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Ireland Hiking

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After completing our hike in the Pyrenees, we returned to the south-west of Ireland where we originally bicycle toured in 2019. We joined the Kerry Way and the Beara Way together to make a longer thru-hike. We had planned to also do the Sheep's Head Way, but by then the Irish ticks had worn us down (and we were pretty tired after five months of hiking).

The total distance was 300 km with the route walked shown on the map below. We wild camped every night apart from the nights at the start and end, which we spent in Cork. Places we stayed/camped are indicated by a marker (dot).

A great resource for these hikes is Ellie and Carl's website, where they have recorded their walks along every (42) Irish National Waymarked Trail, a distance of approximately 4,000 km: Tough Soles.




It is quite a change being in Ireland. It's cool and cloudy and we have Barry's tea, which is Mike's favourite. We watched the final stage of Le Tour in our hotel when we arrived. The commentary was in Gaelic, which was a fun aspect! Interestingly, as we waited on the runway for our flight from Barcelona to Cork to take off, we saw a plain bedecked in Tour de France livery which was going to take off after us. We caught the 09:00 train from Cork to Killarney, which is the start of the Kerry Way. There was something of an historic result in the Irish/Gaelic football grand final yesterday, in that Country Mayo, in beating County Kerry won the title for the first time in 54 years. Rumour had it that a priest placed a curse on the Mayo team in 1971. The final member of that team passed away 3 years ago. It seems the curse has been lifted. The train was packed with people who had gone to Dublin to watch the final. As the start of the Kerry Way road tour route, Killarney is a tourist trap but a typically pretty Irish town. We wanted to pick up some breakfast and the local Centra supermarket met that need perfectly with freshly cooked bacon, sausage, fried eggs, black pudding and potato wedges. We sat and ate at a bench outside the shop. In the street in front of us was a wall of empty beer kegs for collection, must have been a busy night with football final! Delicious!

It was easy walking along a footpath to Killarney National Park. There are many horse drawn jaunts which people take from the town and train station to the park and they also use the wide shared path for cyclists and walkers. The National Park was busy with walkers and cyclists. We had a long snooze on the lawn in front of Muckcross House. The walking just continued through forest and glade, mostly on a wide path. As we cleared the park we came across a path to a large swimming hole at the base of a waterfall. The boardwalk along the path had very recently been replaced so the area was pristine, flat grass and a lovely campspot. Gentle rain showers had been coming through all day and we decided to camp at this perfect spot! We met a couple today from Quebec, also walking the Kerry Way, Nicholas and Annie. Other people in the trail are so friendly and smiling.


The weather was better than yesterday, there were sunny spells and the constant light wind shunted the clouds across the sky overhead. We had a bit of a climb through an oak forest and met a family; Mum, Dad and two kids who were having breakfast by the trail, their tent still up from the night before. We reached the turn off to Kenmare and were back in the forest until Black Valley and the Baron's Cottage where we had something to eat. You can catch a boat here from Muckcross House and judging by the number of tables and a sign saying, "Queue Here", many people do just that!

After this there was some road walking near farmland. We saw a few other hikers. Right near the end of our day we rested for a couple of hours at a river with a good swimming hole. Two other hikers chatted to us, they had sat next to us on the train to Killarney. They were walking for three days and were going to climb Carrauntoohil, at 1038 m it is the highest mountain in Ireland which overlooked us. We picked up extra water to carry up our trail a little further and camped on top of the hill. The ticks are out in force but it is a beautiful spot to camp, with lovely views of the surrounding hills. There are many sheep ambling about.


It started raining lightly overnight and we were up in the clouds when we woke up. We decided to wait out the rain and slept in an extra hour. We had breakfast in the tent and it was clear when we got up to leave. We had a long descent into the next valley and then a climb out which was quite steep but the track was good. At the top there was a path to our right which those two blokes we met yesterday would have taken to climb to the top of the mountain. We hoped they had got up it yesterday, although it seemed unlikely, as today it was in the clouds.

Our path now went down into the next valley. The valleys and hillsides are all green and fertile. It's amazing how much there is for the sheep to eat. There is no shortage of water for us and we easily filter from available streams. We hit a wider track and ended up in a ruined village. There we met a man who lives in Killarney but had spent his younger years here. He was with a younger couple. He was hilarious and just had that Irish charm It turned out he had always wanted to visit Australia and in his 20's he could have done so for 10 pounds but he had a trade and was working in Ireland. So, when he retired he used a chunk of his pension to buy an air ticket to Australia where he travelled for 5 weeks and had the best time. "No regrets!" he said. Shortly after this we met another man walking his dog who wanted to know all about Australia and the price of things there. We couldn't really remember. He was a farmer so sheep and cattle farming in Australia really interested him. Not our strong suit but we could chat about it. He was just amazed by the size of the farming properties. He had a particularly strong accent and was difficult to understand. It is very calming, being here. It feels remote even though we are pretty close to towns

We came across a pine forest as the rain started again. We walked along the fence a bit to pick up water from the stream and then came back to the forest. There was easy camping on the pine needle floor. It was nice having a short day as it was pretty slow going in parts. Tomorrow we will need to put foot as we have to get to Glenbeigh, our next resupply point.


We were happy with our decision to camp in the pine forest as it was a very peaceful night's sleep and it rained quite a bit. The forest kept the tent dry and we woke to a perfect day! It was a lovely walk down to Glencar, 4 km away. We had actually been there when travelling here by bike in 2019. Glencar is only a pub, post office and hostel, all under the same roof. We had arrived there freezing after a speedy descent 7 years ago and had eaten toasted cheese sandwiches. We were looking forward to something similar, but it looked pretty closed up this time. It was only 08:30, but the hostel was open and we actually saw the family with two kids that we had passed on day 2 camping in the area behind the hostel. I poked my head into the dining area and asked the manager if there was any chance of something to eat as we were passing. He did not look overly pleased to see me but offered continental breakfast for 20 EU each (compare this price to the regular all you can full breakfast at Premier Inn for 15 EU). Bit steep! I said no thanks and we carried on. We crossed the river and came apon a bench so we stopped and had a second helping of oats for breakfast. The day passed quickly and we made good time. A lot of the walking was on roads or wide tracks. We climbed up through Windy Gap and dropped down into Glenbeigh and our first views of the sea. The skies were clear and there was a breeze, it seemed like the type of summer's day that people remember in Ireland.

