Fresh Éire - The Dingle Way
The Dingle Way is a long distance hiking trail in County Kerry, Ireland. It circles the whole Dingle Peninsula and a lot of it stays very close to the coast. The total length of the trail is about 180km.
A new trail awaits
I have wanted to hike the Dingle Way for a long time. One major aspect will sell a trail faster to me than anything else: a circular trail! The convenience of parking the car at one spot and just making your way back to it is not to be underestimated on legs and a mind that are both tired after a long hike.
Since Colin decided to join me on this one we split it into two stages. Our fist stage would be a walk from Camp to Dunquin and our second one, following the Dingle way along the other side, from Dunquin back to Camp. We left the car in Camp for both occasions and were able to use the local busses to make our way to and from start / finishing points. If you ever plan on using the busses in Ireland - BRING CASH! Not all busses are able to offer card payments.
After making a vague plan for logistics, we packed our gear, loaded our food bags, charged our power banks and headed out onto the Dingle Way.
There is Great camping at the castle
We headed out with cast over skies and heavy backpacks on our first section. We never have a set plan on where we will camp or how far we are going to hike. It is more a daily average distance that we keep in mind and in the afternoon we will check the maps for potentially good camp spots.
Most of our first day was on little country or gravel roads. The biggest upside of this was the fact that we did this during blackberry season, meaning most of the roads in Ireland were lined with ripe blackberries, waiting to be picked.
The first little village we hit on our journey was Annascaul, which offers a surprising amount of pubs and cafés. We were lucky enough to make it just in time before the last café closed and we got to enjoy hot coffees, a smoothie and an almond cake. Across the road we could hear about 20 Ladies screeching and hollering - clearly a hen party that was enjoying some drinks in the sun.
The owner of the café told us that there was a castle nearby which was apparently a great spot for wild camping.
When we looked at the map it seemed like a no brainer - a stream nearby to collect water and the promise of good wild camping.
Let this be your reminder that most people have not wild camped ever. While people mean well and want to help you out by recommending camp spots you should always take them with a grain of salt.
After finishing our afternoon treats we packed up and got ready to hike our last few kilometres for the day. The Hen party outside the pub didn't leave Colin off that easily though. As soon as we walked past the hollering increased and they asked him to take a picture, which he happily did for them.
When we arrived at our chosen spot for the night we quickly figured out that there was a lot of good camping around the castle, BUT it is all private land! If it can be avoided you should not camp on private land without the permission of the owner.
Thankfully we found a little spot just a bit further up with a bench, that was big and flat enough for our little tent.
The next morning we got up bright and early had our breakfast, did our morning stretches, packed up and headed out.
The weather was drizzly and a bit colder than the day before. On top of that the amount of road walking really got to us. As we reached Dingle we were a bit sick of it all and in need of a break. Since the weather wasn't improving we decided to splurge a bit and have lunch in a pub instead of eating our wraps out in the rain. Little treats like this along the way brighten the mood and help to get the excitement back for the next stage of the hike.
For our second night we were planning on camping in the dunes of Ventry beach. We visited Ventry beach prior to this on a car camping trip and were therefore confident in our choice for the night. We should have taken into consideration what weekend it was - the August bank holiday weekend!
It is without a doubt in my mind THE busiest weekend of the whole year. When we arrived the dunes were packed. Vans and RVs were parked in a long row, children were running around, chased by little yapping dogs who thrived in all the chaos.
This is not what you want to see when you just walked 28km with heavy backpacks and an early start the next morning.
Taken aback we circled the whole area and picked our spot as carefully as we could. We chose to pitch high up on the Dunes, our tent floating like an island of calm above the chaos below. While it was calmer to be up the dune, it also meant in case the wind picks up at night we would be totally exposed. This was a risk we were willing to take though and thankfully it stayed calm.
The next morning started drizzly and grey. The day prior we passed a mobile home and RV park that had public toilets and covered tables and benches. We decided to walk back that way, since it was only about a 10min walk.
To sit sheltered while you enjoy your morning coffee and have an actual bathroom available are huge luxuries on these trips.
After walking for the first few km the weather cleared up nicely for us and we worked up a sweat going up a rugged climb. We did not mind at all since we were grateful to not be on roads anymore. The Dingle Way really changes it's tune from Ventry onwards. Before that there is an awful lot of road walking and while you still have stretches of that going forward, it is nowhere near as much. It also get's so scenic and so beautiful that it is hard to believe it is the same trail.
