Dingle Way (Ireland) stage 7: Cloghane - Fahamore

Normally this is a much longer route on day seven, but I decided to shorten this stage as I will stop my trek in Camp instead of Tralee. That's why day seven is a rather short stage with a very long stretch on the beach. In other words: not the most interesting stage of the Dingle Way. I had the unfortune that it was also a rainy day making this a forgettable experience.

I can be quite short about the first five kilometers as these kilometers are exclusively on paved roads and there's not a lot to see. Most of the tarmac roads on the Dingle Way are quite calm, but here I encountered a few vehicles on my way. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but sometimes the road was actually quite busy. After the first kilometer there's a (very) small climb, but for the most part the roads are very flat. The first highlight is after almost five kilometer when I see a bridge and a small river.

Now the longest stretch of beach is started with a whopping eleven kilometers of beach. It's not only the longest stretch of beach on the Dingle Way, but also for the entire Irish island. On other occasions I would be thrilled to walk on the beach, but with the rainy weather it was not really an enjoyable experience. Especially between kilometers five and ten the walk on the beach feels very long-winded. There are also some small streams you need to cross, so watertight hiking boots are a necessity here.

The next five to six kilometers feel a bit more diverse as there's more activity on the beach. A local team of surfers is teaching starting youngster how they must start with wind surfing and dogs are running carefree on the beach. As there are no real stopping places on the beach I stopped at two spots. One after 9.6 kilometers as there's a small road outside the beach and a bit further at kilometer 12.8. With good weather conditions this may be an fascinating passage, but now it didn't capture my interest. So I was glad that after sixteen kilometers I saw a paved road again.

This also meant that I was nearly at the end of my stage. The "normal" stage continues for another thirteen kilometers until Castlegregory, but my B&B was at the very tip of Fahamore. I didn't know this yet and that's why I continued my way on a dirt road, but after a kilometer I realized my mistake and I turned off my satellite navigation on Wikiloc. That's why this route stops so suddenly in no man's land.

Stage seven can be best described as a transition stage that takes me the tip of Fahamore over paved roads and beaches. On a sunny day this can be an enjoyable experience, but on a rainy day there's nothing to look forward to. This stage only lasted four hours, including breaks, and in this case that's a good thing.