In Glenbeigh we bought hot lunch and then a HUGE and delicious soft serve. We resupplied for the 3 days to Waterville. The supermarket is small but very good and had everything we needed. We followed the brand new Greenway Cycle Route out of town. It was only opened 3 weeks ago! Very popular. It was a great way to walk out of town on a road surface and have views to admire. The range of hills we had walked through from Killarney were all clear to see. We left the Greenway for a hill climb and were out of water. Mike had 2 streams in mind for water and when we got to the first one, there was a bench in the shade, but the stream was dry. We were faced with the situation of having to keep walking uphill, where you would expect there to be less water. Mike went to have a look down a nearby path towards some trees and found a good stream so we could easily camp near the bench in open land and have access to the water. The best thing about today was the weather, the maximum temperature was only 17 degrees and the skies were clear. We have great sea views from our tent


It was a spectacular walk around Drunghill from our campspot, the trail wound up and around the hill and we had views of the coast with such clear water that you could see the rocks beneath. The trail was high above the Ring of Kerry Road. We entered a pine forest plantation and stopped to rest. The views from that point were of a different stretch of coast and again we were high up. We had crossed a couple of streams and it was such a beautiful area that we took a walk up a gravel forestry road and decided to camp as it was a dead end. We had walked less than 4 km, but we are not under much time pressure and want the campsites to drive the walk so we spent the day there and had a very quiet night.

First day of August we had a quick 9 km walk to Finemore through very nice landscape on wide tracks. We made our way to the community centre and Gaelic football pitch as we want to charge our batteries when we can. It is sometimes easier to do this outside towns. There was no one there except for a woman running drills on the field and practicing goal kicking. We sat in the spectator stand and ate, wondering if there would be a plug anywhere. Mike had a look around and next to the changeroom was a half built room with a working socket! So we spent a couple of hours relaxing while the batteries charged! Then we charged our phones too. So we should be good for power for over a week. We set off at 13:30 to climb the ridgeline of hills until we dropped down into the valley in which Waterville lay. The views from the ridge were beautiful and in all directions but the walking was tough with very steep climbs. Stiles were over represented too, often you would need to climb three stiles in quick succession. Luckily it was still a good weather day with no rain. The going down went much quicker and we were soon down on the road to Waterville, the same road we had cycled in 2019 but of course didn't remember it! We now had two priorities; finding water and a campsite. We were going to aim for a pine forest to camp and crossed a river on the way. The river was lovely but difficult to get to. Mike managed to get down to a small stream and filter water and then we walked up into a pine forest where we found another dead end gravel track which was a perfect spot to camp. The best thing about these gravelly campspots in pine forest is that there are no ticks as no animals go in there. Mike has been spraying his legs with DEET and hasn't had ticks in two days which is a win. It was a late finish today at 19:30.



It rained all night and we woke with our alarms at 06:30 to rain. We just turned over and went back to sleep with vague ideas about getting on the trail later in the day when the rain was due to stop. We slept soundly until 08:30, yesterday had clearly taken it's toll with the range walking ups and downs and all those stiles! By lunchtime it was clear we weren't going anywhere as the weather was pretty bad and it seemed a waste just to rush the day's walk in bad weather. We had such a perfect campspot in the forest so we took a rest day.

The decision paid dividends in that we woke to nice, just overcast weather and had a dry walk along the ridge and down to Waterville, getting there around 11:00. We walked through a few cow pastures on the way but they were friendly. We chatted to a sheep farmer and, presumably, his wife later on. Into Waterville we headed to Fogarty's Centra, where we got Irish breakfast buns with egg, sausages, bacon and black pudding and sat in the indoor seating, complete with wall sockets so we could easily charge our battery and phones again. It was a busy store and we stocked up with a few things for the next couple of days. I had another delicious soft serve! We left after 2 and a half hours and walked along the waterfront, remembering it a little from cycling through it in our last trip. Charlie Chaplin was the thing we remembered the most as there is a statue of him on the promenade. Apparently he was a regular visitor, long ago. There is a beautiful sculpture which resembles a huge sundial and also the prow of a ship or beak of a bird and it symbolises the legend which has it that the Milesians set out from Galicia in Northern Spain with 30 boats after Ith spotted Ireland in the horizon from a tower. This was supposed to have occurred during the Bronze Age and the boats are said to have landed in Ballinskellig Bay, bringing the Gaelic language to Ireland. The views along the coastline were beautiful here. The air is very clear.

We headed off uphill, passing Hogs Head Golf Club which looks pretty fancy. Lots of USA flags about. The rain began and pretty soon we were putting on rain gear as it grew heavy. The trail passes near to the Loher Stone Fort which was 400 m away through very overgrown vegetation which was a pity as it seems an interesting spot. It's best accessed from the small road on the other side of the fort. At that point right on the trail is an unconsecrated burial ground for unfortunate babies who died before they could be baptised. This was used a few hundred years ago I think. It was marked by a cross but was a sad place. Poor babies, how could anyone think heaven was not available to them?

