IRELAND - THE EMERALD ISLE

As usual, I manipulate the dates and post times to keep the blog in chronological order when you open the blog. Read top to bottom and the newest postings have the oldest dates. At end, or bottom  of page, click on "older posts" to get the newer posts.

I was originally going to walk the Camino  Francaise again this year, but a chat with good friends who wanted to do a marathon walk, in the wine bar, ( well, not a marathon walk IN the WINE BAR, the talk was in the wine bar) resulted in a change of plan due to a restriction of time. I am so fortunate to have these friends, and Im excited to say that my best buddy from hawaii, the Hawain Hurricane, Caroline, is coming along with us.
 The plan is for four of us to walk both the Dingle Peninsular in Southern Ireland, and then three of us to branch onto the Ring of Kerry trail for the rest of the hike. This will be a total of approx. 250 miles, or 400 Kilometers.
 Most people dont realize that when talking about Ireland and England in the same breath, they are talking about Northern Ireland. Southern Ireland is an independent republic, better known as the Republic of Ireland.
Ireland as a whole was settled many thousands of years ago, but it wasnt until the Norman invasion in the late 12th century, that began the rule buy the English monarchy.
After many subsequent parliaments, uprisings and rebellions,  Ireland became  known as the Irish Free State , but after the death of King George V in 1937, a new constitution changed the name to Eire (Ireland), and removed all mention of the monarchy. In 1949 Eire was declared the republic, and the only part of the main island that retained the monarchical system is Northern Ireland.

 The patron Saint of Ireland is Saint Patrick, who I was named after, people who know me can attest to that,,,,Im sure.

Saint Patrick was a 5th century Romano-British missionary ( he wasnt actually Irish). As a 16 year old child, he was kidnapped from his home in England by pirates, and taken to Ireland to work as an animal handler, where after  6 years he escaped, and fought his way back to his family in England. Because of a vision he had ( his family were very religious), he returned to Ireland and became a bishop during the 5th century. There is very little information in the archives which indicate  where he exactly served in Ireland, but  folk law about him abounds.
 He is credited with banishing ALL snakes out of Ireland, and he used a Shamrock during an illustrated parable, which then led to the Shamrock becoming the national Irish symbol.
People use all sorts of names to talk about the British Isles, from England to Great Briton, to The United Kingdom, whats interesting to note is that ALL these places exist, but are different.
So, to clear that up, Great Britain, is really England , Scotland, and Wales
England is just exactly that, England


United Kingdom, is England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the proper name is actually,"The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"
 The national flag is the "Union Flag", more commonly referred to as the Union Jack. The Union Jack is really believed to be a reference to  the Naval forces of the British Empire, or the naval flag.
Anyway, the Union Flag (Union Jack), is made up representing three of the four areas
The red cross in the middle  represents St George of England
The white saltire is for St Andrew of Scotland
the red saltire is for St Patrick ( they could have used my photo) of Ireland
and poor Wales doesnt get a mention.

This is going to be fun to walk with these friends, truth is, that when you walk these trails, you are very rarely walking with someone. After the morning starts and chitter chatter fades out, you walk at different paces, and generally  retreat into your mind.

This isnt one of those ancient spiritual journeys like the three Caminos I have done, or the 88 Temple walk in Japan, or even the West Highland Way in Scotland (my favorite). Having said that, all these hikes do bring to one an awareness and clarity, sometimes to love, life or in retrospect, the world as a whole. That may sound crazy, but one has to walk to find out,,,,,, I walk.
I have been walking just a little, to train for this hike, in the boots that I used in Japan. Those who followed that walk know well of the struggles I had with my ankles and knees after all that asphalt, well I can now feel my toes slightly touching the toe box at the end of the shoe, this tells me the boot body has stretched. This wont work as your foot grows at least a size on a long multi day hike, so one needs at least a size too big to start with, and thick socks at the beginning. I am not taking any boots to Ireland, and am praying I can buy a pair of BergHaus boots in Cork ,when I get there. I used that brand of boot for about 2000 miles and never had a blister, and I got them in Scotland on the West Way, after being shamed by Deep, Flop and Burger who I was walking with, for trying to hike in a second hand pair of $2 boots to start with........that blew apart.
Cant find the BergHaus brand in the USA.
 I enjoy writing the blogs for many reasons, mostly so I can go back and remember, but also because I have so many friend/followers now who cant resist the more than often rude remark, which makes me laugh. I am grateful for those friends. On this trip, as its going to be more relaxed, or so I believe. I dont think it will be as challenging as my other walks.
Checking with Caroline, she has made a packing list as its her first big hike, I noticed the hat she brought in Thailand on her last trip with me, is on it.

