It was a beautiful, clear morning, so we looked forward to a lovely and shorter day. Our transport picked us up in Dingle to bring us back to Dunquin for our next hike. The driver this morning was incredibly friendly and spoke English quite well. He had lived in the states for some years, but brought his family back to Ireland. He pointed out things along the way and stopped at a look-out point at Slea Head looking out over Dunmoor Head toward the Great Blasket Island.
When we hiked here two days ago, Sara took looking pictures looking out, but the islands were then mostly covered in mist. Today it was all clear and with beautiful sunshine. The view is just stunning.
The driver then took us further along the way to begin our walk. At first we walked along cliffs above the water, and then looked down on Clogher Beach. From there we headed inland, heading north and east toward Smerwick Harbour. This is flat easy walking, some on paved roads, some on farm roads, and some on paths. At one point we completely missed a waymarker to turn left and we continued straight. After walking 20 minutes after that fork in the road and not seeing another waymarker, I checked my GPS and realized we missed the turn. Fortunately, it was only a half mile back. We couldn’t believe how obvious the waymarker was – and we missed it!
We had a moment of angst at one fork in the road when the GPS told us to go straight but the Dingle Way signpost pointed to the right. We engaged an Irish walker who was glad to help and assured us that we would end up in the same place either way, one choice just a bit longer than the other. We then walked along together for a while, enjoying another great conversation.
When we reached the cliffs again, we were now at Smerwick Habour and ready for some more beach walking. This is a huge beach and a fair number of bathers and children were enjoying it already. Then we turned off to head south a mile or so to Ballyferriter. We enjoyed a pub lunch on the sidewalk in Ballyferriter. Initially we were to stay in this little village, but there wasn’t accommodations available so we were to stay a few miles down the road in Ballydavid. We were to call our host once arriving in Ballyferriter and they would come get us. Then the next morning we would be driven back to Ballyferriter to begin walking. Since the day was lovely and we were already at Ballyferriter, we decided to walk on to Ballydavid ourselves, skipping both transports. It was only a few more miles and we felt good after lunch and sitting for a bit.
We hiked back up to Smerwick Harbour for a long beach walk along Wine Strand and finally into Ballydavid, where we settled into our lovely B&B. Between going the wrong direction for a bit and deciding to walk on to Ballydavid, our shorter day turned into a 12+ mile day, but a fairly easy walking day. For dinner we found a pub (the only pub and place to eat in Ballydavid) right along the water, where we could watch the children swimming and what appeared to be a group of adults doing water aerobics.
While dining, we visited with an interesting couple from Germany. Both archeologists. The husband was interested in geological history while the wife was working on gender in archeology, exploring how the assumptions made by archeologists (mostly men) may have reflected their assumptions rather than actual history. Fascinating stuff. When traveling you meet such interesting people.
Then back to our B&B for a pleasant evening, anticipating a very short walk on the morrow.