We ambled along in the heavy rain and filtered water at a stream. We walked up to the Ring of Kerry Road and crossed over back into grassland where we had camped before on bicycles. It has been a fun experience, seeing the places we had been before when we had no inkling we would be hiking here one day. We hiked up to the top of the hill, hoping for a place to camp on the other side of the stile with views of small islands off the coast. The weather was fairly atrocious actually, very heavy rain which eventually stopped only to turn into cloud. The whole area is natural grass, heather and small gorse bushes low to the ground which are very spiky so we have put everything we have under our mattresses and hope for the best. Everything we have equals our rain gear, walking clothes (can't wait to put those on tomorrow!) and wet pack covers. It is raining hard.


We were relieved to wake up this morning to find our mattresses still full of air, so no punctures during the night! As we walked down to cross the Ring of Kerry Road to Caherdaniel, the scenery below of islands in a smooth grey ocean revealed itself, then became obscured by cloud and mist, then revealed itself again. It was beautiful. We walked above the harbour at Caherdaniel, then though the Derrynane National Historic Park with it's green woodlands. Leaving the park we were back in farmland. The rain came and went and so did the sheep, cows and a large, lone bull up on a ridge which there was a warning sign about. We crossed many stiles. We had a lovely river swim between rain showers and there was a bench at the river to sit at. Other than this we only passed two other benches all day, which is far fewer than usual on the Kerry Way. We should say that the benches and most of the stiles are made out of moulded recycled plastic and are very good quality. The walking was lovely, mainly on an old path called the Butter Road which was the way butter was transported to the Cork Butter Market in days of old. We found a place to camp on top of a climb in a pine forest, it's a great campspot out in the open on gravel by a bend in the road. We will have a better sleep tonight than last night! We will reach the village of Sneem tomorrow.


It was easy walking all day, into and out of Sneem. We sat at the park in the village and had beef pie and egg and sausage bun for brunch from the bakery. Sneem is a very pretty village with a river running through it and the first stop when driving or riding the Ring of Kerry from Kenmare west. This makes it very popular with tourists. We stopped here on our bikes in 2019 and I remember it being very busy. It has a few souvenir type shops and an amazing shop of Irish music, all on CD. I haven't seen so many CD's in a shop in decades. If Irish music is your thing, then this place would be your temple. The local supermarket met our resupply needs and the pharmacy was on the way out of town on our route which was convenient. The pharmacist turned the mundane task of purchasing anti-histamine into a comedy sketch, from asking, "How many will ye be needing? A pack of 10 or a pack of 30?" to saying, "Be sure to take with a glass of water, I am sure you are well set up for that! Will ye be needing to taken one now?" Then telling me he had a good joke about which was the best direction to walk from Sneem, but it isn't for everyone's ears. I laughed at that and then he couldn't help himself but followed me out the shop to tell us this joke. It was something like " go east for a....not quite sure the word he used but it wasn't polite....or west for a wife". So it seems Sneem people don't think much of those from Kenmare! The Irish, it is too much fun in their company.

We saw a few hikers set off from Sneem, three were ahead of us on the trail and they were from China. One of the group works for Fjallraven in China so was happy to see our gear, of which a lot is Fjallraven. He was pretty kitted out in Fjallraven, including backpack and waist belt. After Sneem there wasn't much water about but there was a stream at the forest we had decided to camp in. It is a woodland forest, probably native woodland and very peaceful. There was no rain today which was almost a first! We only have two more days on the Kerry Way before we reach Kenmare and start the Beara Way. We have really enjoyed this trail so far and have found Ireland to be quite diverse over a short distance. There has been farmland, forest, high mountains and the sea. It is very beautiful and relaxing and wild camping had been far easier than we expected.


Another cruisey day with mostly good weather and a lovely walk through a coastal pine forest. There was a fair amount of road walking today. We camped 6 km short of Kenmare in a forestry area, by a fenced mobile phone tower. Reminded us of the towers we camped at in Botswana, although here we are on the outside! It's a good gravel area which is our preference. The evening turned very sunny. We will reach Kenmare tomorrow morning and try to do laundry and charge batteries before resupply and starting the Beara Way. We have had some technical issues, no surprise into month 5 of the trip. Mike has noticed that our MSR Guardian water filter has become a bit tight when pumping. We sent it in for a full service and filter replacement before leaving, so hope it's nothing major as we can't do without it but also don't want to pay the replacement cost so close to the end of the trip. Also, the sole of one of Mike's hiking boots, which have done only 900 km (they were new at the start of the hike in Spain) has started to unglue from the boot. This happened in France and he bought shoe glue to reattach it, but has had to do this three times as it keeps failing. He has now lodged a warranty claim with the seller so we will wait and see. Otherwise our packs (Lundhags), tent (Hilleberg) and mattresses (Sea to Summit) are all going well.


We had a quick 6 km walk into Kenmare. Well, actually the last bit was pretty overgrown with gorse bushes so took a bit longer than usual. We cycled through Kenmare on the last trip to Ireland and remember it feeling like a place full of its own importance. It has a stone circle that you have to pay to see. We were quite shocked by that as Scotland has many, many such archeological treasures which you are free to visit at no charge. You have to wonder how much upkeep a stone circle requires, other than a few sheep to keep the grass short. Probably the issue is more that the town has become a victim of its own success, situated at the start or end of the Ring of Kerry so the tourists are just drawn to it automatically. It's a pretty Irish town and has shops selling knitwear and tweed etc. We had planned our assault on the town carefully. As it is busy, has three major supermarkets and we had a list of things to do, we chose the simplest option. We went to the Centra store which had: hot breakfast foods, hot shower for 2 EU for 2 min, laundry outside, indoor seating and plugs. We got there at 09:00, bought coffees, sat down, plugged things in to charge, Mike showered then I showered. We bought hot breakfast. Then we got the washing into the machine, ate and drank some more and put our stuff in the drier. Then we stocked up for a couple of days and then schlepped everything to the outdoor tables, packed up, got changed and were on our way by 12:00. It was so convenient being able to do all those things in one place! If we had had a dog, we could have put it in the dog washing machine next to the laundry.

