The Dingle Way: Tralee to Camp

Tuesday, 13 September 2022 (13.2 miles)

Tralee is a small city at the base of the Dingle Peninsula. The Dingle Way starts in a park near the center of town. The first 2 miles of today's walk were on sidewalks ("footpaths") along fairly busy roads. The next 2 miles were on little-used, but paved country roads.

Near the start in Tralee. The Dingle Way shares the route with a number of other established walking and biking paths. The North Kerry Way branches off at the edge of town. The Kerry Camino ends in Dingle. The bike route stays on paved roads.

About 2 km into the walk, we passed the Blennerville Windmill.  In the 1800s,  Blennerville/Tralee was a major grain center and sea port. The windmill was restored in the1980s after a century of decay and once again is a working windmill.

This road is typical of the small rural roads we walked along.

After 4 miles of pavement, the Dingle Way turns onto a rutted track across the moor at the base of the Slieve Mish mountains.

There were about a half-dozen substantial fast-flowing streams we had to cross. These had small footbridges for crossing. Numerous smaller streams were crossed on rocks.

Mud flats in Tralee Bay at low tide.

Lighthouse in Tralee Bay.

A "standing stone" along the way. No one really knows what these fairly common stones were used for.

Time for a snack!

Looking west along Tralee Bay. The distant headland is Brandon Point. Castlegregory is at the base of the nearer mountain.

Ruins of an old village near the Killelton Oratory.

The Killelton Oratory. An oratory is a very small church, typically dating to about 1000 AD.

Lon crossing the Finglas River on large stepping stones. Fortunately, the rope handrail made a huge difference for me. (If the river had been running high, there is detour to a road bridge for crossing the river.)

The "Triple Junction" on the Dingle Way. This is the beginning of the loop around the peninsula.  Our B&B was 2 km down the road in Camp (towards Cloghane). The next morning we had to return to this junction to start on our way towards Dingle.

Overnight at the Sea View House B&B. Very nice. Very friendly! We had to take a taxi to get dinner down the busy highway a mile-or-so at the Junction Bar. Excellent freshly caught local fish.