In 2004 I joined the Pioneer Valley Hiking Club, also meeting up with the Ireland West Cork Walking Festival, for a hiking tour of Ireland.
Excerpt from The Pioneer Valley Hiking Club Newsletter
“Bootprints” Issue from July 2004
Ireland Again!!!
By Marcia Kelly
For our 3rd trip there were twelve of us, five have come all 3 years. Each time we have come down to the Beara Peninsula, which is in very few Irish tour books. We have hiked a lot of the sections of the 120 mile Beara Way and this year was no exception. We came a month later to join part of the West Cork Walking Festival and then went up to Inishmoor, one of the Aran Isles. Here at home we go for ice cream after our hikes, in Ireland we head for the nearest pub. There were 1 or 2 opportunities for ice cream but no one seemed to choose it.
We flew into Shannon, leaving Boston on the 8PM flight and then drove 5 hours down to Castletownbere so we could hike with the festival the next day. Mary Donegan at Realt Na Mara greeted us warmly for the 3rd year in a row and served us tea and biscuits to help us recover. I think that first night we introduced the newcomers to McCarthy’s Pub before dinner. I do remember afterwards we went to the pub that had music and dancing and some locals remembered us from the year before.
Sunday Ann Marie, John, Norm and Mike set off on the “A” hike because of course they can do it with no problem. Charlotte and I set off to do the B hike, which we thought would be a little milder. Big mistake! The 13 mile hike we did the first year in the wind and rain and hail with the big hill we repeated and kept going and did most of a hike we had done one day last year. We started out at a reasonable 10AM and around 2 took a 20 min lunch and on the move again. The leaders were urging us on because our bus had to get us back in time to pick up the A group. We did finish in time to stop in the pub before we got on the bus. Some of the C group was already in McCarthy’s when we got back. They had walked quite a way the wrong way before their hike leader joined them.
Finally the A group came back and couldn’t believe the death march hike with no lunch until 2PM.
The next day the 6 of us went on the hike that started in Bonane and ended at the Eccles Hotel. The incredible part of this hike was the ambulance that followed us the entire way. We all photographed this. Our hike leaders were Katrina and Kristiana and did a great job keeping us together. The C group: Ed Sullivan, Gail Carrier, Marlene and Spence and Charlottes’ friends Jan & Gil had a lovely day in Glengariff Woods except their hike continued on and on until they rebelled and stopped. While there are not high mountains they more than make up for it with the steady pace, distance and hardly any stopping until the pub! The highlight of this day was revisiting Maureen’s House of Pain where quite a few stayed the first year. We all had dinner in Eccles Pub and then reminisced with the usual PVHC carryings on for a while in Mary’s parlor.
We called that evening to set up our Hungry Hill climb. John Lyne, who had generously offered to take us up, said that it was dependent on the weather if we went or not. We were wondering what could stop us since it frequently rains and seldom snows. That night you could hear the wind and of course in the morning John said to check back later. He was willing to go as late as 4PM. It was rainy and windy and we slowed our pace. We went into town and stopped at the bank. I tried to cash group money, which I had in $100 bills. The bank no longer accepted large bills. Next we stopped in McCarthy’s Pub. We were telling the person behind the counter. She said “Oh that is ridiculous. I’ll change the money for you. So I left $ 1500 with her with no receipt and went to a few shops. When I came back she handed me an envelope with our money now converted to Euros. Certainly couldn’t and wouldn’t do that here.
Hungry Hill did not happen that day and it was extremely windy. Norm, Mike, John and Ann Marie searched again for a way up the mountain. If our guide couldn’t make it they were determined to go anyway. At dinner that night we saw an English couple who had hiked with us the first day. We all chatted with them awhile and after they left Charlotte said they were going up Hungry Hill with a guide tomorrow. Four persons jaws just dropped open. They could not believe Charlotte let them go without saying anything. Next we went over to McCarthy’s. There sat Linda and Pat. They were immediately surrounded by all of us with many questions about their guide. Turns out theirs was also not definite.