We stopped off to buy another camping gas canister on the way out and popped into Weavers of Ireland but I wasn't really sure I wanted to buy anything, so Mike was happy with that and we left! The place was packed with tourists. Walking out of the town we sat a while at the beach with a beautiful view of the harbour. It was a perfect summers day! The Beara Way took us through pretty coastal woodland before we had a few kilometres of road walking. Irish roadsides seem full of blackberry brambles and they have mostly ripened so you can walk along and eat ripe blackberries as you do! We then turned off into farmland with a rough trail and very high grass which was a bit of a chore to hike uphill through. Water was pretty scarce and we wanted to camp before the trail went over the top of a range of hills. Luckily we came across two streams and were able to pick up water for the night. We ended up camping quite close to the second stream, where the path suddenly hit a flatter area with shorter grass which we could pitch the tent on. We have beautiful valley views. Good news on the equipment front is that Mike is getting refunded for his boots and the glue is holding!


Perfect summers day in Ireland! We climbed a few hills and saw many sheep. We had beautiful views of the coastline of Beara and Kerry. It is really good walking here as the uphills are never too high and there are many rewards. We had an early swim in Lough Inchiquin, there was a boatshed and easy access to the water on the concrete ramp. It was a lovely swim, followed by coffee and biscuits. We noted that fishing was only allowed by members of the Kenmare Angling Club. These things just seem so silly. Anyway, catch and release only for the trout. We did not catch any! The valley the Lough is in has a string of small lakes, fed by the highest waterfall in Ireland at it's head. Shortly after the lough was Uragh Stone Circle which had quite a few visitors so must draw the tourists. We went to have a look and it was very small but it's position seemed important.

Resting halfway up the next steep climb, a large group of day hikers were coming down, led by a guide explaining things about the area. Our walk today was diverse, some wild moorland, some road walking, some forest, some farmland. We enjoyed it. We decided to camp in a pine forest at Cashelkeelty Stone Circle. Mike filtered water at the river and went to have a look at the forest the river flowed through. He thought it looked alright and so we made our way down there and found a perfect spot for the tent amongst the pine trees. A path runs through the forest from a carpark and people walk that way to Cashelkeelty, but it is very quiet here. We think we will take a rest day here tomorrow. We had another great dip in a deep swimming hole in the river.


We enjoyed our rest day in the peaceful forest. The nights here are completely silent as the wind drops completely. It is also very dark as we approach new moon (and the solar eclipse). We passed two groups of stone circles this morning at Cashelkeelty. The Stone Circles of Ireland are well-studied by archeologists and astronomers and we accept that they are of importance. However, having seen many stone circles in places like the Scottish Highlands, Orkney and Shetland Islands and even Sweden we cannot suggest anyone rush to Ireland to see these. They are tiny and if they were not signposted you might miss them altogether.

The walk today was very enjoyable, a lot of climbing (over 800m), but lovely paths and great coastal scenery. The air is very clear here. It was another perfect summers day with no wind at all. We stopped at the lovely coffee shop and store at Ardgroom where there was indoor seating, coffee, pies and cakes to eat. We could charge our batteries again using the wallsockets available. We find it very easy to travel in Ireland. The wildcamping has exceeded our expectations and the villages and towns provide many conveniences which make wildcamping possible. The one thing you do not find in Ireland are rubbish bins. Sometimes we throw our little rubbish bags away in the bins inside shops. Ireland is very good at recycling and I suppose they do not have land available for landfill.

After Ardgroom we were back in the hills and walked a little off the path to enjoy an afternoon by Lough Fadda, swimming and relaxing. We are camping just above the Lough. We saw 7 pairs of hikers today which is something of a record, all coming towards us. So far we are enjoying the Beara Way even more than the Kerry Way. It seems a bit wilder. Mike is still working on fixing his boot. It seems to consume a lot of glue as the toe tread keeps lifting away from the sole. He received the refund for the cost of the boots and also the shipping cost as he paid for express shipping to get them quickly as we arrived in Spain. He won't be buying new boots now as we have 3 weeks left to hike and he can't get the boots delivered anywhere as we aren't planning any hotel stays. So fingers crossed they hold up!


It was overcast and a little rainy this morning and a beautiful walk along the coast to Eyries Strand. The Beara Way is very coastal which we like. The views are great! Again we saw quite a few hikers today, most were Austrian/German and very friendly. After Eyries (there is a village but we didn't go in), there was quite a bit of climbing into the hills, some of it steep, but we enjoyed being higher up and the views were brilliant. Mike filtered 6L of water at the last river so we carried 3L each up the second to last hill before Allihies. Stopping for a rest, we saw that we had a really good campspot right in front of us so we are camping there with views all the way around the Kerry Peninsula and up and down the coast here.


We got a late start as the night grew very wild with lots of wind and rain. We didn't get much sleep, it was that loud and the tent bounced around a bit. It was misty and raining quite hard in the morning and we ended up leaving after 10:00, in wet weather gear. It was so nice to have a farm track to walk on as it was pretty wet after the rain. This became known as the Copper Mine Trail as we climbed up it as this was a high producing Copper Mine in the 1800's. We dropped down into Allihies, a small village. The grocery store was good and we picked up all we needed for a few days and then set off. The walk went along the coast but it wasn't the best day with a lot of sea mist which meant we didn't have good views. Many stiles! We were flagging by 15:00 after a steep climb when we came across a small stream and could filter water. Just after the stream we turned onto a farm track and found a place to pitch the tent just off the track. As expected, the solar eclipse which would have been in the order of 98%, was a damp squib as it was super cloudy/misty. But it did darken somewhat.


