Kenmare to Killarney 26 kms

Our last day on The Kerry Way. Total 218 kms

Surprisingly we felt okay today. Woke up with no aching muscles, just tender feet and generally feeling weary. A sugar hit of maple syrup and two coffees at breakfast didn’t seem to lift the energy levels much.

Straight out of Kenmare the tarmac just went up and up and up. Then down, down, over a bridge, then up, up , up to Windy Gap. And it was windy today. Battling into a head wind all the way. Over the gap was through rugged farmland, exposed and pretty wild. Then steeply down into a more sheltered valley.

We only had 10 kilometres of new walking today. At that point we met the path we had already walked from Killarney on day 1. The next 16 kilometres were retracing our steps in the opposite direction. We even stopped on the exact same log to have a coffee and muffin. Check out the photos.

Went back past Torc waterfall and as we had lots of time to fill in, called into the Muckross House Tearoom. To get out of the wind as much as anything. The last 4 kilometres along the busy road into Killarney was tedious and we were fast running out of energy when an Irish guy caught up with us and started talking about the Lions Tour. Said the Hurricanes match was one of the best he had ever seen.

Lots of rules at this B & B. Check-in time was between 1700 and 1900. No washing clothes . No tea and coffee in room. The lovely lady Toni made us feel welcome with tea and biscuits when we arrived.

Quite cold in Killarney. Last time we were here people were in shorts and singlets enjoying the heat wave. We celebrated the end of our walk with some wine and a chat with the lovely young German couple we had met several times along the way. Unlike in Spain very few people are walking the Kerry Way. There haven’t been a lot of opportunities to socialise. In 10 days we have only chatted with an elderly Belgian woman, two American lady cousins, the young German couple, three young German guys (travelling fast),and another young German couple (medical graduate). Yesterday, in 36 kilometres, we met no one going in either direction.

Killarney is preparing for the 34th  Ring of Kerry Charity Cycle Race which is on Sat July 1. 10,000 competitors racing 112 miles around the peninsular. From what I have seen there is a lot of stopping at remote pubs for a quick pint. It is all part of the tradition.

Tomorrow we have to organise transport to get to Glengarif to start the Beara Way.

Old Irish proverb of the day: A person’s health is in his feet.

Sneem to Kenmare 36kms !

A long, long day, perhaps the longest we have ever done. But very comfortable and enjoyable walking most of the time. Tarmac or gravel farm roads and grassy tracks. Nearly all of it dry for a change. And the weather was ideal. For long periods we were in woodland or forest and mostly only a mildly undulating path. In the middle of the day we were on the banks of the Kenmare Bay with good views over to our destination for next week, the Beara Peninsula.

On leaving Sneem we stocked up at the bakery and went to see a collection of stone structures in a park alongside the river. They are known as “Where the fairies went” or “The Pyramids”. They were created to celebrate Sneem winning the National Tidy Towns Competition in 1987. The artist was inspired by taking long walks through the area, the hills, rivers, bogs and rocks. As a boy he recalled the fairy wind which suddenly arises and knocks off the tops of haycocks and vanishes again. Out of this memory came his idea of a spirit emanating from the fairy land on the far side of the river, creating these fantastical shapes of stone by magic, and hastily returning home again.

I had my own fairy magic experience this morning. After leaving The Pyramids we were walking through very nice woodland when I could hear very faint music. I didn’t pay much attention thinking a farm worker or a farmhouse may be playing the radio. After walking another ten minutes I could still hear the music. I thought back to the sign in the Enchanted Forest the other day: the forest is music to those who listen. Maybe the magic of Ireland was getting to me. I listened harder and thought, hang on I recognise that music. It was Simon and Garfunkel, The Sounds of Silence. Opening up my back pack the music was louder. I realised that stuffing in the food at the bakery had switched on my iPod which was buried in the bottom somewhere.

