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Hiking in Ireland

Posted by (Laurie Mann, Pittsburgh, PA) on

In 2019, we took a hiking tour of part of the Dingle Penninsula. Had a fabulous time. We used Hillwalk Tours - they handle the luggage and the B&Bs. The only problem we had was the first day when we thought we were going to be ciimbing a hill, but it was more like a mountain (we screwed up as we treated "meters" as "feet" on the map).

Had fabulous views and mostly good weather. Each time it rained, it stopped shortly. The one time the rain looked like it was going to last for a while, we were near the Blasket Centre, so we spent a dry hour learning all about the island.

We had good breakfasts, and there was always a pub for lunch about 4 hours into each hike. We were at the same B&B for two nights and had excellent pub dinners as well.

Companies like Hillwalk Tours are extremely helpful if you haven't done lots of hiking and want to give it a try. They also have two or three different levels of hikes, so you can start easy and go from there.

Posted by
483 posts

Thanks for posting this. Hillwalk Tours is going on my "future travel" list. The Pembrokeshire Coastal walk looks very interesting.

Posted by
804 posts

In 2010, I hiked 100 miles of the Dingle Way (https://www.dingleway.com/) over seven days, enjoying every second of it. This involved climbing two mountains (Mt. Eagle and Mt. Brandon, reportedly the eighth tallest mountain in Ireland). The views on every step of the journey -- forests, farms, paths, beaches as well as mountains -- was worth every penny. I used a company that is now called Ireland Walk Hike Bike (https://irelandwalkhikebike.com/) to book my hotels and transport my bag from B&B to B&B. I loved seeing the Celtic and Norman antiquities on Dingle. I found the North Coast of Dingle the true find, because most tourists go to the south coast of Dingle because Dingle town is there. I never slept better in my life.

In 1999, I also hiked the Wicklow Way (https://www.wicklowway.com/) on the southeast coast of Ireland. The late 1990s was a period when tourism began to take off, but I didn't need to book every stay on that hike in advance. I booked B&Bs from the previous night's B&B the night before.

Posted by
4 posts

Another for backpacking the Wicklow Way (2023) using mostly a guidebook and faith over 7 days. I took a bus to Bunclody from Dublin and stayed the night at the Meadowside BnB (excellent Irish breakfast) then a taxi to the trailhead in Clonegall. First night “camped” behind the 350 year old Dying Cow Pub. They have tent sites, shower and kitchenette, and dry hut. Most excellent experience. There are a few 3 sided shelters along the Wicklow Way and a few hostels (one was full from refugees) and some forest camping. The trail goes right by St. Kevin’s monastic village, which was an added treat to the hiking experience. It finishes at Marlay Park in Dublin and a bus ride back to Jacob’s Inn hostel. For me, it was a fantastic way to experience the country, which I followed up with museum visits in Dublin (Museum of Ireland Archeology and the EPIC Emigration museum). Saliente!

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