The Day we Walked from Dunquin to Ballyferriter

 We had a later start to the day today, with breakfast at 8:30 am, before setting off for the Blasket Centre; a heritage and cultural museum dealing with the history of the stunning islands that had dominated so much of our view during yesterday’s walk. 

The people who had lived there until the islands were abandoned in 1953, had been isolated, not so much by distance from the mainland, but by the harshness of the environment and the often impassable seas. They existed on subsistence farming and fishing, speaking only the Irish language. 

When all the young people eventually left for a life of opportunity in other countries however, there were no men to man the fishing boats, and those remaining were forced to admit they could not survive there any longer. 

It was a moving story told through comprehensive interactive displays, and we spent a couple of hours immersed in the experience. 

After a coffee, we finally set out for today’s leg of the walk to Ballyferriter, a shorter distance of just over 11km. 

It was again a warm day, but more overcast than yesterday, which we appreciated as we climbed the first hill out of town, crossed the moorland, and then descended into another picturesque valley, ringed by mountains.

As we came down off the top of the moor, a shower of rain caught us by surprise and we dived for our raincoats and pack covers, but it was short-lived. 

We stopped, at a pottery with many beautiful items, not anything we are able to carry with us though, so we journeyed on, crossing a stile that took us to a seating area overlooking the secluded Clogher’s beach and ate our lunch with ocean views.  

There was a great deal of road walking today, a mixture of busy two-lane roads and quieter country lanes, but we all felt that walking on bitumen was more tiring than the climbing on softer, more forgiving ground that we did yesterday. 

As we approached Smerwick Harbour, the mountains on the opposite side were wearing clouds draped across them like throw rugs, and the breeze grew keener. The water of the harbour was dotted with a large group of young swimmers, but it looked far too cold for us to be tempted. 

We pushed on, turning away from the beach and the Dingle Way, towards the tiny settlement of Ballyferriter, where we were booked into one of two pubs for the night. 

We found the owner very hospitable, as they all have been along the way, and we were soon shown to our rooms for the night. We ate a hearty dinner in the pub, followed it up with a scenic uphill walk (because we hadn’t walked far enough today!), in search of standing, or Ogham stones, and then had a cup of tea in the bar watching the soccer world cup for a while, before retiring to our rooms for the night.