Posted By auntie on September 12, 2015

12.9 miles; ireland

well this day went decidedly better than yesterday. the sun was  (intermittently) shining, and there was (intermittently) no rain. that’s not to say there wasn’t a rain shower or three, but still, it beat the all day heavy rain of yesterday.

the blind piper

my route took me right back by the blind piper. i’d have loved to stop in again, but it was not to be.

stunning views, again

i can’t praise the beauty of kerry enough. every time i turned around there was another stunning view.

the “green road”

a lot of today’s walk followed “green roads.” these are built roads covered with turf, which i presume are mainly for moving livestock. i guessed that because of all the sheep/cow poop, some very fresh.

fungus shot!

weirdly, i haven’t noticed hardly any mushrooms. i saw only these today, growing out of a cow pie.

old church and burial ground

this is the coad burial ground. there was a list of names and plots posted, but none of the names were ones from my family tree.

third of three large hills or small mountains

i heard that most of the tops of these many large hills or small mountains are what are called “commonage,” or grazing pasture that is used by many local farmers. these fat little brown ponies were certainly chowing down. i got one to stop eating long enough to be petted, but as soon as i finished, he (or she) went back to munching grass. and beyond them is the pass over the “hill.” there were three of these “hills” today, and i’m not ashamed to say the third one just about killed me.

my daily mishap: the recent heavy rains caused a lot of flooding and very, very wet and muddy paths, which is what i suspected. what i didn’t expect was that the trail would be closed due to flooding about 4 miles shy of my destination, which meant i had to detour out to walk along the n70 motorway, also known as “the ring of kerry.” it’s the main tourist road, but it’s no wider than an average secondary road in the states. although, unlike in the states, there is no shoulder. none. it’s quite hair raising, especially considering that the speed limit is 100 kph, which translates to a little over 60 mph. and because it’s such a popular tourist route, there were many, many busses. i didn’t know if i would survive to make it to my b&b, but i did.

no serendipitous patriots encounters today, although i plan on going out to dinner later, so we’ll see.

and that was my 3rd day on the kerry way.

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Categories: Ireland, Long Trails, Overseas Hikes, The Kerry Way, Walks and Hikes
Tags: Ireland, Over 10 miles