As we climbed up higher the views got more and more dramatic and we started to get a bit sad, since we knew that this afternoon would mark the end of our first walking stage. We made it into Dunquin with plenty of time to spare before our bus arrived. This meant that we could treat ourselves to some toasted sandwiches at Krugers Bar before hopping onto the bus. It would be rude not to.
Back to the Trail!
It took us several month to get back to the Dingle Way. We started our second part of this adventure just before the June bank holiday the following year. If you ever tried to juggle life, growing your own business and finding a decent weather window in the desperate Irish weather conditions, then you know why it took so long.
Our starting point was of course where we left of - Dunquin.
To say the weather was less than ideal to start out would be an understatement. Consistent misty, drizzly rain came sideways at us as we hopped of the bus. Both of us were hungry for some lunch and we found a little bench where we quickly demolished our sandwiches before setting off.
The weather cleared thankfully and we got a the first impression of this next section. This would be all about beaches! Long beaches, short beaches, hidden beaches, white beaches, beaches with dunes, beaches without dunes - if you are a beach lover then the Dingle Way is perfect for you.
We walked only 13km that day, since the drive and the busses took up the whole morning and we didn't start hiking until it was half one. For our campsite we chose a private spot on a beach just outside of Murreagh.
The wind kept picking up over night and we were far from rested when we emerged from our tent the next day. Windy nights in a tent are always super noisy and even with earplugs it can be hard to get proper sleep.
When I looked at the elevation profile for today I knew we were in for a little suffer fest. Over 650m of climbing and the same descending over a distance of 11km meant that it was going to be a steeper climb. We took our time and crawled our way up to the top. The views made our hard work worthwhile.
A cold Coke, a toasted sandwich and some hot steamy chips were the only thing that brought us back to life after this. Thankfully the pub in Brandon offered all of the above. We headed out of Brandon with our tired legs and found a sheltered spot at Cappagh Beach. The wind was relentless that night, but our shelter was way better and we got some well deserved rest.
A rainy morning and a questionable chowder
As I checked the weather forecast for the next day I saw that there would be relentless rain coming in over night that was supposed to last till about 11am.
We decided to hunker down in the tent the next morning, have breakfast in the sleeping bags and just wait the rain out for as long as we could. Around 10:30 there was still no break in the weather to be seen, so we put on our raingear and packed up as quickly as possible to try and keep the inside tent dry.
After just an hour of walking we were completely soaked and cold. The weather was still not letting up. Luckily a pub in Cloghane was already open. As we sat down with hot coffees we decided to have lunch here and wait out the rain for a bit longer.
This is where we met three young German lads. They were hiking the Dingle Way as well, but after yesterdays climb and a few too many tequila shots the night before only one of them wanted to continue walking. As I we got chatting it was quickly decided that Tom, the one still eager to walk, would join us. The remaining two would catch the bus that afternoon to Tralee and meet up with him the following day.
We hiked out as the rain stopped with full bellies and lots of chats to be had along the way. This part of the Dingle Way had some of the longest and most beautiful beaches I had ever seen! As much as I enjoyed the day, walking and chatting while passing through stunning scenery, something didn't feel right.
I had lost my appetite completely which is very unusual for me, especially while out hiking. As the day progressed I knew something was not right with my stomach and I ended up collapsing into the tent without having dinner and with my pants the wrong way around but too weak at this stage to change any of that.
What followed were 12 gruelling hours of food poisoning. Let me put it that way: I rather have food poisoning camping wild in a tent than in a hostel room with a shared bathroom. That's all I am going to say about that.
As I got up the next morning my stomach was still in knots but the worst was over. Thankfully we only had 9km left to walk to the car. I forced down a plain little brioche bun and a cup of tea for breakfast. We said our goodbyes to Tom who wanted to take his time to walk the last stretch.
We walked for a couple of kilometres along little country roads until the trail led us down to the coast and to our final long beach walk of the Dingle Way. A 5km long walk along Castlegregory beach. I struggled through it and was grateful when the car finally came into sight.
The Dingle Way was a beautiful little adventure with highs and lows, new friends, a sprinkle of food poisoning and a TON of beach walks.
Go and do it!
