Day 7 – Caherdaniel to Sneem- 14 miles

Day 8 – Sneem to Kenmare- 10 miles

Day 9 – Kenmare to Killarney- Took the bus

After three beautiful days of sunny, very warm weather, on Day 7, the cool cloudy weather with occasional light rain returned. I loved it! Perfect for hiking over the Irish mountains.

During this hike’s first half, we saw few to no people on the Kerry Way making us feel we were the only ones out there. However, after leaving Waterville, we met a few hikers.

On Day 6 from Waterville to Caherdaniel, we met a French college student named Paul from Angiers who was walking the entire Kerry Way carrying all his gear.

We had a few days in which the company that shuttles our bags to our nightly accommodation scheduled pick ups to drop us off down the trail to shorten the extremely long distances between places where we were staying. Even with a few pick ups & drop offs, the distances were still long.

However, to our amazement, we kept meeting Paul later each day as he caught up to us. He literally walked twice as fast as us! We would have a short chat before wishing him a good journey on his way.

We even met him again on the last day at the Killarney bus stop. We arrived & he was buying a bus ticket to Galway to visit his friend there.

Among my favorite things about these long hikes is making a connection with someone along the trail.

The only constant companion we could depend on were the Irish sheep. Each day we were serenaded with their constant “Baaa…baaa… baaa.” Ahhh yes, the sounds of Ireland.

Day 7 was actually one of my favorite walking days because we walked many miles on the old Butter Road.

Caherdaniel was once a key center in the butter trade. During the 18th & 19th Centuries, butter produced in this remote region was transported by cart along rough mountain tracks to coastal ports & distant markets.

When we came to Ireland in 1985, we actually saw men still using these milk wagons which were pulled either by a horse or a mule.

We didn’t see any still in use on this hike.

The path took us over rolling hills, into bog land, & up some gentle mountain slopes where we experienced the only rain for the day.

Yes, Ireland is known for its rock fences & green fields; but, the flowers are amazing! I was constantly amazed by the fuchsia bushes. Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, they never grow very tall & need full afternoon shade.

More beautiful flowers & the classic shamrock.

Going up one hill we came across this fun fairy stop.

This day met all my expectations for what I wanted to experience on this walk- meeting nice people along the way, seeing the lush green pastures giving Ireland its Emerald Island nickname, & enjoying the low cloud blanket in the sky keeping the temperature cool.

We arrived into Sneem which is a small village renowned for its brightly painted, colorful buildings. We had a lovely time there,

Day 8 was scheduled to be close to 20 miles going up & down many hills. However, I knew I was not up to this task. We enjoyed the first half on the trail before requesting a taxi pickup.

On Day 3, I started having pain in my left knee. Then, by Day 5, I also had sharp pains in my left heel. Both these nagging injuries forced me to walk at a much slower than normal pace, so I knew this would be our last hiking day.

Fortunately, the weather was very nice with partly cloudy skies & not hot.

This walk took us past Old Devonian Red Sandstone formations that are the among the oldest rocks in Ireland. We then enjoyed a lovely walk through the trees near the water. We ended our Kerry Way walk at the Templenoe Church.

We spent our last night on the Kerry Way in the charming Irish town Kenmare.

After a nice breakfast on Day 9, we boarded the bus back to Killarney.

Killarney is a must stop for most tourists to Ireland. It’s your classic Irish town. The town is very proud of their hometown girl Jessie Buckley who won the Best Actress award at the Oscars this year. A local man told us her family still owns & runs the pub in town with their name.

For dinner, I enjoyed a Boxty which is a potato pancake stuffed with whatever you want- meat, chicken, cooked vegetables