There are many unusual things along the way. We came upon a derelict cottage, all boarded up. It had a white sign on it which I read thinking it would be the usual Keep Out, Danger etc. But this sign said it was a bat roosting site and unauthorised entry was prohibited because it would cause disturbance.

The day was really pleasant and we were enjoying it very much until we managed to make it 6kms longer than it needed to be. At one point we had to walk along the N70 which is the main tourist road around the Ring of Kerry. Lots of coaches and cars. There is no shoulder and it was not very pleasant having to jump into bushes every time a vehicle passed us. Our guide notes said that after two and a half kilometres we would come to a church and from there to go up a hill off the road. After only one kilometre we came to a church and there was our familiar Kerry Way walking man sign pointing up the hill. We thought this was odd as the distances didn’t match but decided to take the hill road anyway. This was a great long trek up a hill around a golf course and back down again. It came back to the main road at a second church, the correct one. We had added at least 6 kilometres to avoid about one and a half on the main road. This took its toll at the end of the day as it made a 30km day into a 36km day.

We are pretty tired tonight and haven’t looked around Kenmare at all as we will be back here for a couple of days after walking the Beara Peninsular. Left Sneem at 9.30am and arrived at B & B at 6.45pm.

Old Irish proverb of the day: It is a long road that has no turning.

Caherdaniel to Sneem 21km (with the extras)

Breakfast couldn’t come soon enough this morning. Trying to eke out lunch into dinner as well last night didn’t really work for two hungry walkers. More than made up for it at breakfast.

A one kilometre walk back to Caherdaniel to rejoin the Way. Once there Paul thought it was a good idea to go back down some of yesterday’s trail to try and find a stone fort we had missed in the rain. Barbara didn’t think it was such a good idea but we went anyway. We eventually found it and it sits on a rocky promontory covering most of the summit. The wall on the west and south side are almost intact and about six metres high. The wall is about 2 metres thick and the interior diameter is about 20 metres. It is more ruinous in the south and east. The floor level inside is only about a metre below the top of the wall. There are many stones scattered in the interior but no houses are obvious. This is the first time we have been up close and intimate with a stone cashel . This one dates from about 600AD.

Back in Caherdaniel we came across a gang repainting road markings. At home this is a very automated affair with a guy in a truck and spray equipment. Here it involved two guys with huge STOP signs, and three guys, one with a large bucket of paint, one with a sort of paint roller, and another with a bucket of sand. They were being very diligent though.

Not a hugely interesting day today. Early on we were above the coast but soon moved inland and went down two farmed valleys and across two spurs. Mostly out in the open but also through some small areas of woodland. No villages or refreshments anywhere along the way. As we had eaten all our own supply of food last night we had asked Cathy at the B & B to make us ham and cheese sandwiches and she had also given us bananas.

We did have one regret today. At about the half way mark we could have done a 2 kilometre detour up a steep hill to see the Staigue Fort. This is a pretty impressive stone ring fort built during the late iron age 300-400AD. It is large and is a considerable feat of engineering with huge dry stone walls. It has  elaborate stairways leading to terraces and passageways leading to corbelled cells. We only read about it after we reached Sneem. I would have passed up the small and simple Caherdaniel Fort for the huge and complex Staigue Fort any day.

Sad sight of the day. A black New Zealand beanie we found on the path. Some poor walker has dropped it and won’t be able to flash it around the bars in Sneem tonight, bragging about the America’s Cup. We did see one guy in O’Shea’s Bar tonight when we were having dinner wearing an Emirates Team NZ shirt.

For the first time in three weeks we have seen potatos growing!

We have sussed the Irish weather forecast: If it isn’t raining, it will soon. If it is raining, it will eventually stop.

Old Irish proverb of the day: It is afterwards that events are best understood.

Waterville to Caherdaniel 13km + 2km back to the supermarket at the beginning + 1km at the end to our B & B

Quite a contrasting day to yesterday. A steady climb up onto undulating paths traversing Farraniaragh Mountain with the sea ever-present and superb views of inshore bays and islands and in the distance the Beara peninsular.

