It is rhododendron season, both here in the Finger Lakes of New York and in Ireland. Sadly, I can’t be in Ireland this spring, but I am fortunate to see a few of these beautiful bushes around my hometown.

I first visited Kerry in 1971 with my parents, traveling around the Ring of Kerry in early June when the wild rhododendron blazed against the old stone walls along both sides of the road. Even back then, stone walls were being torn down to widen the road for tour buses. It is heart-breaking to think of what has been lost. Fortunately, some “brakes” have been exercised so that once the traveler is beyond the Killarney Lakes area, the charm of small villages and a Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking/old ways) area can still be found.

But as with wild daffodils and lilacs here in western New York, fewer and fewer wild rhododendrons are to be found along highways in Ireland. The best places to find them are on the north shore of the Beara peninsula, up north of Clifden in Galway. I even have discovered shades of a rusty red bloom that I never saw here in the US.

Like the sheep in the road I wrote about in my last blog, these visages of an earlier time bring joyful memories. During Covid, I traveled only virtually and often through my old photos and travel books. I am curious about what will be lost or hard to find when I return in real-time. Such musings reminded me of renting a cottage in Kinvara and discovering it was the weekend of the Cuckoo Festival. Who knew? But, there are oodles of festivals in Ireland. It gave me the idea to look up Rhododendron festivals. 

Sure enough, I found one.: Rhododendron Walking Festival The picture is from their website. The Vee is a hairpin turn in the mountains between Counties Waterford and Tipperary. I personally have not visited. If you do, I would love to hear about it.