The night was so quiet when the wind dropped that we could hear the waves in the ocean below us somewhere, which was strange as we had not seen the ocean when we walked here yesterday. By morning it was raining so we lay in for an extra half hour. We were unsure about the day as it was all misty again when we looked out the window. We could barely see 4 fence posts in a row! Our plan was a round trip walk to Inchinaleega, which is where you can catch the cable car to Dursey Island. It's also the start or end of the Beara Breifna Way, which commemorates the the 500 km march of O'Sullivan Beare, Lord of Beara and Bantry northwards to County Leitrim to attempt to fight the English crown with other northern chiefs. He was the last Gaelic chief of the O'Sullivan clan prior to the completion of the Tudor conquest of Ireland.

We had a beautiful walk down passed Garnish Beach and then up and around to Inchinaleega, where we made coffee and watched the cable car go to and fro across the Dursey Channel. The current through that narrow channel is strong! We then walked back a different way via Lambshead and Firkeel. Visibility was great at sea level so we had wonderful views. We returned to our same campspot by mid-afternoon and put the tent up in the same spot. We had rain by evening. Hopefully the sea mist will clear tomorrow. Mike is still attracting ticks and many were removed tonight, mostly very tiny ones from his legs. The humidity is 100% here, so even though the max temperature is not high, it is still warm and very sweaty walking so wearing long pants would be too uncomfortable. The DEET spray does seem to work when he uses it, but all the sweating doesn't help it stick.


We woke to 360 degree views of coastline, ocean and islands! We couldn't believe it! Where before was mist, now we saw farmland, rocky outcrops and little coves. It was a different walk heading back towards Allihies. We did not have to go all the way back to the town as we could take the Beara Bridle Path to climb up away from the coast. We had a dip in the river flowing to the beach as we did two days ago. As the sea mist had cleared it was not as sweaty today. The walk along the bridle path was very good and sealed all the way. It was quite steep and we worried about where we would get water. We could see there was a watercourse through a farm that we were walking alongside, so Mike cleared the fence and filtered water for our bottles from it. Later on he filtered more water for the shower bag at a spring. Actually, as it turned out there was a lot of water still higher up, pouring down in streams so we needn't have bothered, but Murphy's Law and all that.

We are happy to report that the water filter is working better and seems to have loosened up. We can only assume that particles or matter in the water had perhaps caused a blockage or collected in the filter somewhere and had now cleared. A lot of the water we have been filtering has been quite peaty. On the boot front, matters have not improved for Mike's boot. The tread will not stay stuck to the sole and with the wet, further water has got in there so now obviously it will not stick. As reported, he has been fully refunded for the boots so they have been free, but if we were hiking much further he would have too get new ones and obviously that is impossible here unless we travelled to a city to buy them. My hiking shorts are also falling apart. I keep having to stitch up the seams etc. It's a debacle! We should say though that the walkers we see are all staying in accommodation, not a camper in sight! We can't imagine walking from one B&B to another and we love our tent, but of course it is far harder to do it our way. Small things like you might have to carry additional water for a few km's at the end of the day. Also, we have only had one warm shower in nearly 3 weeks! The other hikers definitely look cleaner and "newer" than we do! Actually we are now faced with the problem of a laundry as there isn't one at all anywhere for the rest of the the time that we would be in Ireland, including the Sheep's Head Way. Except for one in Castletownbeara, the next town, but the people do it for you so that is not as quick as self-service. This is fine, unless you have to pick it up at the end of the day!

We reached the forest and walked down a couple of gravel tracks to find a lovely, open place to camp amongst the trees. There were great views of the coast again. We could lay all our belongings out on the gravel to properly dry.

We have decided to walk to the end of the Beara Way at Glengariff (about 50 km from here) and not continue on the Sheep's Head Way, which is the walk around the next peninsula to the south. We are feeling tired now it's true, but we are more especially concerned about the ticks. I have had about 10 in total, but poor Mike has had many. Every night there are ticks to be removed, usually more than 10 every day, mainly from his upper thighs and tummy. Mostly they are so tiny, I don't know what he would do if he were on his own as he would have no chance of seeing many of them. It's hard because obviously you need to sit down during the day and rest or eat, but we are so conscious of sitting on the ground (we have small padded mats for this) as this is where the ticks climb on. Also of course when walking through long grass. On the Kerry Way there were often benches to sit on and we made it a rule to only sit when there was a bench, but the Beara Way does not have any. Camping in the forests is better from the tick point of view as the sheep can't go in there. Ticks carry Lyme disease here. We have a brilliant tick removal tool, but it stands to reason that you should not continually be getting bitten by ticks. We spoke about it this afternoon and decided to leave for the UK earlier than planned. We had booked to fly to Liverpool on 31 August but have brought this forward to 19 August. We spent the afternoon sorting out hotel bookings for the extra 13 nights, which was fun. Initially we were going to spend 8 nights in Liverpool, Birmingham, Leicester and London, but now we will visit other northern England cities and towns as well and are looking forward to that!


It was a really nice walk today. At first we were a little disappointed to be leaving our forest campsite as it would have been perfect for a rest day, but we had to get to Castletownbeara and it's supermarket! The walk there was good, some climbing to meet up with the same bridle way we saw go up the hill before our campsite on the Copper Mine Trail, itself before Allihies. It was nice to look down on our previous route. As the route passed a stone circle just before the town, we had a look. It was the best we have seen here so far, with more stones. We walked into town which has an impressive and very sheltered port. The tide still seems very low. We were at Murphy's Supavalue store by 10:00. It had a very nice indoor seating area with charging points. We had a lovely breakfast and coffee and relaxed while the batteries charged. Best black pudding in the trip so far! We did our last spot of food shopping for the next 4 days and happily left town. Actually, on our way out we hard boiled our eggs whilst sitting on the first bench we have seen on the Beara Way!

