Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	023
Date:	Saturday, 16 April 2016
Start:	Kenmare
Finish:	Sneem
Daily Kilometres:	31
Total Kilometres:	671
Weather:	Cool, dry and mostly sunny.
Accommodation:	The Stone House B&B
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Cereal, scrambled eggs, toast and jam Lunch: Muesli bars and chocolate Dinner: Fish, chips and salad, and chocolate
Aches:	None really
Highlight:	In late morning, I was walking on a part of the Kerry Way that was along a narrow busy road (part of the Ring of Kerry tourist route) when a van coming towards me pulled up on the road, holding up the following traffic. The female passenger wound down her window so that the male who was driving, and apparently was a publican, could apologise to me for just having closed his pub about a kilometre further on. He was sure I was heading there for lunch and an ale. I didn't quite grasp why he had closed it, but I assured him I had enough supplies to see me to the end of the day. My accent got him asking me about where I was from and what I was doing, while all the time cars manoeuvred around him during breaks in the traffic coming from the other direction. Sure enough, when I got there, the pub was closed.
Lowlight:	Many kilometres of very muddy old farm roads lined by hedgerows and fences that prevented me seeing much of the surrounding countryside.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	After a relaxing day yesterday, I was back on the trail today, leaving a bustling Saturday morning Kenmare around 9:30am. It was crisp, the sun was shining, and it looked like a street market was being set up. Maybe I should have waited another day, but on the other hand, the whole town is very tourist-oriented with all kinds of gift and craft shops, pubs, cafes and bakeries, etc., so it's hard not to feel that it's all a bit ersatz. The Kerry Way started by climbing a low hill on the outskirts of town that offered nice views back to Kenmare and westwards up the bay to the Atlantic. The trail was easier to follow across the moors than some of the Beara Way, but it wasn't maintained and was boggy in many places. Following the descent from the hill, the next three hours wasn't that interesting. Much of it was on boggy old farm roads between hedgerows that marred the views, or on forest roads through commercial pine plantations, plus one section along the busy Ring of Kerry tourist road. On the latter, I saw quite a few cyclists and suspect that the Ring of Kerry is a popular ride (180km around). However, after the pine plantation came some of the best walking so far, with a lovely path that followed the rocky shore of Kenmare Bay around Lackeen Point to the Blackwater Bridge. The Beara peninsula was across the bay and islands could be seen far out into the Atlantic. Sadly, that section was short-lived and before long I was back on boggy old farm roads again. I think the bogs are drying out a little so that rather than being sloppy, they are more glutinous, trying to suck boots off at every opportunity. I expected mud, so I'm not that bothered, it just makes for slow and tiring going. Added to that, there seemed to be never-ending stiles today as the trail crossed multiple farms and paddocks. The weight of my pack can easily throw me off balance climbing over stiles (clutching trekking poles in one hand), so I'm taking them all with great care. Finally the old farm roads finished, more or less, and the last hour or so was a pleasant walk on narrow country lanes in late afternoon sunshine until I reached the touristy village of Sneem about 5:45pm. I had a bit of trouble finding a B&B here when booking and settled for what I could get, which turns out to be very basic and over-priced. That's the market at work I suppose, and as an economist, I shouldn't complain.