If she brings that F##%&^ hat on this hike, there will be a dead Hawaiian on the road from Cork to Trallee.

Time to drag my backpack (Leonard the Girl Elephant)out of the big black bag I store it in, and clean it out, wash the sleep bag again and start to get ready.
Departure date is June 14th, 2017. arriving Cork, Ireland the next day where we all four meet up at the hotel and take in a little tour of the city, kiss the Blarney Stone (for the third time) and buy some hiking boots for me. Cant wait.


An overview of this first half of the trail from Tralee. The trail is 172 kilometers(108 miles) long with a highest point at 2300 meters(7000 feet above sea level), should do this easily in 8 to 9 days.
Going to be a bit more luxury than Im used to as we are staying ,mostly in Bed and Breakfasts that we pre-booked.

weather might be a bit damp and grey as its Ireland, but we also may get very lucky in the Emerald Isle and have sun all the way. What sight am I most looking forward to ?, a glass of REAL Guinness in my hand.

Well, one does not get to come to Ireland without getting to know about Leprechauns,, these are mischievous little Irish Folklore characters,,,,,,or are they?.
I think Ive seen one on a previous visit to Ireland, as I came out of a pub, and after 12 Guinness beers.



 
These little bearded men are seen wearing coats and a hat, originally depicted in Red coats, especially up north, Their sightings these days are seen more in the south, and  wearing green coats , this being after the end of the 19th century.
They partake in lots of mischief and love a good practical joke. Most Leprechauns work as shoe makers and have a pot of gold at the end of each rainbow.
Solitary Leprechauns always wear a red coat, where as the trooping guys wear green mostly. At 3 ft tall, if you catch one, they will give you three wishes to set them free again. Their coats always have 7 buttons, and they live in the Moors mostly, but are also often found in caves, forests, and if your lucky, at the bottom of your garden
The first Leprechauns apparently came from an evil spirit, or a degenerate fairy,  so dont bang your walking stick on the ground if your crossing over on a bridge, you might wake a sleeping Leprechaun up, and they get grumpy if you do.
So, arrived after a long journey and forgot my iPad on the plane at Heathrow,,sob, had to got through customs and immigration, then to the air offices to call the plane, then I had to go back to get the iPad, just grateful for that, then go through security, immigration a second time.
 Went to town and purchased new boots, I'm not sure about them yet but what the heck, then I  was strolling though the English Market in Cork and found the girls by accident.
So happy to see Caroline again, celebrated with my first real Guinness in years,and in case you don't know how that goes, let me show you, it happens like this,

First
         

   

Then

And finally

Going out for dinner ,,then we start walking tomorrow from Tralee after a two hour bus ride.  On on

Day one and we thought it would be an easy one, silly me. - Kerri, Caroline,yours truly, Brian

walking day one- we left Cork for Tralee this morning and the moment we got to Tralee, we started our walk to Camp, the first night stop on this trail
CAMP 6/16/17
This is a small fishing village near the Slieve Mish Mountains at the northern end of the Dingle peninsular in County Kerry. This town is associated with the Milesians, the first race of people to settle Ireland. They were Gaels (Gaelic) and sailed the world for hundreds of years from Hispania, till finally settling in this part of Ireland.
Here at the official start of the way, which as it turns out is also one of the satellite Caminos affiliated with the Camino de Santiago in Spain which I did two years ago. is where we took the first group photo.

