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Ireland and Wales

July - August 2016
A 28-day adventure by Irish Welsh Travels Read more
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  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    Day 11

    Killarney national park

    August 3, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Today, after running errands, including leaving all our clothes to be washed at the laundrette, Mom, Jerry and I drove out to Killarney National Park. It was really busy for a Wednesday but we still managed to take a nice (and wet) (and WINDY) hike to Torc waterfall. Wish we had more time to spend in the park but we still had other prep-for-hike activities to accomplish. Guess it means I have to come back some day.

    Tomorrow we depart for The Dingle Way. Fingers crossed the wind doesn't knock us sideways the way it did today!!    Read more

  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    Day 13

    Day 2

    August 5, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Thank all that is good, but today was a much, much easier walk. Most of it was on either gravel roads or tiny, one-lane paved roads. What a relief after yesterday! Mom and I still chose to only walk from Camp to Inch (7.2 miles) and Kathy picked us up there. This cut 3 miles off the overall journey and meant that we've spent the afternoon resting and wandering the small village we're staying in. The best part of the day? After a brief rain shower this morning it has been sunny and warm. So lovely.

    Now we are in Annascaul, home of Tom Crean, an heroic member of Ernest Shackleton's team to the South Pole in 1914-1916. He has a pub named for him and a statue of him in the town center. In the statue he is holding two puppies, so mom and I figure he had to be a pretty great guy.    Read more

  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    Day 14

    Day 3

    August 6, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ 🌧 17 °C

    Today, after nearly forgetting my rain jacket at our bnb, mom and I walked half the distance to Dingle. We decided to stop in Lispole and catch the bus, figuring that 7 miles was enough for today. The walk to Lispole was fairly easy. We mostly walked on small roads, the only challenge involving the number of hills we had to hike up and back down. Along the way we saw Minard Castle, one of the many castles destroyed by Cromwell. Its remains are perched on a cliff overlooking a pretty, rocky beach cove. It was a good spot to eat our morning snack.Read more

  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    Day 15

    Dingle

    August 7, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Yesterday after arriving by bus and getting cleaned up, I spent little time shopping here in Dingle. All the little shops had locally made products as well as a mix of very Ashland-like over priced trinkets. I loved the woven blankets and scarves but with only 45 minutes to shop didn't find one I loved enough to buy. Maybe I'll see one in a shop elsewhere. After dinner at a noisy pub, where they were watching Gaelic football, we walked down and ate amazing ice cream at Murphy's. It's the one food place I was told I must not miss along the way, and it was absolutely true. Yumm!!

    Today we have a 14 mile walk ahead of us. Bring on the ibuprophren!    Read more

  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    2
    Day 15

    Day 4

    August 7, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Today was a long walk (14 or so miles) but mostly not a hard walk. We got to spend a lovely stretch walking along the beach at Ventry and then climbed, climbed, climbed up through fields lined by rock walls. There were also two very long stretches on a very busy road. Fingers crossed that's the last we walk on that road because I think I'm more sore from holding my shoulders near my ears in fear than from the miles on foot. Ugh.

    All the climbing though did lend some pretty amazing views, especially as it was blue skies and warm for much of the day.    Read more

  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    Day 16

    Day 5

    August 8, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ 🌧 14 °C

    Today's walk was long (14+ miles), but mostly easy. We walked over a small hill, during which it poured rain. We were soaked through. About the time we were mostly dried out, we hit a looooong stretch on small roads. After the roads, thankfully we did a long stretch of beach walking followed by beach cliff walking. Sadly, we finished the day with a stretch on a fairly busy road. By the time we hit the first long road stretch the sun had appeared and I am now sporting a very red face and neck. I guess spf 50 is no match for Irish sunshine. Hee.

    Along the way we also stopped by a lovely pottery store, and found a very pretty teapot to add to my collection. They also had restrooms so no peeing on the side of the trail today!

    All in all it was a good day, though my feet and ankles hurt quite a lot this evening. I'm guessing that's partly due to the road walking and partly all the harder stretches catching up with me.

    Our bnb tonight is in the middle of nowhere but has a restaurant and bar downstairs so is surprisingly busy. Mom, Bill and I are taking a rest day tomorrow, while Dennis and Jerry tackle Mount Brandon. I think my feet will appreciate the rest.    Read more

  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    Day 17

    Day 6

    August 9, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

    Today we chose (wisely, I think) to skip the hike over Mount Brandon and instead have spent the day sleeping in and shopping in Dingle (well, the girls shopped, the boys read books). Choosing to have a shopping day meant that Jerry had to drive over the one-lane Coner Pass three times to ferry is all to and fro. He's a trooper when it comes to driving, and I'm sincerely grateful. Coner Pass is a rather scary single-lane mountain pass where traffic goes both directions and you have to look up or down the mountain to see if you can get through each section without a car coming at you in the opposite direction. Terrifying.

    My feet and ankles are also sincerely grateful for the day off. Besides, what's a vacation without at least one day with nothing on the agenda, an ice cream cone after lunch, and time for a nap? (Side note: It's a good thing there isn't a Murphy's ice cream shop at home or I would be 500 pounds heavier by the end of the year! Yummmm.)    Read more

  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    Day 18

    Day 7

    August 10, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Today Mom, Bill, and I chose to not walk the full 17 miles and instead took a shortcut which saved 8 or 9 miles. Our bnb is wonderful, probably the fanciest one yet, and we feel guilty showing up sweaty and windblown to such a beautiful home. I'm glad we decided to cut the day short though so that we can enjoy where we are rather than arrive exhausted and ready for nothing other than dinner and bed.Read more

  • TravelerIreland and Wales
    Day 19

    Day 8

    August 11, 2016 in Ireland ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Back to the beginning. Sort of. Today's hike brought us back to Camp, which was our destination the first day of hiking. Luckily, today's hike was very, very easy and not the horrible torture that the first day's hike was.

    As the hike today was only 6 miles long, we arrived by 1pm and are spending the afternoon and evening prepping for tomorrow's journey across the island to Rosslare. We will spend one final night in Ireland before we catch our ferry over to Wales. I'm sad that the Dingle portion of our trip is over. It's been mostly pretty pleasant to see the country on-foot, even if it has meant we haven't seen some of the more typical tourist spots along the way. Instead we've rounded bends to see beautiful vistas or ramshackle churches or fields of wildflowers or quaint homes (or not so quaint, massive, modern homes). It's a different perspective on a country than the average tourist gets, and for that I'm thankful.    Read more

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