We passed the ruins of a one room stone house. This was the house of a piper known as An Píobaire Buí. The story has it that on his return late at night from fishing on Ballinskelligs Bay, beautiful airborne music followed him from Rineen pier to his house. Once home, he began to play the mysterious tune on his pipes. But on hearing the dancing of tiny feet outside his door, he knew it was fairy music, and never played the tune again.

High on a ridge overlooking the ocean we saw the silhouette of a lone building. At the beginning of the 19^th century there was widespread expectation that Napoleonic forces would attack England using Ireland as a back door. Such attempts had already occurred at the end of the previous century. Coastguard stations were placed strategically, high on hills where they commanded wide views of the sea and were visible to each other for signalling purposes.

We also passed above a stone fort or ring fort. We had lunch in an unimpressive earthen fort in Ventry on the Dingle Way but this is a stone fort (called a cashel) probably built as a homestead in the period 500 – 800 AD. It is basically a stone encircling wall with stone dwellings inside. The inhabitants were largely self-sufficient and it was not uncommon to have neighbouring forts some of which may have been used to pen livestock. Stone forts represent the best examples of non-ecclesiastical monumental architecture which survives in Ireland from before the time of the Normans.

For a while we could also see the steep and rugged outlines of two rocky islands, Skellig Michael and Small Skellig, 12 kms offshore. In the 6^th century Christian monks settled on Skellig Michael and over six centuries built a remarkable group of chapels and ‘beehive’ cells. They left the islands in the 12^th or 13^th century to live on the mainland at Ballinskelligs.

Today we also saw our first wedge tomb. This type of tomb is typical of Neolithic and Bronze age communal burials. The tombs generally consisted of a chamber formed by upright slabs and a large capstone, with an open portico to the front, usually facing towards the south-west. Cremated remains as well as personal possessions were placed in the chamber.

Caherdaniel is a tiny little hamlet at a T intersection in the road. About a dozen houses, a Texaco petrol station, two pubs, a hostel and a curiosity shop. There was a sign advertising ‘seaweed workshops’. Remembering the lovely lady in Dunquin with Ireland’s best rhubarb crumble, whose secret was to use seaweed, I was tempted to enrol.

The day was slightly cool, perfect for walking, overcast and a bit of a head wind. Coming down off the hill side we passed through very pretty hazel woodland. For the last half hour the drizzle set in and we got very wet.

Our accommodation tonight is at The Old Forge about a kilometre beyond Caherdaniel. They don’t serve evening meals so we had the option of either walking back to Freddies Bar or the Blind Piper Pub in Caherdaniel or going on another kilometre to O’Carroll’s Cove Beach Bar and Restaurant. It is persisting down with rain so have decided to stay put and stretch out what is left of our lunch.

Old Irish proverb of the day: One look ahead is better than two looks behind.

Cahersiveen to Waterville 25km + 8km in a car

Cahersiveen is an eight kilometre dog leg off the Kerry Way and today we would have had to reverse our walk of Friday to get back on the trail. We decided not to do this and Mary at the bar in the Kerry Coast Inn arranged for Maureen to drive us back to Coars School to rejoin the Way. Maureen had purple hair and a bright pink top and was very jovial and full of information on the ten minute drive. €10, which we thought was cheap as it saved us two hours repetitive walking.

Today’s walk could be simply summarised as follows: walk along an undulating ridge for two hours, descend into a valley, cross a river, climb onto another undulating ridge, walk along it for two hours and descend a spur to Waterville. This tells you nothing of what a great day it was. Today we made up for all the views we missed in the rain and mist on Friday. It was a fine and clear day, warm but no wind. The undulating trail was rugged and remote and being on ridges there were wonderful wide views down into the valleys with their mosaic of fields and woods, Lough Currane and at the end of the day Inny Sands and Ballinskelligs Bay.

