Dingle Way - day 9: Camp to Tralee

Our final day of walking seemed to come around rather quickly although I think that both Jen and Sue were pleased that it was the last day and they could take it a bit easier in the days ahead.

Jen lying down on the job ... read on to find out why

After another great breakfast and some advice from our host, John, about the best way to get back on the Dingle Way, without backtracking over the meandering route we took to get to our accommodation the previous evening, it was out on the road again.

Note the lean of the trees. The wind was vicious once we were on exposed ground

Like quite a few of the days we were faced with an uphill stretch right at the start. As we went up we did get some great views. We were not sure how the folk at the nursing home we passed would deal with the gradient. Maybe the placement of the facility was planned to keep them from wandering.

There was low cloud hugging the tops of the ridges and this was a constant feature throughout the day.

We had had quite a lot of stile climbing practice and our last day had lots of opportunities to hone our skills.

Sue descending a stile while Jen awaits her turn

 We had been warned that there was a very boggy section along this section of the track. This could have been avoided by heading cross country "when the track turns left down the slope". Unfortunuately the track just dropped a little with not clear turn so we ended up going through the bog. It wasn't too bad probably the result of the recent dry spell.

The ruins of the small Killelton church, actually an oratory, provided a change to the relentless walking.

This was quickly follwed by the ruins of Killelton village, a short distance along the track from the church.

Along with the stiles there were a wide variety of waterway crossings. Once again we noticed that the "bridges" lost bits, mainly railings, as the day wore on. Here are some of the so called bridges that we used.

This was actually a duck board, so technically not a bridge

In many cases it was rock hopping to get from one side to the other. Picking the best route was often a challenge.

The track varied considerably although long sections were rocky paths requiring considerable care to negotiate.

Once we left the lower slopes we were fairly exposedand were buffetted by very strong winds. It has hard keeping upright and on the track. Jen sucumbed and ended up "lying down on the job" as can be seen in the first photo in this edition. I'm surprised that we didn't have more problems with being blown off the track.

While Michelle and Sue went ahead, Jen and I took our time negotiating the tough terrain. we relished in the number of streams that cut our path, some with waterfalls albeit small ones. There were quite a few babbling brooks which made the walking more pleasurable.

We finally sighted Blennerville, a small settlement which lies about 3km out of Tralee. Seeing it and arriving there were two entirely different things. The windmill which dominates the village was visable for an eternity before we finally got arrived in the centre of the village.

Sue met us on the outskirts of the viallge and informed us that the steam train that we were hoping to ride between Blennervile and Tralee no longer operated. Bother!

While Sue and Michelle headed off for Tralee (was that really where they were going?) Jen and I headed to the local servo for a toilet break, a coffee and a snack.

Suitably refreshed Jen and I headed off towards Tralee. We were surprised to learn taht the windmill had a cafe that served coffee. too bad, we had already had one stop and only had a mew 3km to go.

The final leg of the walk took us over a canel then on a path alonside it right into Tralee. This was easy walking and a good finish to an otherwise arduous day.

Walks End

Jen outside the Imperial Hotel in Tralee ... at walks end

... and ditto for Lorraine

Arriving at the Imperial we were surprised to find that we had got there before Sue and Michelle. when they finally arrived we learnt that they had turned the wrong way along the canel and had managed to walk a couple of miles in the wrong direction before being put right and having to retrace their steps.

I will do a separate post of overall impressions.

All four of the walkers were pleased to have completed the walk. There were some great aspects and some things that did not go as well as they could have but that a story for another day.