Castlegregory to Camp 9/27/26

Top of the mornin' to you!

As with the previous days, the mountain scenery is beautiful. Not only is the mountain-and-ocean combination magnificent, but the people in Ireland are too. The Irish people are so warm and friendly.  Not once have I met anyone who was less than welcoming.  I am sure they have their arseholes, but I have yet to come across one. I have enjoyed eavesdropping on bar conversations, and it is clear that the Irish people really do have that gift of storytelling.

What is mind-blowing is how tiny Ireland is.  The whole Island, counting both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, is about the size of South Carolina.  The Republic of Ireland is closer to West Virginia, and yet Irish descendants seem to be all over the world. I have Irish roots on both sides of my family.

How many people of Irish descent return to the Emerald Isle to trace their family history? 

Thos little white dots are birds.

Dogs, especially Border Collies, are very popular here. My dream dog!

Originally, I thought Kilgobbin Church was a castle. The church has an ancient graveyard that dates back to the early Christian site of St. Gobain, known as the Humble Hermit.  Gobain withdrew to the forests of Thiérache to live a life of solitude and prayer. He built a small oratory dedicated to St. Peter and lived as a hermit, known for his holiness and deep communion with God. But his peace was disrupted when raiders attacked his forest dwelling and murdered him—striking him with a sword while he prayed. His death marked him as a martyr, and his forest chapel became a pilgrimage site for centuries.

It doesn’t look like much, but it was kind of a farm-to-table place. I had a real lunch and not food out of my backpack.  What a treat to eat in a restaurant for lunch, and yet, in Louisville, I don’t realize what a treat it is.

I had a plowman sandwich, which was described as: "Irish Whiskey and Honey Glazed Ham, Gouda Cheese, Caramelized Onion Chutney & Tomato Relish served on grilled Focaccia bread."

It was yummy on steroids.

Another opportunity for me to fall in the water, but thanks to the ropes on the side, I made it over high and dry.

I had an excellent chicken curry for dinner.  I find it interesting that all the pubs have a daily curry.  I don’t think of curry as pub grub.

I bid you good night, and God bless.

 

Cloghane to Castlegregory 9/26/26

Good Morning! I was too tired to post this last night.  I have had a number of tough days in a row.

The day started gloomily, with rain likely.  I loved the shaft of sun coming down through the clouds.  

This is Saint Brendan’s Church in Cloghane, located at the foot of Mount Brendan. St Brendan is one of the early Irish monastic saints and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. He is also referred to as Brendan the Navigator.   He is best known for his legendary voyage to find the "Isle of the Blessed," sometimes called "Saint Brendan’s Island." After traveling for seven years, visiting some of the same places repeatedly, the wanderers finally arrive in the Promised Land for Saints. They are welcomed and allowed to enter briefly. Awed by what they see, they return to Ireland rejoicing

Irish Lawn mowers.

I had to cross some slippery rocks here and fell in that freezing water up to my knees. Brrrr!  The rest of the day I had wet boots and socks. At least I did not get my camera wet.

The tide is out.

FERMOYLE BEACH

Surf’s up, and I saw many forms of surfing.

Looking back at my foot prints in the sand.  

Just to add to the difficulty of the walk, most of the sand was not hard-packed.

Fun to see horses on the beach.  

I walked all the way up the left side and back down the right side.  When I came back on the right side, I was fighting a 40 MPH headwind.

The mountains in the background were beautiful.

It looks calm here, but it wasn’t. Add the winds and the soft sand, and seventeen miles of that combination, and it turned into a day almost as hard as yesterday. Just hard in a different way.

Souls Of The Sea

In memory of Bat Henness, Born 10 May 1958 & Thomas (Tomasin) Henness, Born 16 August 1976

Lost at sea while fishing for herring, aboard the Pere Charles off Hock Head, Co Wexford

10 January 2007

"With our nets and gear we're faring

on the wild and wasteful ocean

It's there on the deep that we harvest

and reap our bread

As we hunt the bonny shoals of herring."

I stayed in the most elegant and luxurious Shores Country House B & B.  I could have stayed here a while.  It even had a bathtub.  What a treat.

For dinner, I took a cab to Tomasin’s Bar. This wasn't your standard pub, but a well-run establishment with a classically trained chef.

On the advice of my server, I ordered 

TOMASIN'S CLASSIC CHICKEN KIEV

Homemade crumbed chicken supreme with garlic butter, mashed potato, and steamed greens.

It an excellent choice with a large, cracker-coated, pan-fried chicken breast with butter and herbs in the middle that melted out on the first cut.  They also had a first-rate wine list.

So it is off to bed I go.

Good night and God Bless.

