I’m usually not one for making the most of my own backyard. Too tempting is the thought of hauling my bruised and battered backpack halfway across the world to connect with something bigger than myself. 

Give me the pale morning light in Alhambra, a celestial cloud storm in the mountains of Oaxaca or the shifting sands along the Pamir Highway. The further from the co-ordinates of my childhood home, the better. 

But if there’s one place close by that stills my wandering feet, it’s down a country lane about 10 km west of Kenmare in Co. Kerry. 

It’s not so much of the road itself, if you can even call it that, but what it promises the inquisitive type, a reward for taking heed of Robert Frost, opting for the road less travelled. Not a tour bus in sight.

Snaking through the valley, sharp turns and sheep, the brown craggy rocks jut from the earth like slabs of centuries-old soda bread. You’ll reach a point where it appears you can’t possibly drive further. Drive further. Someone in the village can take a look at the axel on your car later. 

Once your eyes fixate on the small crooked sign propped up by two planks of wood that reads “Entry Fee 5 euros per person” you know you’re in the right place. Now, I can’t guarantee it’ll be a fiver at the time of your visit. Over the years, that tiny weather-beaten honesty box has grown heavier, as has the pockets of the farmer who owns the land. Perhaps one day there’ll be a gift shop, but for now, just pay the fee — the faeries are watching.

A slight left at the tin box, up the short path leading towards the valley. It's not long before you’re rendered speechless at what spills out in front of you. A cluster of megalithic standing stones guarding space in front of a lonesome body of water. Across the lake, a waterfall drifts down the mountain so slowly, almost pulling itself backward. The stones huddle together like ancient elders, watching centuries whip past. 

4,000 years of solstices are difficult to comprehend, and not much is known about the purpose of this exact site. They could be sites of burial or ritual, most likely astronomically aligned. It doesn’t take a scholar to see why they were placed here among mesmerizing beauty beyond words. 

Upon discovering some carefully placed crystals of amethyst and quartz wedged at the base of the 10ft monolith, I realized I wasn’t the first to be moved by this place, compelled by the same pull down a forgotten country road.