The Vagabond Hiker

Hiking, trekking, and climbing the world

Walking Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula

The Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, in the southwest of Ireland, boasts some fine walks, both along the coast and inland. Although the Dingle Way garners most of the attention, some of the better (and more challenging) hikes are not on this popular route. Favored with good weather during our brief stay at an amazingly- sited Airbnb bungalow near Smerwick Harbor, we did three walks, one a leg stretcher along the beach from our bungalow while the other two were proper hikes. Enjoy the photos!

The red arrow points out the Atlantic Bay Rest, our eclectic Airbnb bungalow. Our semi-private sandy cove is to its right, Smerwick Beach and Harbor a bit farther along the coast to the left.
Steps led down to our cove beach
Along the Dingle Way near Smerwick Beach. On our first day we walked from our bungalow to the sandy beach, which stretches for miles with some intermittent rocky coast.
On the second day we hiked around the Three Sisters and the Sybil Headland, the most dramatic cliffs on the Dingle Peninsula. As the 179 km Dingle Way doesn’t follow this section of coast, we had the hike virtually to ourselves.
Maggie on the most northeasterly of the Three Sisters, Binn Diarmada, with my brother Mark in the background.
Looking back northeast to Binn Diarmada. The mountains in the background are on the other side of Smerwick Harbor on the Dingle Peninsula.
Vista as we headed southwest to Sybil Point (206 m)
View northeast from the derelict Sybil Point observation post. The building was originally from Napoleonic times, though most of the construction dates from from WW2.
The Blasket Islands from Sybil Point. Never having more than 200 inhabitants, Great Blasket was abandoned in 1953/4.
Another perspective of Sybil Point, taken during our later drive around Slea Head.
Our route from Conor Pass under Brandon Peak, just seen on the far right. On this final hike we ascended to the col, the low point on the left-hand ridge seen here, and then onto the ridge off the photo on the left. Although we did not attempt Brandon Peak, the circular hike still had more than 600 m elevation gain and loss over its 12 km length.
Looking north to Brandon Peak (840 m) and Mount Brandon behind (952 m) from the ridge above Conor Pass near the end of our hike.
Atmospheric view west across Brandon Bay from the spit North of Castlegregory. Brandon Peak and Mount Brandon are on the right here, hidden by clouds. I took this photo as we were driving off the Peninsula just ahead of storm clouds coming in from the Atlantic.

I updated my calendar through the third week of December with two additions. In October and early November I will finally do one of my long time bucket list items, Bhutan’s Snowman Trek. After that a month back in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands seemed in order. . .

Next week I am heading to Glencoe, Scotland for two weeks of hikes and scrambles in the Scottish Highlands. I will post some photos from that trip during the first week of June. Until then, get outdoors and enjoy the spring weather,

The Vagabond Hiker

The Isle of Wight Coastal Path

Last week with a few days to spare I took the ferry from Southampton to Cowes, on the Isle of Wight, to walk part of its Coastal Path. Having only 3 days, I chose a counter-clockwise semicircular loop from Cowes along the Solent in the north to Ventnor on the English Channel in the south. This segment has some of the most dramatic scenery and least developed areas on the isle. Although the weather wasn’t very good (this is England, after all!), the 42 miles were enjoyable nonetheless. Here are a few photos I took. . .

Black headed seagulls seeing me off from Cowes at the start of the first day
Bluebells along the path. They were not yet at their peak.
Rural inland scene walking along a byway. Much of the first day the path was inland, across fields and along country lanes.
Hurst Castle and Hurst Point Lighthouse across the Solent at its narrowest point (zoom)
My hotel in Totland, a welcome sight at the end of the 18 mile first day. A hot shower and restaurant dinner with a glass of wine at the end of each day make inn-to-inn walking very civilized.
View from Headon Warren to the Needles (disappearing into the mist on the right), early on the second day
The Tennyson monument on the eponymous Down, east of the Needles. The poet spent many winters at his home on the Isle of Wight and loved walking the downs.
Vertiginous view to the English Channel from Tennyson Down
View south along Compton Bay on the West Wight coast featuring a foreground of gorse and dog violet
View from near Hanover Point emphasizing the stark contrast between the chalk and sandstone cliffs typical of Wight
Shepherd’s Chine. I had just crossed this deep ravine via steps and a scramble early on the third day.
The Coastal Path meanders through a wood south of the Blackgang Chine
Sea mist rolls in above the South Coast. I took only a few photos this day as the fog occluded many vistas
A misty Flowers Brook on the outskirts of Ventnor near the end of the third day
A Ventnor street view from the top deck of a double-decker bus. I took the bus back to Cowes from Ventnor at the end of the third day.

Next week Maggie and I will be flying to Ireland to get together with my brothers and sister-in-law for a few days on the Dingle Peninsula. Perhaps we’ll do some walking. . .