The track headed for the hills quite gently and we decided to camp off the trail where there was an almost swimable brook bubbling away. No ticks on Mike tonight although we did pass a sign for those heading in the opposite direction warning of ticks! Perhaps there are none this side of the sign? The views from up here of the sea and boats coming and going to the port are lovely. The sea is very calm! The sheep are always marked after shearing with brightly coloured dye or spray. This is the case with all the sheep we see. They can be sprayed bright blue, green or pink or red. Today up here we saw our first sheep marked green and orange like the Irish flag!


Short day today as rain was forecast for 14:00 and arrived at 10:00 anyway! Lovely walking through the rocky hillsides above the coast. We came to a narrow, deep stream which we could have a quick wash in and pitched the tent on the higher ground nearby. It rained a lot all afternoon. In Ireland rain is massively under-forecast. It was predicted at 0.2mm but would have been way more than that. Sometimes the rain harmonizes with itself, falling in different strengths at the same time You might have a gentle rain with much harder drops also falling at the same time. We did some research on sheep eyesight as it seems to us they can't see very well. Apparently they can see well up to about 20 ft. Mike's tick count was three today. Ireland has a website about ticks and it seems that the tiny ticks he had been picking up are babies. I enlarged one under my camera lens and it had 6 legs, which is the number they have as babies. So it seems they may be too young to be carrying disease. Apparently horse flies also carry Lyme disease and we've both been bitten plenty of times by those. We look forward to hotels.


So we woke up planning to have 2 days walk to Glengariff, being Monday and Tuesday. We had already e-mailed Harrington's bus company to book trips into Cork for the Wednesday morning. We had sorted out how the buses work in this area of the country, or rather, we thought we had sorted it out! We had often seen buses of different types and routes during our walk. Bus Eireann is the national bus service and then there are numerous small, private bus companies and local services which run vans and small buses, connecting remote villages with the main routes. Of course there is an app (every country has at least one app that you need to download to book tickets for public transport). We had checked the app out before and saw how you could book with any of the companies and buy tickets. It cost 11.20 EU or thereabouts from Glengariff to Cork on any service. We had decided we would camp a little short of Glengariff on the second day, walk a couple of k's on the third morning into town to get an 08:00 bus. We were due to fly out of Cork to Manchester at 21:00 on the Wednesday night. There was also a 14:15 bus, which would have been perfect for getting to the airport by say 17:00, but nobody needs the stress associated with waiting for a bus that runs late or something. So this was our plan: buy the Harrington's tickets on the app and then activate them when boarding. We had purposely booked a nighttime flight to Manchester to avoid having to overnight in Cork. Hotels are expensive in Ireland, you can expect to pay 150 EU as a starting price for basic accommodation for 2. When Mike e-mailed Harrington's to book the bus, he said we were going to buy the tickets on the app. We only have 12 EU left in cash so were happy with the digital payment option.

Anyway, some blue skies this morning and generally good weather. Beautiful walk with views of Hungry Hill which is quite formidable looking! The rhythm of the rocks in the Beara hills is very pleasing to the eye, they all fall in formation, very striking. We met a farmer herding sheep and had a pleasant chat. He said he was in his 70's and looked fit, but he said that he was feeling his age. He looked pretty nimble coming down the hill in his Wellington boots. He confirmed our suspicions that the younger generations were not interested in taking over the farming and so sheep farming was diminishing and in the end would probably disappear, which was a pity as the sheep grazed the hillsides and in that way the land was managed. His opinion was that Ireland would go wild if the sheep went. It is true that the sheep grazed everywhere! The ground was pretty wet after yesterday's rain and many streams were running swiftly. We have found that you do have to be careful on rocks when wet as they can be very slippery. We reached a section of rock sheets at an angle in the hill where metal uprights and ropes had been placed to prevent slipping. A signed warned of slippery rocks when wet. Not long after that we came across a group of men drilling into rock to place more poles for this purpose. Further on we met a group of French hikers and had a chat. We reached Adrigole, a small village with a campsite and shop. We sat at a bench outside to discuss our plans for the bus. We looked at the app again to make sure it worked and noticed that for Harrington's you could not book adult tickets, only students. So I phoned them and the lady confirmed our booking but said they couldn't help with the app, people pay cash and from Glengariff is was 20 EU per person. Mike and I discussed this as Bus Eireann charged much less. We were irritated as when the bus company had responded to.our booking request they had not said, "we only take cash so we won't accept the digital ticket". We started doubting the functionality of these digital tickets on any service, although Bus Eireann did stipulate the app and tickets on their website. We chatted to two young girls also waiting for the bus, this was a Harrington's bus. They lived in Cork but bemoaned public transport generally in Ireland. They did say we could get cashback from the shop. At the same time as we were sorting out the bus, Mike had been looking at accommodation in Cork. Yesterday some other accommodation had come available in student accommodation, it is still uni holidays and they act as hostel-type accommodation to the public. It's basic, but still double rooms and en-suite bathrooms and even some extras like shared kitchens. Mike tried to do the cashback in the shop for the Harrington's bus the girls were waiting for but it did not work with an international card. So I rang Harrington's again and asked if we could pay with credit card. They said no, but when the bus got to Cork the driver would wait while we went and drew money and brought it back to pay him. You couldn't make this stuff up! How can a long distance bus service in the EU not take credit card or allow a digital ticket, which actually exists but clearly they don't want to use. Anyway, we booked the tickets for Bus Eireann, booked two nights in the student halls and walked 250 m back down the road to wait at a bus stop which was only a rusty pole with a completely faded sign on top and no timetable. We knew the bus was due at 13:50 and it was almost on time, we just hailed it, activated our tickets, stowed our packs underneath in the storage and got on. The only passengers. The driver accepted the tickets and we could relax. It was a 3 hour trip to Cork, but a very pretty journey through coastal villages. We arrived in the city around 17:00 and checked in. Student digs are certainly better than they were, our room is off a hallway, along with one other room and then there is a lounge/kitchen area with fridge, oven, kettle, toaster and microwave for the use of the two rooms. Bed is tiny, probably a three quarter size, but the room is clean and modern. And the cost was half the average.