The trail was out in open grassland all day and it looks deceptively easy. In New Zealand it would be mostly firm and dry. In Ireland the grass hides six inches of water or bog. You had to concentrate all the time on finding a stone or thicker piece of grass for your foot. Inevitably we had soaking wet feet after about half an hour. This didn’t bother us. We were just enjoying the weather, the views and being out in the countryside. For the first time we saw wind turbines, saw more peat cuttings, crossed an old stone bridge over the River Inny and passed a few derelict houses and farm buildings.

Waterville has a special connection with Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin was English but made his fame and fortune in America with his character The Tramp. Among other issues he was accused of communist sympathies and in 1952 was refused re-entry into the United States so moved to Switzerland. From 1961 every year for a decade Chaplin brought his family to holiday in Waterville – it had been recommended by Walt Disney.  For a month they stayed in the Butler Arms, a resort hotel at the other end of the beach to our B & B. In 1998 with the help of generous funding from The Chaplin family a statue of The Tramp was erected on the sea front. Every August there is a Charlie Chaplin Comedy Film Festival held in Waterville. Two of Chaplin’s daughters Josephine and Geraldine attend the festival as patrons, along with some of the grand children. That’s according to our purple haired driver Maureen.

Geraldine Chaplin is a prolific actor but you will all remember her as the wife of Omar Sharif in David Lean’s epic 1965 movie Dr Zhivago. Dr Zhivago is worth seeing over and over. For the girls to watch Omar Sharif and the guys to watch Julie Christie. But I digress.

Barbara is fully fit and healthy again and leading the charge powering across the hills. Paul is getting left behind, especially when he stops to take a photo.

Disappointment of the day: we had bought four little apple pies, but they did not travel well. By the time we came to eat them they were a bit munted.

Funny moment of the day: on a very quiet lane we were passed by a car. Barbara, the car and the only puddle on the road all coincided. See the result in the photos.

Old Irish proverb of the day: The man with the boots does not mind where he places his feet.

Cahersiveen

Today was a rest day. Our hotel is right on the Ring of Kerry main road and a busy road it is. From about eleven until two there is a procession of tour coaches, sometimes five in a row. They all do the route counter-clockwise as the roads are so narrow.

Barbara had a stomach bug and spent half the night in the bathroom. Thank goodness for ensuites. A late, late  start (breakfast at 10.30am!!!) and then we visited a few places close by in Cahersiveen. Highlights were the Barracks, the Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church and the Abbey of the Holy Cross.

The Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks were built by the British Government between 1870 and 1875. The reason for building the barracks is that in 1866 The British and American Magnetic Telegraph Company had successfully laid a telegraph cable under the Atlantic from Newfoundland to Valentia Island, just off the coast at Cahersiveen. This had taken several attempts and cost vast sums of money. In 1867 the Fenians of Cahersiveen had their ill-fated rising against the British. The British concerned any future uprising might pose a threat to the security of the cable ordered the design and construction of a large police barracks at Cahersiveen.

The barracks were built in the unusual Schloss style of architecture which was popular with the architect, Enoch Trevor-Owen. The building was so unusual a local legend sprang up about it. The legend was that the British Government had mixed up two sets of plans and that the Barracks should have been built on the North West Frontier of India and that an Irish police barracks had been built there in its place. The Barracks are now a heritage centre on several floor levels and full of local history and the story of Daniel O’Connell.

Next up The Daniel O’Connell Memorial Church of the Holy Cross. This French Gothic church is unique to Ireland in that it is the only church dedicated to a layman, the ‘Liberator’, Daniel O’Connor. Pope Leo XIII gave papal approval and work started in 1886. Work stopped in 1893 due to lack of funds and there had to be a special appeal to the people of Ireland to complete the work.

