Posted By auntie on September 11, 2015

7.65 miles; ireland

today’s hike started in the village of waterville, kerry. and that was an omen! it was raining to start, and never once let up, all day long. at times, the rain was wind-driven, fortunately at my back, but still, and the temps were in the 50’s. it was a most wet, cold, day on the trail. good news is it was the shortest segment of the kerry way.

chaplin statue

charlie chaplin was a part-time resident here, apparently. it’s a lovely seaside town near the famous skellig islands. at least, that’s what they tell me. i couldn’t see the islands, and mostly couldn’t see the water because of the rain and fog.

gigantic leaves

here and there i’ve come across this plant with these gigantic leaves. it kind of reminds me of japanese butterburr, but i don’t think it’s that. if i were a less lazy-assed blogger, i’d go online and try to find out what it is. could have used these leaves as an umbrella today. i didn’t even try to use my real umbrella because of the wind, and the fact that i needed both hands on the trekking poles to navigate the muddy, waterlogged trail.

more cows

you know, coming from where i do in north stonington, connecticut, you’d think i’d have had my fill of cows. there are 3 working dairy farms in town, with one just down the road from me. but those are all just boring old holsteins. these cows are all different. i think there are guernseys, but other than that, i have no idea what they are.

gee, this post is turning into a fascinating “i don’t know what it is and am too lazy to try to find out” extravaganza.

wedge tomb

i do know what this is—it’s a megalithic age wedge tomb. i know that because this section of the kerry way had informative signs posted all along it, although to be honest, it was raining too hard for me to take in a lot of the information. according to the sign at this site, the remains are buried beneath a capstone under the roofed shelter.

the scenery

this was taken during a slight clearing. you can just barely make out the islands in the bay. again, even what i could see was stunningly beautiful.

hill fort?

if you look at the upper right corner of this shot, you can see a large rock fortification of some kind. old castle? old hill fort? who knows. it was too damned wet and cold for me to go investigate.

irish forest

part of this trail goes through derrynane national park, and part of the park is forested. it was the first time i’ve been through woods since i got here. it was kind of nice to be back on familiar-looking terrain, with a nice dirt path criss-crossed by tree roots and lined with old stone walls. or i guess it would have been nice if those paths weren’t solid mud.

because of all the rain the country got last night and today, i crossed and came across quite a few raging torrents, but none were as impressive as this river (sorry, don’t know the name) that ran alongside the trail in the national park for a long stretch. i could hear its massive roaring from quite a ways off.

i finished off my walk today a bit too early to check into my bed & breakfast, so i detoured into an ancient little pub called “the blind piper.” and thanks to the foresight of my tour operators, who suggested that i pack a spare set of clothes into the daypack, i was able to change out of my completely wet hiking gear and into dry clothes. such a wonderful suggestion! it felt marvelous to get dry. and i met two nice american couples there who were traveling the ring of kerry together. and wouldn’t you know, one of the couples was from massachusetts and the husband worked at gillette stadium. last night’s opener was the first game he’d missed in 7 years. we talked patriots and steelers and—hey; i am beginning to sense a theme here…

all in all, there was really a lot of neat stuff to see on this segment, and i could have taken lots more photos, but it was raining so hard that i didn’t dare take the iphone out more than was absolutely necessary. the rain is supposed to stop sometime tonight, and tomorrow will be better, but i’m betting the trail won’t be too much dryer. stay tuned.

and that was day 2 on the kerry way trail.

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Categories: Ireland, Long Trails, Overseas Hikes, The Kerry Way, Walks and Hikes
Tags: 7–10 miles, Ireland