Next day we went to a few shops. I cannot even look at my hiking shorts any longer, let alone wear them! There are many charity shops in Cork and I managed to get a pretty fun skirt, brand new, for 3.50 EU. Happy with that! Unfortunately, Mike's wardrobe woes continue with a third broken short's pocket zip and a pair of reading glasses snapped in half now taped together with elastoplast to add to his leaking boot. We took our still full gas canister into an outdoor store and the bloke was happy to take it for himself, which was good. Tomorrow we have to check out at 10:00 but will occupy ourselves around town and get to the airport early. We are booked into an airport hotel in Manchester for one night and then move onto one on the city. We have enjoyed the walking in Ireland but are keen to get back to UK.


We spent some time walking around Cork after checking out of the Copely. We had another good breakfast bun en route. The buns are sold at Centra supermarkets which are usually small, but you find them in every village. The bun is charged per item; there will be heaps of cooked stuff to choose from; fried eggs, bacon, sausages, black and white puddings, hash browns etc. So you tell the assistant how many eggs, rashers of bacon etc you want and it's usually 1EUR per item and 50c for the bun. It seems an Irish thing. We went to a small open area with part of the medieval wall still in place and tried to dry the tent as it was a little damp from the last night of camping. Mike washed the tent pegs at a tap. We abandoned our worn out hiking boots next to a bin and didn't look back. In this case it seemed like the medieval wall park was the local drug pick up point, judging from the men who came and went, feeling around the walls with their hands.

We went to a few shops, like the Helly Hansen store and Mike got a new pair of shorts and walked out the shop in them, tossing his old ones in the bin. We ended up taking the bus to the airport in the early afternoon. It was a lovely day, weather-wise and we sat at a bench near the lawns in front of the terminal in the sun, so the tent dried to a crisp which was perfect. Cork Airport is pretty low key and they had tables and chairs set up inside before check in, so we sat for a couple of hours, watching the other travellers. Irish are very down to earth, no airs and graces about themselves so it's a relaxing environment. Something interesting linked to this I guess, is that you will seldom walk into a ladies public toilet without seeing a woman set up in front of a mirror, often at a counter provided for this very purpose, all her makeup set out, "putting her face on" as my grandmother would have said. Actually, at one train station there was a sign stating that the mirrors and counters in one area were specifically for this purpose, the application of makeup. Writing that now it seems unlikely, but it is what I remember. Anyhow, there was a young lady doing just that in the public toilet at the airport, whilst chatting to someone on speaker on her mobile phone. Just so I am clear, I am not talking about a tube of lipstick and a mascara wand. It's everything from foundation up. Special hairband to hold the hair off the forehead. Later another young woman walked in there, beautiful long dark hair, slightly wavy and a single massive curler in her fringe on top of her forehead. I am by no means poking fun at Irish women. I've just never seen such attention to perfection before.

We love flying Ryanair. It's completely rules based, no grey areas. The flight to Manchester was less than an hour. We were barely up when we were coming down. In front of us was an Irishman who immediately started talking to the woman next to him and by the time we landed I had heard everything about her day to day life. It's just amazing how these people are such natural conversationalists. Totally authentic and at ease with others. It's lovely to experience, even from afar. We walked to the Ibis hotel at the next terminal in Manchester and our room, though tiny, was fine.Next morning we had booked onto the Transpennine Express to Manchester and that was just one stop for us. We had a nice walk from Piccadilly Station through town although it rained a bit. Manchester is a much more attractive city then I had thought it would be. Lots of old and new together. The heritage is obvious and well-maintained. Near our hotel was a fabulous Indian restaurant and we ate well. Actually it was such a satisfying and delicious meal that it was the only meal we had that day and that was perfect. Advantage of hiking for months is your stomach seems to shrink. Cost effective! We dropped our bags at the first of MANY Premier Inn's that we will stay at over the next three weeks and then walked all over the main shopping areas. Most important first task was we each needed to get new walking shoes of some sort as crocs are not suitable footwear for everyday distance walking, especially mine which are wearing thin underneath.

Next day I got a haircut which was too long overdue. I last had one in May in Zaragoza! We had popped into a barber training centre which we walked passed yesterday. We had spotted the "Free Haircuts by Trainees" sign on the sidewalk! I had been booked in for today. What a great experience! All these young blokes training to be hairdresser/barbers and their supervisor/trainer comes around and monitors their progress. I got a great haircut for free! Winner! Then more shopping and time to relax in our very nice, roomy hotel room. It even has a bath! Happy days. Only issue is that it is STILL school holidays and at Premier Inns kids eat free. So we did go down for breakfast but changed our mind about that! It was like being in a school cafeteria! We just hung on for our delicious Indian lunch again. Tomorrow: train to Wigan!


The Premier Inn Hotels have 12:00 check out time so we booked our train to Wigan at 12:20, but although we took a leisurely stroll to Salford Central train station in Manchester we were there in time for the 12:00 train. It was another sunny day and arriving in Wigan we had Subway for lunch and dropped our bags off at the hotel. It is a nice one, small and friendly. We then took a walk around Wigan, to the Mesnes Park which was hosting a wedding at the time. We had no reason for being in Wigan, other than the hotel rates for a Saturday and Sunday night were much less than in the city, but it was nice being in a quieter place. Very pretty town centre!

We had breakfast in the hotel next morning and it was orderly and quiet. We guess that Wigan is not a major destination for a family holiday! The Vuelta Espana has started so we watched that both afternoons that we were in Wigan. Tomorrow: back to Manchester!


