Tralee to Killarney

Rainy

We pulled on our full rain gear for the short walk to the train / bus station in Tralee this morning. I was anxious to leave the hostel, so we didn’t stay to make ourselves breakfast.

The bus trip to Killarney took only 40 minutes. Once there we checked into the Railway Hostel, a busy youth hostel with a European flavor, and kids hanging out in the lobby, watching TV, surfing the internet, and making plans for their next stop.

All the rooms were named for TV characters or animals – we got to stay in the Chimpanzee Room! This is a very nice hostel, bright and clean, with a window, a skylight, and, most importantly, towels!

The rain cleared after a while, and we walked through town, checking out the tourist shops and those selling Irish woolens and Galway crystal.

We also toured the Friary and St. Mary’s Cathedral, which was at the far end of town – built in 1855, it was not that old, but pretty impressive, and had a transplanted standing stone on the front lawn.

I collect plates from all our travels that hang on my kitchen wall, and found a nice one that said, “Slainte” (SLAN cha), which means “to your health” or “cheers”, and got my mom a gift from Cork.

The Fodor's Guide was right about Killarney - there really isn't too much here of interest!

We got back to our room early, had dinner in, and read for a while – I finished my second novel, which means tomorrow’s quest will include finding a bookstore, and a new book to read.

I listened to the birds singing outside the window, and wondered if there were more birds here than at home because I’ve been acutely aware of them throughout our trip. I came to the conclusion that I’m probably just hearing the birds because we’ve been sleeping with the windows open everywhere we’ve stayed. There are no screens on the windows here, they are just open. Why don’t I open the windows at home?

Tomorrow we travel north to Limerick, a working class town with some history and a castle!

Hiking Day 9 Castlegregory to Camp to Tralee (Caislean Ghraire – An Com) 6 miles

Bright and sunny

Today we complete our circle by returning to Camp, after a lovely breakfast prepared by our host Sheila Rohan. Jim had porridge (oatmeal served with cream and honey), salmon and eggs (known as a Scottish breakfast). I stuck with Muesli and scrambled eggs.



We set out through Castlegregory and returned to the beach by way of several RV parks containing many walking and gardening senior citizens, out to enjoy a beautiful Sunday morning. We passed acres of yellow flag iris in bloom.





We walked along the water’s edge for about 3 miles, having to remove our shoes at one point to wade across a river that emptied into the bay.






Unlike yesterday’s cloudy quiet, today the beach was filled with families, sweethearts and dogs happily fetching sticks out of the water.






The sky was gorgeous and we saw an egret perched at the shore. It was a brilliant walk!










Our guide instructed us to leave the beach when we saw the church steeple at Kilgobbin. Isn’t it amazing that we’ve made it all the way around without ever knowing the name of a single road?

We saw something that looked like a castle, and thought we’d better check it out, and sure enough, it was the church steeple.


From the church it was a short uphill climb back to Camp, and the familiar Ashe’s Pub where we’d eaten fish and chips the week before.


We ate our lunch at the picnic table outside the pub, and had one more Guinness while we waited for the bus that would take us back to Tralee. As we finished our lunch, the Germans arrived again! Kirsten, Daniel and Timor joined us in a final toast, and we rode back to Tralee together, parting ways at our respective hostels.






We went back to Finnegan’s Hostel (the place with no soap or towels…) dropped off our packs, and walked to the train station to see about tomorrow’s schedules to Cork or Killarney – we haven’t decided where to go next.






We strolled back through Tralee Park, finding a Five Senses Garden, and a bust of Rose Kennedy surrounded by roses in bloom.










We spent some time in St. John’s parish church, which has a really magnificent central altar, then, as we walked through the gardens, found not one, but two headstones of priests named O’Keeffe (my family name) who had lived and died here in Tralee.








Back in our room, we pondered our next destination. I had wanted to go to Cork to see where my grandfather came from, but without a real address, that now seemed like a poor reason to make the trip.








We had consulted several travel guides that said there was absolutely nothing to do but shop in Killarney, but it was supposed to rain tomorrow, and that didn’t seem like such a bad idea…. Killarney it is!

Hiking Day 8 Cloghane to Castlegregory (An Clochan – Caislean Ghraire) 9 miles

Overcast in the morning, sunny in the afternoon

This is St. Brendan's Church in Cloghane - St. Brendan of Kerry, or St. Braendan the Navigator, is quite the celebrity around these parts for sailing around for seven years in a leather boat, starting around the year 512 in search of the Garden of Eden. He came back with lots of stories of sea monsters, and claimed to have found Paradise, but his accounts could never be verified. One legend says he actually discovered America...

Today’s walk is advertised in our guidebook as 18 miles of walking on Ireland’s longest beach. We asked Mr. O’Dowd if there as an interim place we could stay to divide the one day into two, and he informed us that NOBODY walks all the way to the tip of the peninsula; they just get off the beach and walk straight to Castlegregory, shortening the walk by half.




