GO WALK: JOHN G O'DWYERis rewarded for resisting the temptation to lie on the beach in Co Kerry
IN SCHOOL WE were told that Ireland had four distinct seasons, but recently this seems to have shrunk to two – a winter season and a rainy season. The second is now guaranteed to arrive in April and morph into a monsoon season sometime in July. The monsoon had clearly arrived as I aquaplaned my way to Kerry with the deluge transforming roads into rivers and rivers into lakes until I gratefully dropped anchor in Tralee.
Next morning Ireland’s unmatched ability to tantalise with the unexpected was revealed. A benign blue-sky morning greeted me as I headed west to the wind-sculpted Gaeltacht land beyond Dingle. My destination was Ventry Harbour, where medieval pilgrims once came ashore, to walk the Cosán na Naomh (Saint’s Road) to Mt Brandon.
Since this was apparently the day the Irish summer had chosen to arrive, it was appropriate that the starting point of the walk was a holiday beach, complete with surfers, kayakers, and even sunbathers in barely-there bikinis. There was a strong a temptation to literally throw in the towel and slum out on these magnificent sands.
Recalling the fortitude of pilgrims past, however, I pursued instead the signs for the Cosán, (a bishop with crosier). Initially the path dallied along pleasant back roads and fuchsia rich lanes, revealing many echoes from the past in the form of ring forts, monastic sites and a ruined medieval castle. Eventually, the route transformed into a boreen where the mucky going was compensated for by stunning views north over the Three Sisters peninsula.
More road walking and then a serene path through fields had me in a contemplative mood which inevitably led to me losing my way. Then I chanced upon a local man who wanted to know where I was headed. When I said the Cosán and asked for directions, he replied enigmatically “Oh just go back up the lane. It’s easy to follow – it’s just the markers are so hard to find”.
This proved unerringly correct. The trail now toiled through fields of waist high grass which, like pilgrims past, I wallowed through to reach Gallarus Oratory. Bereft of its original purpose of worship, Gallarus has mutated into an important visitor attraction. Startlingly uniform and puritanically unadorned, it is in interior twilight that it comes most to life. I gazed upwards in awe at the sublimely corbelled roof and wondered how early Christian masons constructed such a symmetrical arch without it immediately collapsing on their unhelmeted heads.
Onwards and upwards then to the ruins of Kilmalkedar Abbey, which resonate with intangible mystery and a stay-awhile charm that marks this serene backwater as a place apart. The atmosphere of surreal spirituality moved an American couple to renew their commitment by clasping fingers through an opening in an ancient standing stone.
Next I headed up Reenconnell Hill. This must have been the first close-up view pilgrims would have had of their Promised Land, with the great rampart of Brandon filling the horizon and the green and welcoming lands of Feohanagh laid out below. Continuing downhill I joined a country lane and followed the waymarks along unfrequented roads for about 3km to finish beneath Brandon’s head at Ballybrack car park.
Cosán na Naomh
Starting point:West of Dingle go left at the first roundabout and follow the signs for Ventry. The walk begins on Ventry strand (Q438 600)
Suitability:The walk is reasonably densely signposted but good walking boots are required.
Time:Allow about five hours to complete
High point:Reenconnell Hill
Hospitality:Details of accommodation and restaurants is available from Dingle Tourist office, tel: 066-915 1188