We had a wonderful breakfast at the B&B before
leaving this morning at 9:45. Short as
it was, Gorman’s Hilltop Guest house was such a treat, wish we could have
stayed longer.
Today would be our last and most difficult day of hiking on The
Dingle Way … 25 km over the mountain pass, Mas an Tiompain or Masatiompan (763m
/ 2140’), which means “rump of the drum”.
It was a quiet and gentle walk through back country
lanes, past many old abandoned farmhouses and many new, updated residences, sprinkled in the many green colored pastures.
Everywhere you look, there are remnants of the life of old (pre-1900) ...you can almost see the generations of change as you walk through small country lanes. At one point, we saw a beautiful new home, tucked on the side of a hill, gated property, with lovely landscaping. It appears the owners give the sheep a day off from grazing, to help out with the lawncare!
We eventually made it up to a small parking
lot which marked the head of the trail over the col (pass). This is where things got interesting. Essentially our guide said “follow the Way
posts” which we did … for the better part of 2 hours. The terrain was mixed grass / grazing area
for sheep, with rocks and boggy areas. At one point, it followed the line of an original military road, started
by the English but never finished.
The
waters that flow down these mountains eventually carve deep channels through
the soft soil over the rocks, which makes for difficult footing at times, and
in some places very muddy. Jenn lost her
balance at one point today, and planted her boot in a deep bog of mud, which
sunk to the top of her socks. Not
impressed.
The ascent leveled off a bit so we decided to take
a break and have lunch.
We had a very
peaceful snack on our tarp, overlooking the Atlantic ocean and the terrain we
had walked the past 2 days. Incredible! The was no wind to speak of and the sheep
were off in the distance where we couldn’t hear them. After our snack, we headed up the last 500’
to the col where we stopped to chat with a couple of young backpackers from
Hamburg, who were heading down our side, in the opposite direction.
Glen was counting it down the altitude on the GPS as we neared the top, and anticlimactically ... we were there. Jenn first as Glen had fallen behind talking with the other hikers.
Once we reached the top (2139'), we found an Ogham Stone marker at the top. These stones date back to around AD 400. Ogham refers to the alphabet used to inscribe the stone. Unfortunately there are no details on this specific stone. We took in the views for a short time and then headed down the other side to the North. 
Probably due to the opposite
exposure, the terrain was a bit different down this side. We descended a very steep section for 45
minutes, before things started to level off into a high grassy area – and
bog.
We carried on down, through rocks and bog,
following marking posts and at one point, a very large yellow arrow painted on
a massive boulder. Eventually, we came
to a switchback that led to a gravel road, that lead on for a few
kilometers.
At one point, we came upon 3
pyramids of what looked like bricks. After closer examination, we think these were bricks of peat. The sides of the hills looked as if they had been mined …huge vertical cuts into the side of the hills, which we initially thought were mudslides or other erosion. Very interesting to see.
We eventually came down to meet a lot of grazing
sheep, some on our path. This led into a
more inhabited area … the outskirts of the village area of Brandon. We decided to bypass Brandon and head
directly to Cloghane, after getting some tips from a local resident.
We arrived at O’Connor’s pub (the only one in town)
around 6:45 … and had a well deserved pint and full dinners.
It was only a short 5 min walk up to the
Ridgeview B&B. A long day, but very
rewarding.
Km Hiked & Climbed = 27.2
P.S. Jenn
was amazing today. She has battled these
past four days with a painful ankle / Achilles heel …. I’m so proud of her.
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