Daniel O’Connell is not buried at his church but Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty is. In the photos of Killarney I posted one of a statue of O’Flaherty. He was a local priest who served in South Africa, Egypt, Haiti, Santo Domingo and Czechoslovakia before becoming a senior official of the Roman Curia in the Vatican, Rome. During World War II he was responsible for saving the lives of 6,500 allied soldiers and Jews by setting up safe houses and escape routes from Italy. His nickname was ‘The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican”.

The parents of Daniel O’Connell are buried in the graveyard of the Abbey of the Holy Cross. This is now a ruin. This is not a church of traditional design as there is no steeple due to the laws prevailing in Penal Times. Between 1865 and 1829 the Penal Laws were in force in Ireland and one of these laws prohibited any Catholic church having a steeple or a bell. In the graveyard there is a large headstone with a wonderful inscription dedicated to Lieutenant Phillip Primrose. It was erected by his ‘Numerous Friends’.  You can see it in a photo.

Tomorrow we are back on the road again. We have completed half our time in Ireland and half our walking distance.

Old Irish proverb for the day: ‘The steed does not retain its speed forever’.

Glenbeigh to Cahersiveen 30km + 2km mistake

Wet, wet, wet. That was today. When we pulled back the drapes it was misty and a steady drizzle. The forecast confirmed a wet day with a southwest wind and max 15 degrees. Back to the Ireland we know and love.

It was going to be a long day so stocked up at the supermarket as we left Glenbeigh. 7 bananas, a combi pack of 6 cookies and 3 slices, and a foot long freshly made ham and cheese filled roll. Straight away we started climbing up into a forest, a special forest, a fairy forest. We had to be quiet, listen carefully and walk softly. Then we might see the fairies at play. They had decided not to come out in the rain today. Fairies are big in Ireland. Lots of myths, legends and just plain tall stories.

Within half an hour we were soaked to the skin and sloshing up a path that had become a creek. We climbed up and moved onto the side of a steep hill. Very much like the Escarpment Track between Paekakariki and Pukerua Bay but without the wooden steps. Apparently this was “an exhilarating traverse of a steep hillside high above the road with stunning views out over the sparkling blue Dingle Bay to the emerald green hills of the Dingle Peninsular”. Who knows?  Sort of a Yeah Right moment. We did notice there were eight gates to open and close in about five hundred metres. The saddle was wet, windy, cold, and we didn’t hang around. We didn’t see two tunnels on an old railway, or the forested Ferta valley, or the massive Knocknadobar dominating to the north, or the Gleensk viaduct to the north-east, or scattered ruined stone cottages. We had our heads down, plodding into the diving rain.

Usually we take a break after two hours for a coffee and cookie but today was just miserable with no shelter so we just kept going and didn’t stop for about four and a half hours. After about five hours the rain stopped and the mist lifted a bit and it wasn’t bad for the rest of the day. Late in the day we made a blunder and missed a turn at an intersection. It took us 15 minutes (a kilometre) before we realised. So had to back track which added half an hour and 2 kilometres to an already long day. Barbara was a bit peeved but cheered up a bit after we stopped and had the last of the three slices – a chocolate fudge cake.

For the last two hours we were walking the Daniel O’Connell Heritage Trail. O’Connell, known as The Liberator, was an Irish political leader who campaigned in the first half of the nineteenth century for Catholic emancipation, including the right for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament and repeal of the Act of Union that combined Great Britain and Ireland. He is a huge hero in Ireland and was born near Cahersiveen.

We left Glenbeigh at 9.00am and arrived in Cahersiveen at 5.00pm, 32kms and very few stops today. Our digs at the Kerry Coast Inn has two huge pluses that have made our day. Our ensuite has a bath – so a long luxurious soak, and there is a bar downstairs so we only have to stagger down there for dinner.

We think the Kerry Way should be renamed The Way of a Thousand Stiles. We seem to be climbing up and down them all day.

