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.