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.