Kicking back in a bathtub made for two in the bridal suite, my eyes drift over the pretty blue toile wallpaper above the wainscoting: “Is that a Japanese willow pattern? Or a traditional Chinese scene?” It is hard to tell and my thoughts drift to holidays not taken to far-flung shores. From the main room, the sounds of a football match slip under the door. We’ve taken over this suite at Kilcoran Lodge in Co Tipperary and my half-English husband is sprawled on the plump teal sofa in front of a 60-inch TV, watching the football.
I feel a pang for the bride denied the chance to host a cast of hundreds in the landscaped gardens and gaze at the Suir valley and the changing shades of the Knockmealdowns while having her photo taken. The hotel outside Cahir was built as the Earl of Glengall’s hunting lodge in the last century. Now it’s our refuge.
As a not-fully-vaccinated household, we were keen to take a break far from the capital and from swirling crowds of fellow Dubliners reported to be washing up on western and southern shores. The city had begun to feel like a prison, especially as a burly neighbour walks his alsatian past our house at least twice a day. So we headed for the hills and dales of Munster. The Munster Vales encompasses the region around the Comeragh, Knockmealdown, Galtee, Ballyhoura and Nagles mountain ranges and everything in between.
This staycation begins as did all those of my childhood: listening to the screech of windscreen wipers struggling to cope with grey sheets of driving rain lashing the car. With it, the feeling of hope and excitement of those years returns. Just past Cahir, the pastel pink lodge rises into view. The clouds have cleared and a stag carved from the stump of a tree stands sentinel above the lawns. The lobby is warmed by a real fire crackling in a black stove.
After months, or perhaps it’s been years, of clumping around in circles on suburban roads, our plan is to explore some of the local walks. The Comeragh and Knockmealdown mountains of Co Waterford are within easy reach. The “twin mounds of Keeper Hill and Slieve Felim” mentioned in Donal Ryan’s Strange Flowers are a little further west in Co Tipperary, but the Galtee mountains are right behind our hotel.
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We settle on the Attychraan Loop, which, although it starts just a few kilometres up the road, is in Co Limerick. It sounds like the perfect starter course for creaky city dwellers.
The hotel manager has never heard of it, which doesn’t bode well, though that may be just because we have no idea how to pronounce it. The fact that it’s just past Skeheenarinky (aka Sceichin an Rince), which we don’t know how to say either, doesn’t help.
The loop follows a forestry road along the wooded banks of the Attychraan River with views up into the Galtee mountains, before crossing the Funshion River and trailing past winding farmland with its cattle and sheep. It’s a gentle untaxing walk. Our stroll is disturbed only by the chirping of birds, baaing of sheep and snarls of a disturbed old dog being taken for a walk by an owner who sees no need to use a lead.
The next day, we decide to tackle the big one: Galtymore. It’s described as “challenging” in John G O’Dwyer’s Tipperary and Waterford: A Walking Guide but it’s really not, if you walk with the speed of a snail and the curiosity of a puppy sniffing at every clump of heather, saxifrage and foxglove. (And if you don’t push on to the peak.) The route starts on the Black Road, “an old route previously used to draw turf from the mountains, but now a convenient entry point to the heart of the Galtees”. We have achieved the sought-after peace. There is not a soul around as the rocky red sandstone path winds gently upward into the empty landscape. A few sheep stare at us as we pass and the sound of skylark and meadow pipit fills the air.
Within half an hour we are on top of the world, or so it seems, with views out over Limerick and Cork, as well as Tipperary. On a clear day, a trip to the summit of Galtymore yields views from Waterford to Kerry. That’s one for another time.
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Today as the skies brighten, we come across a monument shaped like the tail of an aircraft set up in memory of four men who died when their aircraft crashed into the mountains here. We could go on, but we are anxious not to be late for our fancy dinner at Mikey Ryan’s, a popular gastropub in Cashel. It will be our first dinner out in months, if not a year. It doesn’t disappoint, though we did need a heater for our garden terrace table. There are scallops on the menu and even the clink of the glasses speaks of money.
It’s off to Cork the next day to stay at Ballinwillin House, which is run by Pat Mulcahy, aka the Mindful Farmer. We’ve just missed out on the meditation and mindfulness weekend retreat but there is a holistic garden to explore and animals to meet. “I feel great peace here,” says Mulcahy of his garden, which has little signs with heart-warming phrases dotted around such as: “When it rains, look for rainbows. When it is dark, look for stars.” Mulcahy leads meditation sessions here designed to ground visitors. He says: “You almost become a different person when you come in here. I can feel the presence and the spirituality of my ancestors.”
The past year has been hard. The small hotel was closed for much of the time as were the restaurants that the farm supplies with venison and wild boar, leaving Mulcahy with surplus animals and meat. The fields close to the house are full of red deer, their fawns and one stag. “They are gentle creatures that won’t hurt you,” Mulcahy says. “I keep these, a few boar and a few goats near the house so our guests can meet them. There’s something lovely about having the chance to get up close to these animals. It’s part of nature.”
In Clonmel, we check in to the Hotel Minella, a neoclassical mansion built in 1863 for a wealthy entrepreneur. It has been a hotel since 1963 and its imposing gardens sweep down to the river. The Suir Blueway, a route for walkers, cyclists and water sports that extends for 53km along the river from Cahir to Carrick-on-Suir, is right outside our window. Or, should I say, outside our own private balcony overlooking the gardens and the river. We have another suite with a sweeping view so we are going nowhere.
Rose Costello was a guest of Munster Vales; munstervales.com
Need to know
Where to stay
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Kilcoran Lodge Hotel, Bohemarnane, Co Tipperary
Doubles from €120; kilcoranlodge.ie
Ballinwillin House Farm, Mitchelstown, Co Cork
Singles from €75, B&B; doubles from €100, B&B; ballinwillinhouse.com
Hotel Minella, Clonmel, Co Tipperary
Doubles from €160; hotelminella.com
Where to eat
Mikey Ryan’s, Cashel, Co Tipperary
Serving brunch, lunch and dinner, mains from €16.95; mikeyryans.ie
Market Place, Mitchelstown, Co Cork
Breakfast and lunch, mains from €13; marketplacerestaurant.ie
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The Wild Goose, Mallow, Co Cork
Breakfast, lunch and dinner, mains from €16; wildgoose.ie
