Devils Bit
I have to thank my father for passing on a love for all things Irish – our games, our culture and our heritage. Travelling along in the car we were entertained with quizes, ’20 questions’, ‘animal, mineral or vegetable’, geography and history!
We scanned the horizon for landmarks – who would see the sea first… ‘what’s that landmark over there’ and one that always caught my attention, as we drove south to Kerry on our summer holidays, was the Devils Bit!
Legend had it that the Devil himself (or was it Babs…!) bit a chunk out of the mountain and spat it out to form the Rock of Cashel! We were mesmerised by this stories and the journeys passed quickly.
Its taken a long time but I finally made it to walk up the Devils Bit today and what a day for it, blue skies and amazing scenery in all directions. I would highly recommend it as an easy hill walk and a great way to get an introduction to our hills and mountains.
It was also the location of a famous mass meeting in 1832 against the tithes, paid by Catholics to support the Protestant clergy and over 50,000 people are estimated to have attended to hear Daniel O Connell speak and for a symbolic burying of the tithes.
On the way up to the cross you pass Cardens Folly, a tower built by a local landlord, John Rutter Carden.
There is a nice Looped walk which takes about an hour to complete, it’s a steep rise at the start up to the cross and back down through the forest returning by the same path to the car park. I went back up as I wanted to walk to the top of the actual Devils Bit and it was well worth the effort!