The next day was rainy but John said yes he would take us and came by our B&B and we set out. He turned off the road where we had already searched but at the fork where we always went left he turned right. We continued across but soon headed up. The dirt road soon became a rutted path. Norm was driving one of our rentals. At one point John said watch he’s going to get stuck and sure enough Norm had to back up to get going again. It seemed like we were going to drive up the mountain not hike. Finally we parked and even there the view was magnificent with the land, the sea, and other mountains. We started up more a bit winding around the rocks trying to put our feet on something non slippery. There was no path and if you went the wrong way it would be too steep to keep going. One minute it was pouring rain the next the sun was shining. It was cold and windy but we were finally getting up Hungry Hill. John is a retired physician (we think since it seems he travels frequently) and comes up here several times a week when he is not traveling.
A quote from the Skibbereen Walking group aptly describes it “Both ascending and descending this is not a mountain where you can remember an exact route - you have to work it out on the hoof. Going up "a little scrambling" gets mildly interesting at times! Going down the ridges needs patience as we find seemingly easy paths lead to sheer drops.”
Thanks to John we muddled up. At one point he pointed to a rock about 50 lbs or more and said he was bringing it up one move at a time. We all helped by moving it a little forward. When we got to the first summit there were stones across to the final summit. John had brought those all up so he would not lose his way in the fog or the dark. There were many places it was quite muddy. But after 3 years here we were with fantastic scenery in all directions. We could see Glengariff and Bantry Bay, in the other direction we could see Kerry. As we came down we even had hail. This mountain had become almost mythical because each year we had been unable to find a trail. It is 2228 feet but because it took us so long seems much higher and the views also make it seem higher. It was anticlimactic because that done we were on our way up to Ennis which was over 5 hours to the north... The next day we were leaving for the Aran Isles
But it was not to be. Winds had stopped the ferry from running and so we spent an unplanned day in Doolin, one of the biggest trad music areas in the country. Some hiked out to the Cliffs of Moher, which was a cliff walk all the way. The rest of us walked around the village, which was lengthy. We had one of our best meals there and heard great music. We had a lovely hostess at our B&B and she helped us get to the ferry the next day The sun came out and Inishmoor was lovely except our only bad experience was at the B&B there. We would definitely not recommend that one.
While it had gotten chilly down on the Beara Peninsula it became sunny and summer like in Inishmore. We went to the local museum and saw the old black and white movie “ Man of Aran” which really gave us a good idea of how the Aran Isles came to be. Next we took a motor tour of part of the island. These islands are all stone and in the movie it showed how they made what little earth is there. The earth is made by mixing sand and seaweed. The Aran Isles have some very rare wildflowers. And more stone walls than we have ever seen. Our full day we spent walking amongst these walls and separated into different groups. Ed and Spence found a seldom seen ancient Mass altar. Norm was on his own along the sea. John, Ann Marie and Mike took much the same route. Charlotte, Gail, Marlene and I went in a different direction and it seemed we had a wall to clamor over every few minutes.
We had a great meal. The second night some of us tried a new place but those at the repeat place saw Liam Neeson enjoying a quiet meal. We would then stop in at the place to be – the American Bar, which is a pub in the center of town where tourists and locals all hang out. Everyone was friendly and welcoming. The next night we went back and they were having a memorial party for a local islander an accordion player who died in his 50’s. Ten years ago Friends and relatives were all there and we and other tourists were made welcome also. People played music, danced sang, told stories of this John-Joe’s influence and reminisced about this man they all seemed to have loved well. One of the great things about an Irish Pub is that it can frequently be family oriented. It was on this occasion with all his family and friends present. The next day on the ferry his brother and a friend were also returning to the mainland.
We returned via Galway so were able to see the City Center, before we went on for our last night in Ennis. How was this trip?. We stayed at the same B&B in Ennis we had stayed in before. Everything was welcoming there except when Jan & Gil’s showerhead fell off in the middle of the night. Each year we have had problems getting the cars we had reserved. This year we got exactly what we had paid for and our luggage just could not squeeze in, so again the cars were a hassle and a laugh. When we got back to Ludlow we all stood around instead of rushing off and someone made the remark that we should go down to the nearest pub. We didn’t but we will the next time.
How was this trip? Others were questioning us as to what kind of group we were because it did appear to them we got along very well. We had a lot of fun and laughs, accomplished the big goal of climbing Hungry Hill, and joined the walking festival. We introduced newer members to what we thought was special. Each year we have done parts of the Beara Way and then saw another part of Ireland. It is hard leaving even though this year we spent 10 days.