Annascaul to Dingle 9/21/26

Today was an absolutely stunning day.  I started out pretty peppy, and I knew it would be at least a 15.6-mile hike.  At about mile 5, I was really tired.  Not a good sign.  I plodded along until lunch, when I stopped to eat the tuna sandwich that my B&B had packed for me.  That was just what I needed to get my second wind. I was good to go.  At about mile 11, I ate a Snickers bar, and it was Katy bar the door.  Whoohoo - I am coming in hot.

These stunning days take a lot of hard work and upward climb. I didn’t think the long incline would ever end.

Absolutely breathtaking scenery.

Start them young on those long hikes!

Minard's Castle, perched on a rocky hill overlooking Minard Bay, was built by the Fitzgeralds (the Knights of Kerry) and was the largest fortress on the Dingle Peninsula before Cromwellian forces partially blew it up in 1650. The ruins sit on private property and are closed to the public because of their dangerous condition.  It is famously featured in the 1970 film Ryan's Daughter. 

Dingle is the main embarkation port for the pilgrimage to the shrine of St. James at Compostela in Spain.  Also known as "The Way".

St John’s Well is a dry-stone-built well with a small cross-inscribed stone standing at the rear, while a stone marked with a cross scratched by pilgrims lies toward the front of the well. Pilgrims flock to the well on 29 August, circling and saying the rosary. A rope fence surrounded the area where pilgrims can bring something to attach to it or, as many did, tie a piece of greenery and say a special prayer. My prayer was for Mary P and many of my other friends.

The higher I climbed, the more beautiful it was.

Here is an unusual sight in such a natural area: a children’s bouncy house and slide. I could see it from miles away. Sadly, it was behind a fence, or I might have given it a go.

A fast-flowing stream created about a mile of deep, sticky mud a little further along.  Once again, my boots were wet and now really mucky.

All day, the mountains on the other side were covered in clouds and mist. I saw lots of sheep, but this one firmly declared herself queen of the rock.

I am like the horse to the barn.  I have about four more miles to go, and all I had to do was get to the top of this long incline to see Dingle.

I had a fabulous dinner in a restaurant, not a pub.  The Land to Sea has a Michelin Star and the food lived up to it.

Believe it or not, they had an early-bird special, but it wasn't priced like a diner.  I chose the two-selection prix fixe. My salad was a Dingle Goat Cheese and Heritage Tomato salad with Basil pesto, Balsamic Reduction, and Pine nuts.  What a fabulous combination of textures and flavors.  It had whipped goat cheese, real tomatoes straight from the garden, dressed with olive oil and balsamic, plus a touch of something really sweet to balance the flavors.  Lastly, it had toasted pine nuts.

My entree was perfectly cooked Dingle Hake with asparagus, sautéed fresh samphire, and a Champagne sauce. I had to look up samphire.  It is a sea vegetable, and it tasted like really skinny green beans.  The best part of the dish was the cooked cabbage under the hake. I totally enjoyed every bite of this unusual combination of flavors.

I finally have a day off.  I need to do some laundry and get myself organized.  Plus, I have a strenuous-with-an-exclamation-point trek coming up in a couple of days.  Good to rest my tired body.

Good night and God Bless!

Camp to Annascaul 9/20/26

 Good evening.  It was morning when I started this journey and now it is night.

Today was about thirteen miles.  In many ways, it was easier than yesterday.  I didn’t have to wade through so many streams. Yesterday was so strenuous that I was still a bit tired. This was one of the few streams that I had to cross, and there were convenient rocks. Usually they are spaced too far apart for my short, stubby legs, but these were just right.

I saw many multicolored sheep today. For centuries, locals viewed the misty paths as haunted by phantom travelers and hounds, while farmers utilized the lower hills for grazing. I guess the ghosts didn’t come down to the hills.

The morning started with an hour-long uphill climb.  Pant Pant! Gasp Gasp! But then I came to a couple of miles of flat.

The scenery was beautiful.

The flat didn’t last, and it was back to steep up and very little down.

The area between Camp and Annascaul on the Dingle Peninsula is dominated by the Slieve Mish mountain range.  Irish folklore connects the name Sliabh Mis to Mis, a legendary princess and wild woman of great strength said to have lived and roamed the high crags.

I have passed a number of these gorgeous hydrangeas.  Look at that vibrant color.

A little trickier section of trail.  Managed to keep my still-damp boots out of the water.

Local legend connects Lake Annascaul to the mythical hero Cú Chulainn, who is the most famous hero in Irish mythology, known for his superhuman strength and terrifying battle frenzy.  In battle, he could enter a horrifying trance where his body twisted and turned into an unrecognizable, monstrous, wasp-like shape that knew no friends or enemies.

