Exploring the unlikely intersections of walking, photography and making
It’s Day 23 on the trail. Our second last day. A day tinged with anticipation, to be sure. But also regret that it will soon end. The trail out of Glenbeigh takes us on a circuitous route, up a wooded slope before looping back along the neck of a promontory with views looking over town,... Continue Reading →
It is hard to leave the restful isolation of Black Valley. It will be a long, tough day. 36 kilometres. Three mountain passes. A day that most guidebooks recommend be completed in two. Yet the source we are basing our entire walk on, The Irish Coast to Coast Walk by Paddy Dillon, suggests it can... Continue Reading →
The Kerry Way is the last formal trail we will follow on our walk across Ireland. It starts innocently enough in Killarney’s city centre, across the street from the Tourist Information Office. An appropriate location given the crush of largely North American visitors we encountered last night. Today, our route starts with an urbane exit... Continue Reading →
Breakfast is a worrisome time. It had been a restless night nursing my banged-up knee. Every bend, no matter how slight, was accompanied with a sharp sting at the joint. Constant tossing and repositioning myself in bed, trying to find that magic spot where the pain would go away, only seemed to magnify it. I... Continue Reading →
My photographs do not do justice to this day’s walk. Perhaps because I am too preoccupied with the task of survival to worry about taking puctures. You will recall that, six days ago when we started on the Blackwater Way, I registered some concern that this trail system was reportedly less developed and more rugged... Continue Reading →
Our taxi drops us back at Bweeng, in front of a forest of signs telling us where we’ve been - the Avondhu Way - and pointing us where we need to go. It’s the first of two days on the Duhallow Way and we know it will be a long one. Forty kilometres long if... Continue Reading →
Our day’s rest in Cork was well-timed at roughly the midpoint of our coast to coast walk. A chance to give our backs a needed break from carrying packs. But it’s still hard to leave our comfortable hotel room and catch an early morning bus to Fermoy, the starting point for the last two stretches... Continue Reading →
While my posts describing our coast-to-coast walk in Ireland are well behind the actual walking, our schedule continues at an unforgiving pace. In fact, today, May 29, we successfully completed our cross-country walk! We arrived at the western tip of Ireland, Bray Head, on beautiful Valentia Island. Beyond the cliffs lies the Atlantic Ocean, calm... Continue Reading →
After 14 days of non-stop walking, a day's rest in the nearby city of Cork is a welcome change of pace. Cork itself is a place that calls out to the walker. It's a bustling little city with streets that lead into still smaller lanes, encouraging us to lose ourselves with the throngs of fellow... Continue Reading →
Where the East Munster Way ends, in front of a small church in Clogheen, so begins the Avondhu Way. It's the first leg of a much longer trail system, the Blackwater Way, named after and loosely following Ireland's longest river, the Blackwater. Blackwater Way carries a certain amount of mystery and uncertainty. Of all the... Continue Reading →