Day 1 of 2 — Kate Kearney's Cottage to Glencar
Our day began with an early morning walk back over the Gap of Dunloe from Kate Kearney's Cottage, through the Black Valley and over our second ridge of the day. We ate lunch looking down into the Bridia Valley. The steepest ridge still lay ahead before we could reach the Climber's Inn at Glencar and our dinner.
I imagine few people have the chance to walk up through the Gap of Dunloe so early in the morning. The cool air was almost as welcome as the chance to see the hillsides in morning shade.
By the time we reached the top of the Gap of Dunloe, the shade was gone and we could look up the Black Valley towards our next pass beyond remote farms and Lough Cummeenduff.
We climbed to our second pass, paused for lunch, and contemplated our track down into the Bridia Valley along the same route that I had carried my bicycle and pack in 1965.
After gratefully using a farmer's water spigot to fill our depleted supply, we climbed up our last ridge. Looking back towards our lunch spot, we congratulated ourselves on our endurance.
And finally we topped out and could look forward to mostly downhill walking. In the far distance we could see the Dingle Peninsula. We had climbed up this ridge the year before from the other side, so we knew it was a scramble down to reach civilized paths. But, when we reached The Climbers Inn, we had tackled three passes and walked 17 miles in ten hours.
This would be my fourth night at The Climbers Inn since 1965. Michael and I stopped here in 2022 and it has always been a welcome stay, especially this time after such an exhausting day.
Day 2 of 2 — Glencar to Glenbeigh
The next morning we were eager to start on the shortest of our Kerry Way days - only ten miles to our goal in Glenbeigh.
At first we passed through fertile farming areas. I noted in my journal that this was the only weekday that we actually saw any farmwork undertaken; a majority of Irish farmers seem to work elsewhere during the week to pay their bills.
Then the scenery became more dramatic as we passed through the Lickeen Forest on the Landsdowne Estate. Crafted stone steps took us beneath old trees, which in Ireland grow only on the estates of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy.
After the cool of the deep forest, we climbed the last hills on an ancient rocky drovers road to another Windy Gap and dropped into the pleasant little tourist town of Glenbeigh along the Ring of Kerry automobile route.
I will not document many of our Irish dinners, although most were excellent; but this haddock and mussels at the Towers Hotel in Glenbeigh was both tasty and elegant.
Full photo album for Ring of Kerry — Segment 2
2023 Overview | ← Previous | Next →