Lunch behind a rock out of the wind,  and below, a quiet country lane which we had a few of. It was a good day,
Longer than expected and hard climbs, but we made it in 7 hours

We started at the Thomas Ashe Memorial park which was named after the first Irishman to die from a hunger strike in 1917, fighting for Ireland's independence
We headed along the River Lee and then climbed up into the mountains that border the bay. The path was rocky and pretty steep in places, between the rocks and furrows there were a million mud
puddles and bogs.

Yes, that is Kerri telling Brian he's wrong again. 

J

The guide book claimed 11 miles, but using my average walk time and a GPS Caroline was carrying, it was more like 15 miles. When we came into the town of Camp for the night, the local publican said that today was the hardest day of the whole walk, he lied.

I have to say, I was pretty proud of the girls because this was not the start I expected, and
they soldiered on regardless. The mistake I made, and I have to own it, is that I figured an easy day with a village somewhere along the way to eat, we walked the whole thing with no food and little water,,,that's what you get for listening to me.
 We are at a great B and B , and the food at the pub tonight was excellent. I had Lamb.
Just got an email from my credit card company telling me my credit card has been compromised so they have to cancel it, how f.. convenient. At least I don't have to pay for all the fraudulent charges. I'll have to wait till I get home too get the new one. I at least have my Wells fargo card to rely on.
Off to bed at 9.30 and tomorrow we start the day with a full Irish breakfast,,,that's eggs, rashers, black
pudding, white pudding, grilled tomatoes, baked beans, mushy peas , fried bread and coffee, OH YEAH.

Tomorrow is another 11 mile day ( if you believe the book), but we hit the coast mid day at a town called INCH, then walk along on the beach for awhile towards our night atop.

Day two to the town of Annascaul (17kl or 11 miles).

ANNASCAUL TOWN   6/17/17
The name of the town is a corruption of the Gaelic word "atha na scail" which means River of Hero's,
This is a relatively modern town by comparison as it was built in 1837 with 11 homes and a out house.
this is the birthplace of Tom Crean who accompanied Robert Scott on his ill fated exploration to the south pole.
As it turns out, we were arriving in Annascaul on the evening at the end of the Tom Crean Challenge, they have a 19 mile hike once a year as a challenge to the locals and others to get out and walk. We walked in and people were walking around with medals,,,of course I wanted one,,, these were the finishers and it was great to see them. The walk today was fun, lots more pathways, farm tracks and a few country roads.

Climbing one of the many farm stiles during the day

Everyone did well and the sun popped out from the clouds quite abit, giving us all burns on the back of our legs.
One of the things we got to do was hike down to INCH BAY BEACH and rest our feet at the local with a beer shandy. The girls actually went in up to their knees,,,too far to walk for me

Beer shandy at the beach for the weary

The people in Ireland are so warm and friendly, and always willing to help. When we made it into Annascaul we were early for our hostel, so we plonked down at an outside pub and cheered the walkers coming in from the  challenge.
After a shower, we headed into another pub for a game of cribbage, at which the girls killed us and are now behaving like brats. We had the best Shepherds Pie, and my body just loved getting some fuel, then crossed over to another pub to listen to the locals play music and sing along. I don't know how you get 200 people into a small room, but apparently it's possible in an Irish pub.

In bed by 10 pm and ready for tomorrow.

Shepherd pie, fish and chip, and a game of cribbage

day 3 of the walk to Dingle  ( 19km or 12 miles)

Dingle Town  6/18/17
Dingle is actually the town on the Dingle Peninsular, and survives mainly on fishing, agriculture and tourism. Strangely enough, its sister town in the USA is my old home town of Santa Barbara, California, ( wonder if they have a Valentinos Pizza in Dingle, which was my business in SB).

