was loving life: it seemed like the perfect way to spend a Christmas Day away from home. Once I crossed over the Gap, though, I got worried. My map indicated a long distance around the mountain back to Kilarney, and the rain started really coming down. When my jacket started to soak through, I decided to hitch-hike back to the hostel. The first car I stuck my thumb out to stopped and picked me up. It was a carpenter and his son, and they drove me back. What took me four hours to hike, they drove in about 20 minutes. Safely back to the hostel, I showered and watched TV for several hours of divine comfortable holiday bliss.