Thank you to all of you who wished us a happy anniversary yesterday, it is nice to be remembered.

Old Irish Proverb of the day: Even the longest day has its end.

Glencar to Glenbeigh 18km

Today was our 44^th wedding anniversary and what a lovely place to spend the day.

I had berry smoothie and fruit platter for breakfast, it came with a boiled egg! Not much fat and protein and too much carbohydrate. It included kiwi fruit, banana, mandarin, apple, grape, strawberry, grape fruit, pineapple, orange, melon, and I don’t know what in the smoothie. Just a oncer. Back to scrambled or poached eggs tomorrow.

It rained a little overnight and it was cooler this morning with much lower humidity. An easy walk today. Starting alongside Lough Acoose on tarmac and after 4kms heading off into plantation forest on flat grass tracks and forest roads following the Caragh River. The only down side was whenever we stopped, say for a Kanteen coffee, we were engulfed in midges. They loved the river valley too.

After a few kms of this we turned to go up a rise and were welcomed to ‘come away with the fairies’. This was a very dense Enchanted Forest. Someone, a school party perhaps, had made little signs, gnomes, fairy houses, butterflies, faces on trees, little doors into trees, etc decorating the path. Some things were obvious but some were sneakily hidden away. At the highpoint of the forest, with great views out over Lough Caragh, there was ‘Fairy Rock’ where you could make a wish. I think every second person wished the midges would go away. The Enchanted Forest lasted about 2 km and was a wonderful amusement to make the time pass quickly.

Toward the end of the day we had the option of doing 9kms on a flat scenic route but on the road, or a 4km hilly climb over Windy Gap on a track. We decided on the latter. It was a steep climb but on a broad path and at the top we did squeeze through a small gorge at Windy Gap. Fortunately it was a clam day and no wind. Behind us was a view to the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks and Lough Caragh and ahead a new vista looking over to the Dingle Peninsular. We could see Inch Strand which is where we were on the first day of the Dingle Way.

Glenbeigh is such a contrast to the remote valleys we have been in for the last three days. They were almost deserted with just one or two houses scattered about, and very quiet farm roads. Now there are houses by the dozen and Glenbeigh is on the Ring of Kerry main road. So there is traffic and lots of it. We are hoping the track moves away from the road and we can enjoy some more peace and quiet.

Mary, the owner of the B & B last night, was very kind and obliging (and cooked great food) but she had signs up everywhere saying on no account were guests to do clothes washing or hang wet clothes in the rooms. So tonight we have done a double lot of washing and our room looks like a Chinese laundry.

Old Irish Proverb of the day: Two people shorten the road.

Black Valley to Glencar 20 km

This is reputed to be the hardest day on the Kerry Way. Not the longest, but with steep climbs and descents over two high passes. We were surprised at this because we felt so strong and comfortable all day and the proprietoress at the B & B was amazed we arrived so early. We think cycling both ways over Paekakariki Hill each Friday has given us a strong base strength in the legs.

It was humid and the air felt heavy as we set off this morning. Very warm, with high cloud and mist hanging around the hills. No wind. A quiet walk through the Black Valley on tarmac that changed to gravel and then a track. Quite a few derelict and abandoned houses but a few new ones as well. The fields were liberally dotted with boulders and were hemmed in by precipitous slopes of the hills each side. From the black Valley we turned up a side valley, Cummeenduff Glen and at the end of this started the first of the climbs of the day. This was a climb, pretty much straight up, clambering over boulders, but on a good grassy track. It was a vertical rise of 200 metres to the saddle. Here the path went along a narrow spur and there were great views down into Caragh River Valley below.

Down into this valley we went on a very steep stony track, taking it very slowly and carefully. In the valley the track became a gravel farm road and after a few kms a tarmac road. Just when we thought the going was easy there was a turn off the road and onto a hillside. Ten large switchbacks took us zig zagging on a 300 metres rise to the next saddle. At the top there were magnificent views down to Lough (Lake) Acoose, our destination for the day. Another steep stony descent to a very rough farm road which became a better gravel road and then a tarmac road. Finally a walk alongside Lough Acoose that was purported to be 1.5 km but seemed like about 5 km to our B & B.

