Dave Byrnes

Round Ireland - 2016

Overview Planned Schedule Map Diary Pictures

Day:	036
Date:	Friday, 29 April 2016
Start:	Castlegregory
Finish:	Tralee
Daily Kilometres:	30
Total Kilometres:	1006
Weather:	Very cold and windy with long sunny periods and a few light showers
Accommodation:	Finnegan's Hostel & B&B
Nutrition:	Breakfast: Cereal, scrambled eggs, toast & jam Lunch: Muesli bars, jam tarts and chocolate Dinner: Pizza, chocolate chip cookies
Aches:	None really
Highlight:	Pleasant mid-afternoon walking, feeling some welcome warmth from the sun, on a trail across moorland on the lower slopes of the mountains with good views across Tralee Bay.
Lowlight:	Clambering around on wet jagged rocks and a briar-covered headland trying to get around a rocky point at high tide.
Pictures:	Here
GPS Track:	Here
Journal:	I was on the road by 8:30am for my last day on the Dingle Way. Judging by the map it was going to include some slow trail later in the day and the distance was around 30km, so I expected a later finish. The early walking was on a quiet back road through a pretty tidal marsh area criss-crossed by channels and waterways, before I returned to the beach. My timing was bad, because it was near high tide, forcing me to walk well up on the softer sand, which was hard work. Life got even harder when I reached a rocky headland which had narrow spines of steep and awkward rock, interspersed with sandy stretches, running down into the surf. For the first few spines, I waited until a wave retreated, then made a dash around the rocks on the wet sand before the next wave arrived. This worked until I got to some rocky spines that went well into the waves. At first I tried climbing up and over them, but this seemed a bit risky as they were steep, wet and had few footholds. Plan B was to follow a rock spine up to the low cliff face and clamber up a couple of metres onto the cliff top. Unfortunately, the cliff top was covered with briars, making progress slow and difficult. However, I had limited options so worked my way along for a hundred metres or so before clambering back down the cliff face, taking my pack off first and dragging it down after me to lessen the risk of overbalancing and falling. Then I cautiously followed a rocky spine down to the sand before dashing around the last few between waves and reaching the next beach. It had taken about 30 minutes to go about 100 metres. The remainder of the beachwalk was easy and enjoyable before I left the sand for some country lanes near the village of Camp. As I passed through the outskirts, I saw a large group of recreational cyclists, most around my vintage, on what looked like a multi-day organised tour. They were headed towards one of the passes and were all well-rugged up, as you needed to be on what was an icy cold day. With the wind-chill, I think the temperature was around freezing all morning. From Camp, I followed old farm roads eastwards on a contour on the lower slopes of the Caherconree Mountains and stopped for my first break at the ruins of an old church possibly dating from the 11th or 12th Centuries according to a plaque. It was an atmospheric little place with the ruins of what had been a village a century or two ago nearby. People had been living here for a long time. The walk across the lower mountain slopes continued for several more hours changing to a rough foottrack across moorland, made more pleasant by a bit of warming sun, and extensive views across Tralee Bay. I met three day walkers, one of whom turned out to be an Australian from Sydney. He had recently moved to Ireland with his new Irish wife, met in Sydney, and was out for a walk with some of his in-laws. We chatted for a while before continuing our separate ways. When the trail walk finally ended, I descended to the main road and followed it into the bustling town of Tralee. As usual, the last few kilometres into a town along concrete footpaths in peak hour traffic was a bit tedious. I found my B&B with a little difficulty and checked in, unimpressed with my room and the price, not to mention the tepid shower and hopeless "free WiFi" (and no TV), but it's a long weekend and this was the best deal I could find. My budget was helped a little by getting a reasonable pizza dinner at a nearby restaurant with a half-price promotion going and then some cheaper-than-usual snacks at a large nearby supermarket. I walked around the centre of town, which is a mix of the old and modern, for a short while before returning to my room to while away the evening on some chores and reading.