Lauragh to Kenmare

The last day of the walk, and maybe the longest day mileage wise.

Sheila gave us a head start today and dropped us at a trail head a couple of mile up from her B&B.

From there, it was a pretty good uphill to a pass overlooking a string of lakes below and the next range of hills beyond. Downhill and past the lakes we started a long uphill on a road then up to a pass. From the top we could see Kenmare, the end of the day, still several miles away. By the time we got into Kenmare, we were so parched we went for a beer before we went for a shower.

Kenmare is the biggest town we've been in since Kinsale. Kenmare sits at the inner intersections of the Iveragh and Beara peninsulas. I've been in Kenmare before. Once when walking the Kerry Way, and once when Marty and I came back with our wives. The B&B was right in town, run by Mary O'Brien, and was where we left the car.

Lots of choices for where to go for dinner. We wound up at the the Coachmen's for some decent pub grub. Since this was the last night of the walk (and my birthday), it was a good opportunity to do some bar hopping. But everyone was too spent from the long day, so it wound up being an early night.

I haven't written much about the weather, but the weather has been an important part of this trip. Every day has been sunny, few clouds, and highs in the low 80's. That's unheard of in Ireland, particularly this part of the country. Several days have been the warmest days in decades. The local folks we've talked too all say it's the first real summer they've had in years.

And they're enjoying it. Lots of people on the beaches. (That's a relative statement. “Lots” means a dozen or less at most of the beaches we've passed.) Strangely, we completed this walk without even needing our rain gear.

But the weather hasn't been the best weather for walking. Cloudy days and cooler temperatures would have been a lot better. We've finished several days pretty dehydrated and rationing our water.