There was no-one home when we arrived, just a note on the door, ‘Back at 3.45’. We didn’t mind, we sat down on the outdoor furniture and reflected on another great day through beautiful valleys and over spectacular mountain landscapes.

Usually B & Bs don’t do evening meals but last night and tonight we have been in very remote locations. A 5+ km walk each way to the nearest pub, cafe or restaurant. In this situation they will cook you a meal if you let them know about 24 hours in advance. These meals are great. Meat and veg and potato and not an insipid salad or fatty fry in sight.

When we arrive each day at our B & B the host or hostess usually likes to chat for a few minutes as they welcome us and get us settled in. Invariably they have a daughter or son or nephew or whoever who has gone to Canada or Australia, sometimes New Zealand and there they have met a local boy/girl. The story is always the same. Their daughter comes home to visit them but if they want to see their son they have to travel to him.

Which brings us the next Old Irish Proverb: A daughter is your daughter for the rest of your life. A son is your son till he gets him a wife.

NB No wifi at Glencar so this post is a day late.

Killarney to Black Valley 24 km

Our first day on the Kerry Way

After two days ‘resting’ we were keen to get out on the road again. And it was a good day, not easy but not very demanding. A warm day and with quite a lot of climbing and descending we were feeling a bit sweaty all day. Fortunately about two thirds of the time there was forest so we could keep out of the sun – not usually a big problem in Ireland.

The first hour and a half followed the same route we cycled in 20 minutes yesterday, out of Killarney and into the National Park, Inside the park we used a walkers’ only track and by-passed Muckross Abbey and House and walked up to the 20 metre Torc Waterfall. This is quite impressive and would be even better after heavy rain. From the waterfall there is a steep climb at first through beautiful cool forest and then out into open moorland. The forest is what we now call ‘Hollow Willy’ woodland. This was after a dyslexic moment trying to read the guide notes without our glasses, it is actually Holly and Willow woodland. About a 200 metre climb to the saddle and from the top the Purple Mountain (named for its icing of scree) and the spiky peaks and the steep slopes of the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks were off to our right, Basically we walked down valleys and over crests all day slowly getting closer to the Macgillycuddy’s Reeks so that they now loom high over the Hillcrest B & B where we stay tonight.

For the first half of the day we walked on the Old Kenmare Road, a gravel road used until the 1830s.It is still a very easy road for hikers. Down in the valleys and even up in the moorlands it was very wet and boggy. However we could walk for kms on boardwalks made of railway sleepers, feet nice and dry and clean. From the high moorlands the descents were through atmospheric woodlands of holly and oak and old stone walls. Everything carrying a thick cloak of moss. Near the end of the day we walked along the edge of the Upper Lake of the Killarney Lakes and after passing a deserted church at Derrycunnihy and a tea room named after the long-gone cottage of a wealthy clergyman, Lord Brandon, we crossed an arched bridge to enter the Black Valley. This is where we are staying tonight.

It is called Black Valley because it was particularly hard hit by the Famine in 1845 – 49 and very nearly everyone in the valley died of starvation or emigrated. Another claim to fame is that it was the last area in Ireland to get electricity – in 1957! Our notes say if you have a cell phone don’t expect much coverage, Black Valley hasn’t arrived in the 21^st century yet.

We had to wait until six o’clock for our bags to arrive today. The portage guy had a breakdown in his little white van so had to get a replacement vehicle. He did ring the B & B to let us know he would be delayed. The problem with arriving before your luggage is that even if you have a shower you don’t have fresh clean clothes to change into.

Old Irish proverb of the day:

“Your feet will take you where your heart is”.