Please sign in to post.

How much walking on 14 day RS itinerary?

We are doing our first RS tour in 2 weeks - the 14 day Ireland itinerary. I had a total knee replacement 3 months ago and my endurance is not back to full capacity yet. I am wondering about the amount of walking involved in this tour? Any advice from previous experiences on this tour? Thanks in advance....

Posted by
3913 posts

The tour itinerary says how much walking is expected each day and clearly indicates whether the terrain is uneven/stairs/etc. https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/ireland/best-ireland-tour

Communicate your limitations to the guide after your group's first meeting. Let them know you might need to forgo activities on a given day and how best to alert them to that situation. The guides are usually considerate and sympathetic, but know that the tour pace will be kept up. Be sure to pack any medication or devices (e.g., ice pack) you regularly use to manage pain, along with knee brace and cane or walking stick if you need one. Worst case you take a break from the group and enjoy the beauty that is an Irish pub.

Posted by
674 posts

CL has good advice. We are on that tour, and we just skip some of the "orientation" walks. No problem. If the bus stops somewhere and the event has a long walk, sometimes we don't. Many time we can just stay on the bus. Just be sure to inform your tour guide.

Posted by
6587 posts

I took this tour last year.

On the third day of the tour I tour my meniscus and ended up going to urgent care where they gave me a knee brace and crutches. I was going to leave the tour but the guide thought I’d be able to continue with modification. I had to skip a lot of the activities. I skipped most of the walking tours. I also stayed in Galway on the day that the group went to the Aran Islands; it poured rain that day and my understanding was that the highlight was a climb up a rocky trail to a viewpoint. At the Giant’s Causeway, I took the site’s shuttle bus down while the rest of the group walked. I walked out to see the Cliffs of Moher but did not walk further. I would not have been able to walk on the rope bridge but it was closed due to high winds so none of the group got to do that. There were times that I waited in a cafe while the group walked somewhere.

My point is, if you encounter an issue you can probably skip an activity or leave an activity early. I’d talk to the guide before each activity to get an idea of how much walking is involved and how challenging the walking is for that day.