GOING FAR AND WILD
Photos and stories of coastline’s beauty and ancient heritage
THE untamed beauty of Ireland’s west coast is illuminated in a new book celebrating the Wild Atlantic Way.
The Whispering Land — by photographer and author Carsten Krieger — is a unique mix of captivating images and myth, legends and lore from the rugged coastline.
Krieger traversed the nine-counties of the 2,600km long stretch from Donegal to Cork, taking pictures and hearing stories about the ancient heritage of the area.
It’s like a photographic tour of the Wild Atlantic Way, featuring breathtaking shots such as one of the Dingle Peninsula — where sunshine and showers have produced a rainbow; a dramatic silhouette of Carrigaholt Castle in Co Clare and Lough Corrib in Galway, lit up by a red sky.
His book combines landscape photography with folklore, telling old tales of such legends as the Fir Bolg, the Tuatha De Dannan, St Brendan, the romantic legend of Diarmuid and Grainne and Queen Maeve of Connacht, whose burial place is believed to be the Coolera peninsula, in Sligo Bay; as well as the pirate queen Grainne Mhaoil, whose name is synonymous with the Co Mayo coastline.
It has chilling stories of devils and saints in Sligo and
Donegal; patriotic tales of the French-Irish victory under General Humbert and Killala and myths of lake monsters in Galway and Mayo.
We’re told of the “old hag” of the Dingle peninsula, who was a healer but lived alone on top of a mountain as the people were afraid of her.
She chopped off a man’s head when he entered her home, tried to open her secret treasure chest and got his hand got stuck inside.
Another such fairytale witch is the Hag
of Beara, who was turned to stone after a minor transgression. In her place today is the Ard Na Caille rock, which means “Hag’s height.”
Readers find out why the Dingle area has so many places called after St Brendan, such as Brendan Point, Brendan Creek, and the Brandon mountain range. They’re named after Brendan the Navigator who was born there around 485AD.
Brendan studied in Co Limerick and moved to Galway to join a monastery. He later sailed into the unknown in search of Hybrasil, the legendary and magical island off Ireland’s
west coast.
The Whispering Land is divided up into five chapters: The Great Peninsulas, which covers Cork and Kerry, with their five peninsulas extending out into the Atlantic —
Beara, Iveragh, Mizen, Sheep’s Head and Dingle.
The River and Beyond showcases Kerry, Clare and Limerick, while Burren Karst depicts the stark, vast beauty of the ageold Burren in Co Clare to Galway.
It’s said to be the landscape that partly inspired Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
True West covers Galway and Mayo while Up Here It’s Different looks at the myth and majesty of Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal.
Says Krieger: “These landscapes have had a great impact on my life in the past three decades. During this time I have travelled south to north, east to west, exploring and photographing.”
■ The Whispering
Land: Myths, Legends and Lore from the
Wild Atlantic Way
(right), by Carsten
Krieger is out now priced €19.99.