This was the only place open when I arrived.  The sign says Ashe’s Black Pudding Company.

The only sandwich they had was made with black pudding. If you don’t know, black pudding is a type of blood sausage popular in Ireland. It is made from pork or beef blood, YUCK! I was hungry, so I ate an almond and raspberry tart.  Not the most nutritious late lunch, but it beat the heck out of blood sausage.

For dinner, the only place open that served food was the Shamrock Pub.  I liked the cartoon over the bar.

Their menu was small, with totally Irish dishes, but the special was Irish Stew.  It was delicious, thick and meaty with beef, onions, beans, and carrots, and had clearly been cooking all day.  In the middle were good old Irish potatoes, or as I grew up saying, arsh potatoes. I couldn’t begin to finish that huge bowl.

So this ends another fun day on the trail.

Good night and God Bless.

Tralee to Camp 9/19/26

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Good afternoon. I was so confused when I received my route.  As you notice, I am going to Camp. As it turns out, Camp is just the name of the town and not a camp as I know it. 

A mysterious door for Mary P.  In small letters, the bronze plate says, “Dr. Denis Buckley."

I took some time to visit St John the Baptist Church in Tralee.  By 1857, J.J. McCarthy, the most prominent Gothic Revival architect in Ireland at the time, had designed a new building and adjoining Presentation Convent in the Decorated Gothic style. It was built using local Old Red Sandstone with contrasting white limestone for the windows and doorways. For the tower and spire, completed by 1870, the architect George Ashlin used the limestone decoratively, giving this soaring element a distinctive lightness. (taken from information inside the church).  What a beautiful church both inside and out.

A look at the long aisle leading to the altar.

The beautiful stained glass behing the pulpit.

A most unusual stained glass window.

Another interesting stained glass window.

The beginning of the Dingle Way  (also known as the North Kerry Way),  one of Ireland's most famous and popular long-distance walking trails.  It is a circuit of the Dingle Peninsula, starting and finishing in Tralee.

The 'Exploration of Space', officially opened by Astronaut Neil Armstrong on April 18th, 1997, was a highly acclaimed exhibition, tracing the origins and development of space flight. Armstrong addressed a massive crowd on Denny Street on his first night in Tralee, where he opened the exhibit. The visit made headlines worldwide as Armstrong made few public appearances at the time. The sculpture's hand points outward.

Afterwards. Armstrong walked along the same pathway (the one I was on) at the beginning of the Dingle Way.  Neil Armstrong was given the Freedom of Tralee at a civic reception hosted by the Town Council and then Mayor, the late Maeve Spring, who préviously walked side by side with Neil Armstrong in 1997, as they made their way from the Ashe Memorial Hall to Siamsa Tire along the pathway that links the two buildings. The path is now known as NEIL ARMSTRONG WAY.

Although I walked very close to them, I had no problems. I was shocked that this swan could lay her neck snake-wise on his body.

The Blennerville Windmill is a fully restored 18th-century windmill located on the Wild Atlantic Way. It is also Ireland's largest Windmill.

This sign for Kerry Camino was at the beginning of the wilderness part of today’s trek,  

Today was truly a mountain hike.  A lot of steep up and down, and very tricky footwork with many loose rocks and streams to ford.

I can’t tell you how many times I missed the crossing stones and ended up in frigid water up to mid-calf. I spend most of the day with dripping boots and socks.

The gate guard. Sheep are not known to be aggressive, and he stayed right there while I opened the gate.

Thank heavens there was a bridge to cross this one.

There must have been twenty of these ladders over fences.

Looking out over the Dingle Peninsula. 

I passed my hotel just before 4:00 pm.  I was starving after walking 13.8 miles.  I walked down about a 1/4 mile and found this bar.  I ordered a Diet Coke and practically drank it all without taking a breath.

I learned that the kitchen was closing at 4:30.  YIKES! I certainly didn’t want to starve to death on a hike.

I wanted something filling because I wouldn't have anything until breakfast at my B&B. I ordered chicken goujons, which are small, thin strips of chicken breast coated in panko breadcrumbs and fried until crispy. There were six of them, and they tasted incredible, and I was sooooo hungry.  I hadn’t eaten anything except half a protein bar since breakfast. Of course, I had to have my ration of Sauvignon Blanc. I did have half of a rather large chocolate bar in my suitcase, and I polished it off as I wrote this.

So it's been an arduous but stunning day, with breathtaking scenery and water thrills galore.

I bid you good night, and God Bless!