Hiking in Ireland: Day 7 of the Dingle Way

Aloha!

Cloghane to Castlegregory, Ireland:  Statistics 16 miles or 36,100 Caroline steps

I would return to Cloghane in a minute and stay at the fabulous B&B, Ridgeview.  Fishing and hiking from the exquisite small town on the coast.  Good food at O'Connors Pub as well.

So.... Today (Thursday June 22) was supposed to be 18+ miles and most on the beach. All four of us opted to have the bags transported so we could enjoy a 12 mile beach walk ( part of the18 miles that turned out to be 16) and not have 20 pounds on our backs.  

Pat, Kerri and Brian having fun being packless!!

On the beach for a LONG beach walk

Above, Brian had to be carried across the water.  I think it was 2 inches deep.

Above:  the 12 miles of beach we walked

After walking on the sand, we crossed the top of a peninsula and rounded the corner back to more beaches.  On the way to the beach, we met horses roaming free across the road and the fields.

Then back to the beach for another couple miles before we saw town.  Lots more Jellyfish on the sand AND in the water.  And we walked through a water sports camp--- paddle boarding, surfing, ocean swimming...EVERYONE had on a wetsuit.  A bit colder than Hawaii.

And then, after the water sports camp, we had arrived in Castlegregory, a town of 243 people according to the 2011 census.  

After finding our nifty B&B, we went of in search of a local pub to continue the international Cribbage tournament, now in its 22nd year. I am happy to report that the girls are still ahead 10 to the boys 5.  (For those reading this blog, I have been playing cribbage with Pat Holmes and various partners around the world for 21 years.  Each of us has had various partners over the 20 years, but it is ALWAYS the girls vs the guys.  Stay tuned for the ultimate championship game tomorrow on our last night with the Gang of Four.

 

 The Girls (red pages) win #10... all the games have been this close- two pegging points or less...... 

Pat - proving that the boys won their 5th game!!!

With every trip, friends on the trip MAKE the trip.  Great friends, good food and lots of laughs are keeping up going.  The seafood here in Castlegregory is AWESOME.  MUSSELS !  Oh my!  And then Linguini con scampi freschi.... Thank goodness I walked 16 miles today!

 MOULES met Wit Wijn Saus ( Flemish for mussels in white wine sauce). DELICIOUS

OH MY THESE WERE GOOD.

LIVING PROOF I ATE ALL MINE!

And then on to the shrimp.

We have a mere 8 miles to do tomorrow - we will be wearing our 20 pound packs - before part one of Hiking in Ireland - The Dingle Way-  is complete. 

Great adventure so far.  The feet are healing and the fun of traveling with friends continues!  LUCKY ME.  

Aloha and mahalo for letting me share the adventure.