#12 Walking in Ireland

Finding good walks in Ireland is not as easy as in the UK. There and no public rights of way except roads, and little public land, although there is good beach access. This means that one mainly has to rely on designated “loop” walks that have somehow been established, and the corresponding sketch maps provided on signs at trailheads or on tourist office leaflets. Typically, these routes involve walking on tarmac a high proportion of the time.  Nevertheless, we had two great walks on the peninsulas of Co. Cork in our last few days in Ireland. Sheep’s Head and Beara are two peninsulas that are both a lot less crowded with coaches than better known Iveragh (Ring of Kerry) and easily as nice. The routes were mostly off-road and well way-marked. 

Near Allihies on the Beara peninsula

A view of the end of the Sheep’s Head peninsula, looking SW

Now we are back in Lavenham taking a break from our trip before setting off for France at the beginning of July. Our journey so far can be summarised by this map which shows the approximate locations of all our overnight stops, although it was the places on the routes between them that were often the most interesting.

Map of overnight stops