What is “The Dingle Way”? The Dingle Peninsula, famous for its outstanding scenery, is in the southwest of the Republic of Ireland, jutting out into the northern Atlantic Ocean. Locals like to say that “The next parish over is Boston.” It’s part of the Gaeltacht, the area of Ireland where the Irish Gaelic language is preserved. Nearly all the signs are first in Irish and then in English: some are in Irish only. The Dingle Way is a long-distance hike (179km or 111 miles) that begins in Tralee and then passes clockwise around the peninsula. There is a rich history here, and many archeological sites going back as far as pre-Christian times.
Once we understood and experienced the joy of doing long, destination to destination walks, we knew the Dingle Way would be one of our next hiking journeys. We started our preliminary research while “locked down during the Pandemic” in Jersey City. Once we felt reasonably safe to travel again and Ireland opened up to Americans, we were on our way. Our next posts will describe our day-to-day journey.
For this trip, we used “Ireland: Walk, Bike, Hike,” an Irish company, to organize our ten days on the Dingle Peninsula. They arrange our accommodations (all B&B’s), transfer our luggage (our BIG backpacks, as opposed to the daypacks we carry as we hike) and provide occasional transports (i.e. taxis) to get us from the trail to an accommodation or to drive us past long sections of walking on a busy or very narrow road. Sara has especially enjoyed letting someone else make all the detailed arrangements for the trip. We were also uncertain about what accommodations would be open since Covid.
We enjoyed working with “Ireland: Walk, Bike, Hike” for this trip. They’ve been responsive and eager to provide the trip as we want it. We asked for a “free day” in Dingle Town allowing us to visit sites and enjoy this largest, but still small town on the peninsula. They provided us with a Dingle Way app and detailed notes for the walk – just in case we couldn’t find (or see) the waymarkers directing us along the correct path.
Absolutely stunning scenery: that’s the Dingle Peninsula. Each day we walk offers a different landscape. The trail often leads us partway up the mountainside, so the views of mountains, streams, cliffs, harbors and the ocean are fantastic. We walk through pastures and along old dirt roads, cow paths and grass paths. We walk on the beach along the sea. We walk more slowly because every new vista beckons that we stop to look and take pictures. And we walk slowly because some of this is just hard, slow hiking.
We hope you enjoy sharing our Dingle Way walk with us.
OUR OBSERVATIONS ABOUT IRELAND AND COVID: Ireland is just opening up from the Covid pandemic but there are still restrictions. Sadly for us, the pubs cannot have their usual live music scene. But the Guinness is still great, and the Irish are glad to welcome some tourists, after so many bleak months. (Americans weren’t allowed in until July 19) The vaccine rate in Ireland is quite high, 80% as I write this, despite the U.S.A. designating Ireland as “Red Level 4” recommending that Americans not travel to Ireland. We appreciate that the Irish take this pandemic seriously. In order to eat indoors, you must show proof of vaccination, provide a contact tracing number, and there is still distancing and plexiglass protectors. We feel much safer knowing that our fellow diners are vaccinated, our waiters wear masks, and everyone is expected to be masked when moving through the restaurant.