The Vagabond Hiker

Levadas and Peaks of Madeira

With its rugged coastal scenery, impressive volcanic geology and lush levada trails, the Portuguese island of Madeira is a walker’s paradise. The week of hiking with our KE Adventures group was exceptional with six varied day hikes spread over most of the island. Our guide, Roberto, was passionate about his native land and a wealth of knowledge, historical, geological, and botanic. We walked and hiked through terraced farmland, explored extensive laurel forest, negotiated almost two dozen tunnels and crossed numerous jagged green ridges to some amazing viewpoints. The network of trails is truly incredible, with many following levadas, the water channels that collect water from the mountains, channeling and distributing it for hydroelectricity generation, agricultural irrigation, and drinking water. There are over 1300 miles of levadas and all the major ones have walking paths alongside, which follow the contours of the land with only a 4 degree average slope.  They make for a nice change from the mountain paths, which seem to be always either steeply ascending or descending the rugged terrain.

A Google Earth map of the island of Madeira. Madeira is about 35 miles long and about 14 miles across at its widest point. We started and ended our week in Funchal, but also stayed in Paul Do Mar and Porto Moniz in the west and in Santana to the north of the main mountain range.

Much of Madeira remains covered in laurisilva forest, a botanical relic that dates back about 20 million years, and is classified by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The Laurisilva covers about 20% of the Island of Madeira (15,000 hectares) most of which is part of the protected Madeira Natural Park. The forest captures the moisture from the Atlantic clouds, resulting in high humidity and biodiversity, with about 150 of 760 plant species being endemic. (There are also unfortunately several species of nasty invasives, including eucalyptus and mimosa). Take a look at some of my photo highlights from the six day trip. . .

View of the central massif and the Paul da Serra plateau from above Curral das Freiras on day 1.
Trail side flowers seen leaving Curral das Freiras (Nun’s Valley)
Some of our group of 13 at a rest stop below Boca do Serra (the col partly seen on the left here)
View from Boca do Serra with Curral das Freiras far below on the left
More trail side flowers. I struggled to remember any of the names of the flowers Roberto so ably identified for us.
A stream in a rocky gorge on the Ribeiro do Poco. It was a great place to cool my feet.
Madeira’s Pride and waterfall above Paul do Mar, day 2
Looking back to Paul do Mar harbor. The path can be seen zig-zagging on the left here.
Paul do Mar. We stayed two nights at a very nice hotel in this town on the southwest coast.
A levada distribution point along the Levada Calheta Nova.
Roberto crossing a stream on the levada portion of our hike on day 2
Fields and coast along Levada Calheta Nova
Path through the native laurisilva forest on day 3. A cloud forest ecosystem is prevalent at intermediate altitudes on much of Madeira.
Levada Ribeira da Janela path and waterfall
Another view of the Levada Ribeira da Janela path. Many of the main levadas have been concretized over the past 40 years or so.
Our improbable trail head on day 4, above the wild west coast
The coast view from our trail head. It doesn’t look possible, but we hiked down to the coast from here. The cables are part of the cable car system, which one client availed himself of.
The wild west coast
Some of our group ascending from the coast. We had two 500 meter descents and one ascent on this tough hike.
View descending towards Porto Moniz, where we stayed two nights.
Park Forestal Queimadas, our trail head on day 5
Levada Caldeirao waterfall. I stitched this together from five photos.
Lush vegetation along the unconcretized Levada Caldeirao. There are about 70 species of fern on Madeira.
Forest view along Levada Caldeirao
Caldeirao Verde waterfall, about 80 meters high
The Vagabond Hiker with Roberto and two other clients at a levada tunnel entrance. Photo courtesy of Joe.
Some of our group descending a hollow way. Over hundreds of years stock transhumance has eroded some areas along the north coast.
Pico Ruivo (1862m) summit “view” on day 6. This is the high point on Madeira and was our toughest hike.
A dead heather along the amazing balcony route between Pico Ruivo and Pico do Arieiro (1810m), the third highest point on the island. There was a major fire in 2010 that destroyed much of the slow-growing native heather.
Some of our group hiking along the balcony route towards Pico do Arieiro
A partridge at our lunch stop
Misty view from our lunch stop
Part of the “Stairway to Heaven”. The airier portions were generally protected by cables.
View above the clouds near Pico Arieiro summit.

Lest you draw the incorrect conclusion that my time on Madeira has been all tough hiking, this last photo was taken from my penthouse apartment balcony at sunset, where I have stayed the last four days reading, walking along the promenade, swimming, stand up paddle-boarding, eating fresh seafood and just enjoying the fine weather.

Formosa Beach sunset

I have updated my calendar through September. See the tab on the upper right. With the exception of two weeks in July, I will be spending the next six months in Europe. During those blank spaces on the calendar I will be on the south coast of England near Hastings. My next post will likely be in April from there. If not, it will be in mid-May from the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. Until then, keep hiking!

The Vagabond Hiker


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