Feohanagh to Cloghane 9/26/26

 What a fabulous day. No misty wetness like yesterday.

Today was advertised as strenuous, with an exclamation point. It lived up to that description and more. I might have added another exclamation point. And it was iver 16 nukes,

There it is, clouded in mystery, the mountain we must climb over to reach our night’s lodging. Today’s walk rated up there with some of the legendary Alps hikes. It might have been the steepest walk of all of my journeys.  No switchbacks, just straight up.  It is very hard to train for extreme uphill climbing in Louisville, Kentucky. Anyone who has trained on weight machines knows that the idea is to totally fatigue the muscle. Well, it was so severe that I exhausted my thigh muscles about halfway up, making the other half a challenge. 

That is a curious cow peeping over the stone wall at me.  Probably laughing.

A beautiful look back at the previous days.

Deep, sticky mud to slog through.The start of the “long up.”  Doesn’t look too bad from here.  Au contraire!  It was two hours of the most grueling steep incline that I have ever faced. 

Looking back at a fellow hiker..

And another one trying to catch her breath.

OMG!  Please let this be the top. It wasn’t! When I made a right turn, there was almost another mountain to climb.

The view from the top was absolutely stunning.  I will admit that I wasn’t so fond of that uphill, kill-my-thighs climb, but once I caught my breath, I wanted to plant a USA flag. I made it! Whoohoo!  It is amazing how much more fun a big climb is in hindsight.

The ewe is looking up at a Raven on the post.

The first part of the descent was just as straight down as the climb was up.  I actually had to get out my sticks, so I didn’t tumble on the wet rocks.  Then, hallelujah, there came a section that was more of a wide trail headed downward.

The scenery continued to be stunning.

Although these hydrangeas look fuchsia on my computer, they were red.  

On every walk, wild fuchsia lined the trails.  Oftentimes, they were mixed in with the continuous blackberry brambles. And I have eaten at least two sweet bucketfuls over the past week.

I had to walk across a field to get back to the trail.

Thank heavens, the last two miles were reasonably straightforward.  There was, however, about a 40 mph headwind.  But I was like a horse to the barn - I could smell the hay.

Look at those colors.

My humble B&B, O’Connors Guest House, is the purple one towards the end. It looked like paradise to me.

I ate at the restaurant pub, and it turned out to be surprisingly good. I had House Special Chicken Curry, which was a " fragrant, slow- simmered homemade special curry sauce, loaded with roasted seasonal

vegetables. Served with steamed basmati rice and a poppadom.”  

The longest walk this week is tomorrow, seventeen and a half miles, but not rated as strenuous and has no exclamation point.

I bid you Good Night and God Bless..

Dunquin to Feehanagh 9/24/26

 

What a glorious day!  It looked like rain all day, but it didn’t even mist until the last 20 minutes of my 14-mile journey.

Once again, the scenery was fabulous. It was 360-degree stunning.

The peninsula's magnitude left me breathless.  There were spectacular views of Ceann Sibéal to the west and, on the right, the peaks of the Three Sisters: Bin Diarmada, Binn

Meánach agus and Binn Hanar

My favorite art gallery on the walk.

Always good to know where you are.

Another horse for Janet.  Can you see how hard the wind is blowing?  This horse had enough gerth that it didn’t knock him off his feet.

The green against the rocks, against the ocean, with the mountain in the background.

"In honor of a famous pony and its trainer Tommy Houlihan, who emigrated from this place to America only to return in 1939 and raise his family here. Tommy had a great skill in training ponies and earned the nickname 'The Golden Whip'. His most renowned ponies were 'Honest Girl' and 'Ballinrannig Boy'. Legend has it that Tommy's Golden Whip is hidden within these walls and brings happiness to all who pass here." 

I loved the quote at the bottom of the plaque, "Ballianing Boy may you gallop forever on the shores of West Kerry under a boundless sky with a gentle breeze flowing, through your mane.” Don’t we wish this for every horse we have loved.

How did I miss Wine Strand?  I read that Ireland doesn’t produce any wine.

I had to wade through a bunch of washed-up seaweed.

Siúloid na Faille follows a cliff-top path as it brings the walker along the beautiful

coastline from Baile na nGall to An Ghlaise Bheag. 

Coill an Ros, my easy-to-spot B&B for the night.

Our B & B host drove us to a nearby pub because the B & B doesn't serve dinner.

We had some excellent Irish entertainment. Note the accordion - Dennis!

My dining companions, Joan and Janet from Vermont. They weren’t staying at the same B&B, but I met them on the trail earlier.  They were such good company. Both had husbands who didn’t particularly want to hike long distances.

So tomorrow is my strenuous day with an exclamation point. Say some prayers!

Good night and God bless!