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Self-guided walking tours in Ireland

I did a search on this topic earlier and didn’t come up with any relevant threads that hadn’t been closed due to inactivity, so I’m starting a new one.

My wife and I are hoping to travel to Ireland this coming June to see a folk musical that my daughter-in-law wrote and is musical director of (see my separate post on the Irish folk musical “In the Midst of Plenty”). Either before or after seeing one of their performances in either Derry/Londonderry on June 20th or in Roscommon on the 24th or 25th, we’re thinking about doing a week or so long self-guided walking tour somewhere on the west coast, such as the Dingle Peninsula and Killarney National Park.

I’m in my early 70s and my wife’s in her late 60s. We’re both experienced hikers/backcountry travelers (though I have to admit we haven’t been doing much of the latter in recent years). We’re both still capable of covering, say, 15 miles or more a day; but we’re birders and natural history nuts, so we tend to want to stop and linger a lot along the way. We also love to take extended lunch breaks, when the weather’s not too awful (we live in NW Washington State, so have a fairly high tolerance for rain). Given those predilections, an average of more like 10 miles a day or perhaps even less probably makes sense. Wildness (mountains, rugged coasts, ancient forest, etc) is a big draw for us, but we also love to visit small towns, historical sites, and archaeological sites. And pubs (did I mention pubs?), especially if there’s likely to be some musicians about.

We’d love to see people’s comments and recommendations on such trips, especially if you have experience from the last couple of years.

John

Posted by
549 posts

I have a great idea: Walk the Dingle Way. I did it in 2010. It still ranks as the best thing I did in 17 trips abroad. Here's background: https://www.dingleway.com/

The Dingle Way is a 100-mile-long trek on the Dingle Peninsula. I walked it in seven days. I walked through small forests, working farms, beaches and even climbed Mt. Brandon, the eighth tallest mountain in Ireland. It's only about 2,500-ft. high; I went up and down it in about four hours.

I hired a company to make my reservations in B&Bs along the way and transport my bag from hotel to hotel. The company, which was previously called Southwest Walks Ireland, now is called Ireland Walk Hike Bike. They specialize in organizing tours with others as well as other services: https://irelandwalkhikebike.com/guided-tours-details/.

I did another hike in 1999, when I hiked the Wicklow Way in eastern Ireland: https://www.wicklowway.com/. A nice element to that is the hike starts or ends -- depending on the direction -- in Dublin's Marlay Park.

I also climbed Croagh Patrick in 1997. It's called the holy mountain of Ireland in County Mayo. I took only 2.5 hours to go one way: https://www.theirishroadtrip.com/climbing-croagh-patrick/.

I hope to take one more hike in Ireland, either the Kerry Way (https://www.kerryway.com/) or Western Way, before I check out in life.

Posted by
1 posts

Hi John - We're planning a self guided walking tour for June as well. I've been corresponding with the folks at Hillwalk Tours (based in Galway). They have a variety of options and prices seem very reasonable. Their website is www.hillwalktours.com.

Ron

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4 posts

Thanks for your helpful replies, Craig and Ron. At this point, we’re leaning towards a week-long trip on the Kerry Way, but are still considering the Dingle Peninsula as well. I’ve been looking at the trip descriptions on various sites including Hillwalk and Ireland Walk-Hike-Ride. One question I would have for both of you and anyone else with relevant experience who’d like to weigh in is why did you choose the particular company you went with?

Some other questions that are coming up for us are:
1. In terms of trying to avoid higher numbers of other tourists in these popular areas, does it make sense to “front-load” the tour ahead of one of the “In the Midst of Plenty” performances? A potential scenario there would be flying into Dublin around June 7 or 8, spending a couple of days in Dublin, taking the train to Killarney to do the tour, renting a car in Killarney after the walking tour to drive up to Londonderry for the performance on June 20th, spending another week or so in Northern Ireland and the north of the Republic, then driving back to Dublin for the flight home.
2. Does anyone have experience renting a car in either the Republic or Northern Ireland and using it to travel across the border? I started looking at rental car deals from Killarney online and so far they say you’re not allowed to leave the Republic. Are there websites that are better for finding a rental agreement that allows cross-border travel for an additional fee?

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1563 posts

Hi John: we day hiked along the Kerry Way the last week of May 2018. We did not do through hikes, just individual portions. We rarely saw another person on the trails. The only time I distinctly remember seeing someone close enough to actually speak to was when we stopped at a pub or hostel located on the Kerry Way. Since we were only day hiking we didn't use a luggage transfer service. Regarding rental cars, I know that the larger agencies in Dublin allow you to take cars to Northern Ireland. I suspect the problem you are running into is that you are trying to rent the car in Killarney where the rental agencies may be smaller. Maybe if you rented from Shannon Airport you might have better luck.

Posted by
549 posts

jday0730: I chose Ireland Walk-Hike-Ride only because it was the only company I could find in 2010 that organized hiking tours and related services at the time. There might have been others that I never learned about.

  1. You asked the question about front-loading a tour. It might make sense to front-load your walk for a minor reason: St. Swithin's Day (July 15). Keep in mind that this is a minor reason.

St. Swithin's Day, which is Ireland's version of Ground Hog Day, forecasts that if it rains on that day, it will rain for the next 40 days. Of course, that's ancient folklore. Having said that, I have noticed in my five visits to Ireland's west that the rain increases after mid-July. If you do you hike in early June, it will probably be less wet. Rain in western Ireland is generally a mist, not always a downpour like the U.S., though I have experienced both of these. I did my hike on the Dingle Way in early July, just before St. Swithin's Day. It rained only one of my seven days on the trail.

  1. In 1997, I rented a car in the Republic of Ireland and drove it into Northern Ireland, no problem. Back then, the car rental agency was Dan Dooley, but it has been acquired by Enterprise: https://www.enterprise.com/en/car-rental/dan-dooley.html . There should be rental agencies that allow cars from the Republic to go to Northern Ireland.
Posted by
4 posts

Again, thanks to all who have replied. We two different self-guided walking tours in Kerry with HillWalk, an eight day / seven night Kerry Way tour with an extra night in Waterville, and a six day / five night Dingle Way tour. The first trip will be just my wife and I and the second will be with another couple. We'll do both tours before heading up to Roscommon to see the musical "In the Midst of Plenty" and visit the National Famine Museum in nearby Strokestown. Afterwards, we're hoping to rent a cottage for a week somewhere on the Connemara Peninsula or perhaps in Donegal, as well as spend a few days in Northern Ireland. I'm going to look for threads on renting cottages in Ireland (and perhaps start a new one if there isn't an existing live thread) to ask for people's recommendations on the best sites for multi-day, self-catered rentals.
We're looking forward to our trip immensely!

Posted by
1563 posts

John: both of those hikes sound great. When you come back, please tells us about your trip. Slainte!

Posted by
549 posts

John, you're going to have a great time in what for me is still the most beautiful of the 22 countries I have visited. Great days are ahead.