Daryl's Journal

What Happened Today?

DAY 3: BLACK VALLEY TO GLENCAR

HIKING INSTRUCTIONS Part 1

From Hilcrest House: Leave your guesthouse turning left, heading for the main Black Valley road. At a Y junction keep straight and right, passing the school, Youth Hotel and church. Notice the first wild fuchsia hedges here and ahead to your right the slopes of Macgillycuddy Reeks. At the next junction keep left because the road to the right is the road through the gap of Dunloe, Kate Kearney’s Cottage and back to Killarney. At the next junction go straight into Cummeenduff Glen. Go through forest and fields with lovely views of Cummeenduff Lough and Broaghnabinnia to meet the surfaced road on the other side at Dromluska. Continue up to the right, past a new house and the road eventually turns into a track.

What Happened Today?

DAY 2: BLACK VALLEY TO GLENCAR

We woke up around 6:45 AM.

They cooked a traditional Irish breakfast for us. 1 egg, ham sausage, toast, orange juice and coffee.

I paid our bill… 72 Euros, 50 for dinner, 12 for a packed lunch and 10 for wine.

They filled our water bottles, gave us hiking instructions and we were off.

Our walk today, initially, was OK. We saw 2 mules. We fed a horse an apple. We walked on a road to a farmhouse then took a path around it. We started up a hill and lost a marker. We saw 2 girls and thought they were on our path, but they were not. We backtracked, found a gate and began our trek up the correct hill which took a long time.

We stopped halfway up the hill and ate some of our ham and cheese sandwiches from our packed lunch.

A hiker walked by and handed me one of my earphone protectors. Funny! I lost the other one later!

What Happened Today?

DAY 3: BLACK VALLEY TO GLENCAR

HIKING INSTRUCTIONS Part 4

Follow this road for 500m and then turn right crossing a fence onto the “Lack Road”, a narrow rocky path which zigzags gradually uphill for the next 2km. This was an old cattle droving route from Glencar to the Bridia Valley.

Soon after you leave the road, the Way goes diagonally up across a grassy field towards a fence- you will see a ruined stone cottage ahead to the left. After about 200m, cross the fence over the stile then head uphill away from the fence, bearing left, crossing a small stream until you see the next marker post.

The path continues to zigzag uphill and the marker posts are frequent. There are occasional sheep trails leading in different directions, but the Kerry Way follows the most obvious track up the hill, sometimes grassy, sometimes rocky.

What Happened Today?

DAY 3: BLACK VALLEY TO GLENCAR

HIKING INSTRUCTIONS Part 5

When you reach the 340m contour, you will see a fence ahead- cross the stile and bear left, beginning to descend around the side of the peak to the left. There are occasional marker posts, and the route still follows the most obvious path. At the marker post at 764823 the path begins to disappear and you turn right, descending deeply down a rocky track.

On a clear day you will see Lough Acoose 2km ahead of you and Gearhanagour Stream below you to the right. Continue downhill towards the stream (keep to higher ground after wet weather as the ground near the stream can be very wet underfoot). When you reach the bank of the stream you will rejoin the path which then leads uphill, away from the stream towards Derrynafeana (‘wood of the Fianna”- the armies of ancient Ireland).

At Derrynafeana the Way passes through a farmyard and then you come to a ruined house. There are 2 possibilities here:

What Happened Today?

DAY 2: BLACK VALLEY TO GLENCAR

After we reached the top, we, unfortunately, began a difficult descent down a steep rocky slope. Kay fell once and I had to help her down the steep areas. It took a long time to get all the way down.

We found the green road that led to a locked gate! We had to scramble around more rocks to find our way around a farmhouse to walk on a road to the other side of Black Valley.

Kay informed me she had enough! We walked to a farmhouse to ask them to phone a taxi. No one home. We walked the next part of the trail for about a mile.

Then we found 2 farmworkers and one said he lived near the Rowan House… our next B&B. We road in his van with a seriously cracked windshield for about 20 minutes down a one-lane road. Passing cars was very interesting.