Tralee, Fenit, Ballyheigue, Ballybunion then Carrigafoyle Castle - 28 April 2023

28 April 2023 - Fenit/Ballyheigue beach/Ballybunnion beach & Carrigafoyle castle near Tarbert port for the night.

Felt that we hadn’t been walking enough, so this morning we walked alongside the canal into Tralee. Not a lot there, a normal town rather than a touristy place. Bought some brown soda bread and some vanilla slices - €7.75 - it does seem that food seems more expensive here.  My benchmark is a bar of Cadbury’s - what used to be 100g, usually less now! - on offer at home generally about £1 - here the same bar is €2.50 - shocking!

As we walked off there were loads of people walking in the opposite direction, asked a lady what was going on - 200 - 250 people are all walking the Kerry Camino over 3 days - 35 miles in total, starting from Tralee.

Interesting that a German Shepherd dog is classed as a restricted/listed breed of dog.

Walking back we saw a big cart horse trotting along by himself - think he’d just escaped, and was causing mayhem with the traffic - seemed pleased with himself 😊

Decided it should be a laundry day as there were quite a few places offering services to choose from. Decided to pay €11 for an 18kg load, as with jeans, towels plus all other stuff not sure 8kg would have been enough. The wash was only 38 minutes long, so maybe just a quick refresh! As for drying - thought 30 minutes might be enough as the drier was so huge. Has 4 settings, choose the second hottest - ha - didn’t make much difference, so another 15 minutes on hottest setting - some items not quite dry - but will finish off drying inside Dave. That cost €10.50 - so €21.50 - again seems fairly expensive - but heyho - everything cleaner now. Kay’s top tip for using the Revolution driers - just whack it on hottest possible setting! We’re so careful at home, selecting appropriate programme, doing some as hand washing - and then we come away…

Tried the brown soda bread for lunch whilst waiting - not a total fan!

Me driving today (so roads were due to be better!) - next stop Fenit Harbour. Looked lovely - was put off swimming by a couple of women who said the water was cold - usually people say ‘cold - but lovely once you’re in’ - she just said she was being honest and it was cold!

There’s a 14km cycle track to Tralee from there, maybe we should do more research first! Anyway, we’ve done over 11,000 steps instead.

Quite a long road diversion - but at least they keep putting the diversion signs! Onto Ballyheigue Beach. Not very welcoming - signs saying no campervan parking. Well, there was another one parked up, made us feel brave - so we did too. Tintin took Dean the drone for a fly, and then I went for a swim. It really was lovely - didn’t feel cold - think the tide had been rising over the warm sand. We sat out and had a drink (non-alcoholic!) afterwards too.

By then it was nearly 4pm, so needed to decide where to sleep tonight - another drive for an hour.

Stopped off at Ballybunnion beach, just to look and take a photo. Spoilt for lovely beaches around here.

Final stop of the day - Carrigafoyle Castle, built over 500 years ago, looking out over the Shannon estuary.

Whilst Tintin took Dean up again, I found my way to the top of the castle. Was surprised it was open to be honest - and no charge!

Tomorrow (a certain somebody’s birthday!) we’ll take the ferry from Tarbert Port across to Killimer Port, saving us an 80 mile detour around the River Shannon.

An elderly man in his moho next to us this morning said we might see dolphins. He seemed lonely, and just wanted to chat. He asked if we’d heard banging on our moho early this morning, we said no, he said it must be his mind playing tricks on him, then we heard about his Parkinson’s, his 15 year old dog etc. It must feel very lonely travelling alone.

The weather has been getting warmer the last few days. Last week when driving we were amazed that the temperature of the engine  heater could go up to 32° - and we were still cold - yet today - needed the air conditioning on! Fingers crossed that it continues to warm up!

We’ve just had a lady poke her head in the door - and proceeded to chat for about 30 minutes! She gave us a leaflet all about the area, and advice about where to go, then came back with a postcard of the castle in front as a gift - she’s just so passionate about the area! People have so much to say!

Bit of bird watching on the estuary. Not totally sure what they are but we think a whimbrel and possibly a redshank or sandpiper. Anybody out there who can identify them please let us know by dropping us an email. You can comment on the post if you have subscribed. The benefits of subscribing are that you can comment on posts and we will let you know when we publish a new post, that's it, no bombarding you with emails all the time.