After yesterday’s climb, 9 miles instead of 18 sounded just fine to us. After a lovely French toast breakfast, with our packed sandwiches, we set off for a walk on the beach.






Except for the very occasional man and his dog, and one lone surfer, there was not much action here, considering it is a holiday weekend.





We’d been told to look for the golf course as the place to turn off from the beach. Guess what? Every piece of land in Ireland looks like a golf course (until you spot the cows)!





Jim found the correct turn off, and we walked a mile or so into the little town of Castlegregory. Here's us again reflected in a traffic mirror at the corner of a one lane road...


















We stayed at the lovely Castle House B&B (with cows in the yard!)







By late afternoon, the Germans had joined us (Daniel and Timor walked the whole 18 miles, Kirsten took a cab straight to the B&B) and the parking lot filled with holiday weekend guests.




We had tea and home-made fruitcake in the parlor. As always, we were ready for supper by 6pm, but Ireland runs on a different schedule. Because it stays light past 10pm, the restaurants don’t get crowded until late, so we are usually alone enjoying the early dinner seating.





We walked around town and saw some interesting advertisements - a fisherman upside down in a barrel in front of a pub, and a man pulling his cart and plowhorse, advertising "Guinness For Strength!)








We had an above average supper tonight – I had penne pasta with smoked chicken, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes, and Jim had a chicken curry (and a Guinness of course). Tomorrow, it’s back to Camp!

Hiking Day 7 Cuas Ballydavid to Cloghane (Cuas Ballydowd– An Clochan) 13 miles

Bright sunny day





Happy birthday to me! It looks like there was some rain overnight, but the sun is out today, which is very important on a mountain climbing day! (Remind me to tell you about my near-death experience climbing Mt. Katadhin in Maine…)





Today is my 56th birthday, and today we will climb Mt. Brandon, the highest elevation of our hike.



Our hosts reminded us that this is Bank Holiday Weekend (like Memorial Day) and that all the B&Bs going forward were likely to be booked for the next few days, so we asked to be booked ahead to O’Connor’s B&B in Cloghane (silent G again, pronounced Cla HAHN) tonight.

Maurice told us to take our time climbing and enjoy the day – he thought the climb could be done in 3 to 5 hours, not the 7 to 9 in the guidebook. The guidebook hasn’t been wrong about times so far, so we took this with a grain of salt.

Jim was very supportive of my needs today, and we stopped frequently on the steep ascent so I could catch my breath (my asthma kicks in when I climb). A solo hiker cruised by us after an hour’s walk, going about triple my speed and practically sprinting up the trail!













You know you are almost at the top when you find yourself in the clouds – all of a sudden it’s very windy and there is no more sun.
















At each stage of the climb, you can only see the section in front of you – looking behind doesn’t give a sense of how high up you are, and the town and houses below can no longer be seen.

















We were almost at the top when we spotted an ancient standing stone, decorated and with Ogham writing (slash marks) on each side. This is the closest we've been to one of these stones, although we've seen several at a distance.









Jim got to the top ahead of me, so he could record my moment of victory!












We reached the top (we climbed the shoulder of the mountain - our guides were unanimous in warning us not to attempt the summit) by noon, and then started a treacherous scrabble down the big boulders on the other side.

























At some points it was easier to “crab walk’’ with my hands then to risk missing a footing on the jagged rocks.





















When we got back into the sunshine, we stopped on a huge flat rock to have our lunch of lamb and cheddar sandwiches, provided by the pub this morning. Unfortunately, we shared this space with a goat who came to a bad end...


Jim was boiling water for hot cocoa, when the scrub brush on the rock caught fire, and he almost sacrificed one of his gaiters stomping it out! Happily, he did not sacrifice the cocoa, which was very delicious.



As we were finishing our lunch, who should arrive, but the Germans! They sat on adjacent rock and had lunch too, and Kirsten chided Jim that this was no way to treat a lady on her birthday!







The descent evened out after a while and became a gravel path that our guidebook described as “desolate” but we thought was quite pleasant.















We passed a tractor cutting peat out of the hillside (peat is burned for fuel).









As we approached the town of Brandon, we stopped at the artist’s studio and gallery of Mary Neville, who had some beautiful works in oil. Jim intuited that she had lived in Asia, and they talked about this while I looked at the paintings.


We continued on the road, opting to not walk through Brandon town, as we’ll be walking on the beach tomorrow.

We were very happy to arrive at O’Connor’s B&B, where Micheal O’Dowd was most gracious and gave us a room on the first floor (no more climbing today!) with a bathtub (another person who thought I would benefit from “a good soak”!)

After cleaning up, I felt human again, and we went into the restaurant (where Mr. O’Dowd said I looked much younger than the lady that he’d seen earlier…). I ordered the poached turbot in port wine sauce at our host’s suggestion, and Jim had the scampi. Do I need to add that we each had a Guinness? The food was exquisitely first rate – a wonderful birthday dinner! We didn’t leave a crumb…