FOLK TOURS: Author Luke Eastwood is behind a new tour that explores sites linked with Kerry folklore.

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By Sean Moriarty

A new weekly coach tour that will explore mythological locations in Kerry will start in Killarney this coming Friday.

The tour, based on a book called ‘Kerry Folk Tales’ by Dingle-based author, Luke Eastwood, will visit locations like Scotia’s Grave and Dún an Óir, sites fully connected with Kerry folklore but rarely visited by traditional coach tours.

The tour, which departs from Killarney Tourist Office every Friday from March until late autumn will visit places like Ross Castle and the Lakes of Killarney before heading west.

“There is a story of a hidden village, like the Atlantis of Ireland beneath the lakes,” Luke told the Killarney Advertiser. “There is a well at the bottom of the lakes, it’s a love story-tragedy of sorts, about a maiden who was so besotted with a visiting warrior she forgot to put the cover on the well and flooded the whole place and that is where the lakes came from.”

The tour ventures west to Scotia’s Grave near Tralee, the final reputed resting place of a daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh. The tour also visits Dún an Óir, the site of battle between British Crown forces and an army of Irish, Spanish and Italian Catholics in 1580 and Rathinanne Castle, a stone tower built in the 15^th or 16^th century but the site also includes a ringfort dating from the seventh century.

The trip also includes a meet and greet with author Eastwood and a free copy of the book.

Bookings can be made via: www.kerryfolktours.com.