We enjoyed our time in Wigan. Some excitement last night when I woke up and could see flashing lights on the street somewhere. It was around 02:00. It turned out there were three police vehicles at the next intersection which had closed off the roads to the centre. There was smoke billowing over the buildings, so a fire, maybe already extinguished. The police vehicles eventually left around 05:00. I have a cold which is a bit grim but hopefully I will recover quickly with rest. In the meantime it's good to have hot showers and a comfy bed!

We got the train back from Wigan to Manchester, Oxford Rd. We got on an earlier train at first and then got off at Hindley to wait for the Oxford Rd train. Hindley has the most beautiful train station. It's a community project with lovely gardens, models of windmills and mining equipment and sculptures and artwork. Even a memorial bench named for a long-serving station master. The weather was still sunny and we left our packs at our hotel in Manchester and walked into town again. It is nice staying in a different part of town. We went to pick up a skirt I had bought online, it was a click and collect order instore. I can't really wear my little Irish skirt for three weeks, it's nice to have something new. Another cosy Premier Inn hotel room with a city view this time!

Next day we slept in. Actually our sleeping is all over the place, could be the adjustment from finishing the hiking to being much more sedentary! I still have my cold which would explain my poor night's sleep. We had booked tickets for the Lowry Gallery in Salford and decided to take a walk there, rather than catch the tram. The walk was lovely, mostly along the River Irwell canal path. The river broadens at the Salford marina which is overlooked by Old Trafford. There are many new apartment buildings in this area and fabulously they are made from facebrick which is so in keeping with the older industrial buildings in Manchester. We had breakfast in a park on the way. We arrived early for our Lowry timeslot so walked over the pedestrian bridge to the Imperial War Museum North, which was well worth visiting. The Lowry Gallery has the largest collection of works by L.S. Lowry, the centrepiece being the most famous Going to the Match featuring Burnden Park. Currently, there is also an Immersive experience featuring this painting. We were 2 of 4 people there which was good as it takes place in a small room and is brilliantly done. The features of the painting swirl around you on the walls and floor of the room and it feels that you are part of the crowd going to the match. After the experience you go directly to see the painting which seemed more impressive for the experience. It was lovely seeing so many Lowry paintings, I hadn't realised how diverse an artist he was. Mike was impressed too. Afterwards we walked back to the hotel. The walk was about 10 km in total. We would recommend Manchester as a great city to visit! The architecture is particularly impressive. We watched stage 4 of the Vuelta, which took place in Andorra which was cool having been there. We had dinner in the hotel, fish and chips for me (very crispy batter, perfect!) and burger for Mike. Tomorrow: Leeds!


We took a train from Manchester Victoria Station to Leeds after 12:00. It was a train that stopped at stations along the way. You can get an express train which is quicker, but we enjoyed the trip, passing through places such as Halifax and Bradford. Beautiful Yorkshire towns and villages, green hillsides and darkened stone buildings. We had Subway for lunch in Leeds and took a walk to our hotel which is outside the city centre by about 1 km. Leeds was bustling as there is a music festival starting tomorrow (Thursday) and continuing through the weekend, which is a Bank Holiday weekend with Monday, 31 August a Bank Holiday. School holidays end this weekend too. Our hotel was, as is usual for a Premier Inn, perfect. It's the third Premier Inn we have stayed at with a bath which is great as I enjoy a bath! You just always know what you are going to get!

Next day we took a walk to a nearby supermarket for milk and came back to our room for breakfast. Rain was forecast for the afternoon, so we walked into town mid-morning and had a great time in Leeds! We were once again surprised by the beauty of the city, as we were in Manchester. The city seems quite spacious, the architecture is pleasing and the shops are amazing! Old world arcades and brand-new malls, Leeds has it all! We did some shopping, mainly at Decathlon and had an early lunch. I had vegetarian curries at Manjit's which were absolutely delicious. We are really enjoying the food here! You can get anything. Mike had a Subway. It is so good to have fresh food! We are pleased to have this time to visit these cities which we wouldn't have made an effort to come to otherwise. We are learning that these places have much to offer visitors! We are also enjoying watching the Vuelta, which we did again this afternoon, after walking back to our hotel in heavy rain! Tomorrow: Bradford!


We had Subway before catching our train from Leeds to Bradford. All our trains are booked around 12/12:30 and check out time at Premier Inn is 12:00 so we are in a comfortable system with it all. Right now for us, nothing tastes better than a Subway with all the salads or a fresh curry. Mike has caught my cold and lost his appetite as I did when I had it. We dropped off our packs at our hotel in Bradford and then took the train to Salts Mill, at Saltaire.

Salts Mill had been a wishlist item that I had idly highlighted on the map when we knew we would be travelling from Liverpool to Leicester etc, never thinking we would be close to it. Luckily we went to Bradford and Saltaire is only three stations away. Salts Mill is a huge repurposed textile mill which houses an art gallery, homewares shop, bookstore, jewellery store and even a bike shop! David Hockney, whose exhibition "A Year in Normandy" we saw in March in London, was born and educated in Bradford and Salts Mill exhibits a lot of his work. There was a current exhibition which I found interesting. For example, a finished painting along with a digital screen which showed the progress of the painting towards finished. Mike doesn't like Hockney but really enjoyed the rest of Salts Mill, especially the homewares store which displayed our favourite brands nicely. The bookstore also had a great range of books. I bought some amazingly rough and heavy 100% cotton rag handmade watercolour paper from South India. We really enjoyed our visit. Yorkshire is beautiful.

Next day we had a lazy morning and had lunch out of the town centre at a specialist curry shop. It was a bit of a walk and the shop, or deli is part of the butcher. Once again we had an amazing meal of delicious fresh curry. On our way back we visited Bradford Cathedral and are pleased we did! The interior was in exceptionally good condition. It houses impressive stained glass windows, some by William Morris. The UK preserves the past into the present very well and that is evident throughout the centre of Bradford where wool money was spent on stone buildings centuries ago which are still in use by modern commercial or retail businesses. Tomorrow: Liverpool!