Walking Kerry Ireland, Walking Dingle

Walking & Cycling

There are many marked walking routes in the area and it is a great location for hill walking and cycling. The most popular are The Dingle Way and the Pilgrims Route.

The Dingle Way – Slí Chorca Dhuibhne – is 178 km (112 miles) in length. The walk begins in Tralee, overlooking Tralee Bay, and then swings southwest across the peninsula from Camp to look down on Dingle Bay while you ramble inland to Annascaul, and then on to Dingle Town. From Dingle the route continues west around Slea Head to Dunquin, with magnificent views of the Blasket Islands to the west and beautiful coastal cliffs to the north. Then the trail turns back along the north coast of the peninsula, past Smerwick Harbour, and continues on below the massive Brandon Mountain, Ireland's second highest peak and named for St. Brendan the Voyager. A high pass will bring you to the village of Cloghane, east of Brandon, and then the route continues along coastal beaches to Castlegregory and the Maharees, ultimately ending back in Tralee.

The Pilgrims Route covers some 48 km (30 miles) and connects many of the early Christian sites for which the Dingle Peninsula is renowned. It begins in Dingle, turns south by Ventry, then north to Riasc, wandering over to Kilmalkedar Church along the older Saints Road, and then by green track and minor road to Cloghane.

In addition to these two way-marked routes, there are many other walks all around the peninsula that will suit every ability and age. Information and locally produced maps and booklets on these walks can be obtained from the Tourist Information Centres in Camp, Annascaul, Dingle, Cloghane and Castlegregory.

There are also many scenic and historic walks that one can take starting at the Hotel, along the shore towards Hussey’s Folly, which is a relic of the famine years of the 1840’s. It was the idea of Edward Hussey, who paid for the construction. He lived at Lough (now McDonnell), and the sole purpose of the project was to give employment to relieve some of the distress caused to locals. The building had no special purpose.

There is a belief among Dingle people, which prevails to the present day that the town was once intended as a refuge of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. During the French Revolution plans were made by certain officials of the Irish Brigades on the continent to rescue the Queen from the Temple Prison in Paris and convey her by ship to safety in Dingle. The house proposed for her is still standing on the junction of Green Street and Goat Street. According to the story, a local man, James Louis Rice and his helpers formed a plan to rescue her. They managed to bribe some gaolers to co-operate with them and had horses and carriages ready to take the Queen to the coast where Rice had a ship waiting to take her to Dingle. At the last moment Marie Antoinette hesitated and refused to accept the chance to escape. She was imprisoned with the Royal Family in August 1792. The plan involved abandonment of her husband and children. But she refused to go and remained to die. A cave supposedly extends from Nancy Brown's parlour to the house in Dingle.