With a population of approx 2000, its bigger than most towns we will hike through, but by no means a large town. Fungi is the famous resident of Dingle, its a 13 ft long 600 pound Bottle Nose Dolphin which turned up in 1983 and seeks human company. A huge tourist business has grown up around this dolphin, bringing people from all over the world. Now, think about it, dolphins live to about 45, its been here 34 years and they dont know how old it was when it arrived.  What will happen, possibly any day now, when the dolphin takes the inevitable dirt nap from old age. There will be a lot of tourist driven businesses for sale .






https://youtu.be/eK-LeeGslMA  -- this is a video link of Fungi, copy and paste to address page.

After breakfast this morning I went outside to check the weather, lo and behold, here is this guy painting the whole house with a 4 inch brush, a 4 inch brush?, are you kidding me

We headed out if town down to the canal, then what seemed like a hill that never ended, into the mountains. After 2 hours we dropped down into the bay where Oliver Cromwell came ashore. He attacked this castle, that was built in the 16th century.

Coming down to the coast near Lispole this morning

 It was partly destroyed in 1650 by Cromwell forces when he landed.
 So, Cromwell arrives at your door with his army, and you have a fort that's tantamount to a two bedroom condo, just how many soldiers can you house in your condo,,,,,they lost.

It's a beautiful bay  and what's left of the fort is pretty in this sandy setting. The weather was amazing all day

Kerri and I snacking outside a mini market at halfway today

From Lispole we hiked up through Connor Pass, a climb of 1100 ft, over the rim and down into a little town where we stopped for a sandwich and drink at a local mini market.
 Missed a turn on the way to Dingle, so we came in on the wrong road, I think Caroline was struggling with heat today, especially after the numerous climbs approaching Dingle. I was struggling a little myself.
Anyway, all is now well and we had a large roast beef and veggie dinner in the harbor, then the boys got our butts kicked again at cribbage, you can't even talk to the girls right now without them rubbing it in. We boys have time.
Tomorrow we head out to the town of Dunquin, nothing there so we ordered dinner from the BandB as its in the middle of nowhere.

                                                    snack and rest at the top of this climb

Day 4 and the walk from Dingle to Dunquin (20 kl or 12 miles)

Dingle bay early the morning we left

Dunquin  6/19/17
Dunquin overlooks the Blasket Islands, a place where many ship took refuge during the old days. its was here in Blasket Sound, that the famous movie, "Ryans Daughter" was filmed.
Today started out from Dingle and I stopped to buy a can of sun block ($30). I'm still recovering from the price, but we are getting fried by the sun, and today is no different.
Leaving the town, we came upon a bronze of Fungie

Then some pesky Americans turned up

  

We headed out along the coast road for a few miles , then up into the mountains where for about three hours we traversed along next to the coast. This was a tough day for any hiker, the ups were really steep and long,,and rocky,
but the scenery was out of this world. So far this has been the most scenic of days and rewarding for all the effort being put in on the climbs

taking a break after the worst of the climb at this scenic spot

We came across the old flat stone beehive huts,
which the Irish call" Cloghanes". These were built in the 8th centurt and had bolero  roofs. No
one actually knows what they were used for as they are only found in the Dingle Peninsular, but they suspect they were living quarters back then.

From here we dropped down onto the coastline and stopped for a snack above the cliffs, then continued the hike to our accommodation for this night.

 

 I have to give the girls a lot of praise, because they stopped someone and asked direction, I had us going the wrong way. Anyway, there is nothing in this village so we brought dinner at the BandB. We are all a little knackered after today, it takes a few days to build up your walking legs, no matter how fit you are. so we are staying in tonight, eating dinner and collapsing.
Dinner was great, all fresh and grown on the farm where the BandB is. Fresh unprocessed food tastes so much better. Had a new beer with dinner, local brew called Curim Gold, very nice beer. Just come back after a game of cards with the others and going to bed. The sun is still up and will be till about 11 pm, luckily our room has small windows.
 A lot if the older houses here have small windows, because 80 years ago, big windows were taxed as a luxury, apparently having more sun light in your house was a luxury then, and that's actually where the term "daylight robbery " comes from.
I think I need to wear longs tomorrow, I'm getting really burned, and maybe a wide brimmed hat is in order.
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