This past Fall (2023), from September 18 to September 29, I hiked what is known as ‘The Kerry Way’ in Ireland. What’s The Kerry Way, you ask? Terrific question.

The Kerry Way is regarded as being Ireland’s longest ‘signposted’ walking trail. It’s about 214km long and takes hikers along a stunning set of trails that lead from one township to the next. My Apple watch informed me that my shortest hike was about 18km and the longest day was about 34km. The trail is located in County Kerry and is a looped circuit. I believe that the trail is managed and maintained by Kerry County Council, the Kerry Way Committee, and South Kerry Development Partnership (thanks, Google). As one goes along, they’ll find themself traipsing through all sorts of terrain (wooded areas, coastal stretches, rolling hills, boggy patches that are made all the more fun when visibility is crummy, and stunning passes nestled in mountainous areas). There are also sections where you scoot across private properties (many of which have observant farm animals keeping an eye on you- when passing through said sections, my strategy was to calmly talk to the animals and to thank them for tolerating my presence, in an effort to avoid any physical interactions).

I first learned of The Kerry Way’s existence when I was perusing a website for a company called The Natural Adventure. The Natural Adventure is an organization that handles the logistics and bookings for various outdoor excursions in countries all around the world. I’d found this site while using Google to seek out multi-day hikes in Ireland (I’d already decided on going to Ireland in 2023 and was steadfast on a longer adventure to challenge myself). After entering the site, I looked for the longest hike they had (my sole decision-making criteria), which turned out to be The Kerry Way. This hike can be completed on your own without going through a company and people can hike it in any order (whether it be in stints, its totality, or a specific direction). I hiked the full loop counterclockwise, starting in the township of Killarney and ending back in the same spot. My hiking adventure took place over the course of twelve days (days one and twelve were spent in Killarney and there was a scheduled rest day in Cahersiveen). My route was Killarney-Black Valley-Glencar-Glenbeigh-Cahersiveen-Waterville-Caherdaniel-Sneem-Kenmare-Killarney. Personally, I had never ventured off on a hike of this nature before and, since I’m always paranoid about safety, I decided I would rather not camp on my own. The Natural Adventure took care of bookings for my accommodation in B&Bs, provided me with a digital file containing the hiking route to upload to the AllTrails app (loved having the trail uploaded), offered 24/7 support (luckily I didn’t need it), and orchestrated my luggage transfers.

In an effort to provide a summary of my hiking experience along The Kerry Way, I will say that it was frigging incredible. I met a lot of wonderful people, got to listen to endless hours of terrific music and podcasts, and felt so physically-refreshed by the level of daily exertion I put into each stint of hiking; the physical challenge, in particular, was something I realized I had really missed having in my schedule back home. On top of that, given the time of year, I was regularly met with mild temperatures, relentlessly-rainy conditions, and very few fellow hikers on the trails (and I loved every minute of it).

While I’m no savant when it comes to multi-day hikes, I’d strongly recommend that anyone tackling The Kerry Way (or any hike, really) research the weather, heed recommendations for gear depending on the time of year, and pack strategically. Did I have waterproof shoes? Nope. Did I bring rain pants? No, I didn’t want the bulk. Did I bring my hiking poles with me? Nah, I decided that they would probably be more of a pain for me if the terrain didn’t absolutely necessitate having them. It wasn’t too chilly when I was there, so the rain wasn’t much of an issue. Sure, I was soaked in less than 30 minutes most days, but it was mild enough that it wasn’t problematic. For the record, the rain jacket I brought with me was more of a rain shell, in that it was (and still is) very thin in its hardiness. On top of that, it’s a jacket I’ve had for at least 8 years or so and it seeps water in several spots at this point in its lifecycle (I’ve simply refused to give it up because I love it). The moderate waterproofing made for comical aesthetics most days. That being said, if I were there in cooler months, had camped, or was on a less well-defined/more remote route I’d have packed heavier gear to keep dry during my hikes. So, for anyone reading this, please please please do not assume that my arsenal of gear for this hike would be appropriate for all seasons, hikes, or conditions.

Overall, hiking The Kerry Way was brilliant. The weather (I’m all about the rain), the people (hospitable and engaging to the point where it was painful to leave and I’m still pining), and the places/live music/sights I was so fortunate to bask in were next-level. As you may know, the tagline for this blog is ‘All About The Connections + The Cafés”. My time along The Kerry Way served as a spectacular contribution that further bolstered my passion for learning about others, discovering new places, and marvelling at how tremendously beautiful nature is (from my perspective, nature will always school us).

Wanting to share my experience in some way, I struggled with how to post in a manner that would be logical, illuminating, and a meaningful depiction of the outstanding time I was so lucky to have. I toiled with the question and answer to “how shall I communicate what just happened” for a while. What I settled on, is that I’ll write a few posts to document and shed light on what I see as being the more intriguing, prominent, or high points from my adventure.

I haven’t decided whether I’ll post in a specific type of order (let’s be real, I probably won’t and the order will likely be haphazard). SO I figured that this would be a solid starting block. Depending on when you find this post, ‘stay tuned’ and/or ‘please enjoy my accounts from The Kerry Way’.

Ireland is ridiculous in the best ways possible (in my very biased opinion). As I quietly scheme and hatch plans to get back there, I sincerely hope to share some of the magic I experienced along The Kerry Way with you guys. To provide an audiovisual synopsis of how the hiking went, you’ll find a clip I put together below. Will the clip show you guys all of the high points from those twelve days? Are the shots in chronological order? Never. Absolutely not. That would be cheating and defeat the purpose of any subsequent post. But I do hope it gives you a sense of my wondrous adventure along The Kerry Way- enjoy! (P.S. I’m still sussing out how to optimize my video speeds, so you might need to give it a moment to buffer or refresh the page once, if you’re finding it’s lagging)

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