Author Topic: West Cork - 10 day trip in July - thoughts on itinerary?  (Read 1411 times)

briansy

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Hello all,


I am a proper newbie as this is my first post on this site. I am a Kerryman who is currently based in London although I have spent the last 2 months in Northamptonshire staying with a friend in Oundle and walking all over the county - that has been utterly blissful I must say!


I am coming home to see the folks next week. But I must shield from my 84 year old Dad off the plane so I have booked an Air BnB in Skiberreen for 10 days before heading back up to Tralee safe in the knowledge I won't be passing anything on to him. I have 10 days to see the region having very little exprience of it to date - I'd only previously been in Glengariff for a stag - was lovely, we went to Garnish island. So, I have a blank canvass.


I ideally want as much variety as I can get on the trip and to maximise my time there in term of ticking off most of the biggies together with maybe the odd hidden gem or two.      I want to try and cover at least 10K of walking a day if possible but I' happy to be flexible if I am following up a really long day with something lighter - like 6,7K with some village time etc. It appears the area has  an embarrassment of riches in terms of walks and based on a very cursory glance I put together an initial draft itinerary (see below).     




Sunday July 5 - drive to Baltimore, 11AM ferry to Cape Clear - Gleann Barra loop = 4PM ferry back to Baltimore, on to Skibbereen
Monday July 6 - Knockaphucka Loop trail which starts in Goleen - 10K and mizen head walk - circa 4K
Tuesday July 7 - Rooska loop
Wednesday July 8 - Barnageehy loop walk
Thursday July 9 - Seefin loop walk
Friday July 10 - Coomkeen loop walk
Saturday July 11 - Mount Corrin loop walk
Sunday July 12 - Dursey Island loop walk and cable car etc
Monday July 13 - Sherkin island plus hike
Tuesday July 14 - Bere island plus hike 


My question is: do I really need 3 island trips? Much of a muchness? I have 5 days in a row on the Sheeps head walking trail - too much? I am not really leaving any time for seeing little villages and pottering about and may be missing out. Plus I may have left some "must dos" off the list. What should I add? And what is more or less "doubling up"?


Also...I am mainly focusing on hiking / walking here - but am I missing some other amazing / unusual outdoor activities which are a key part of visiting this region?


How would you rewrite the above itinerary with the above thoughts in mind?


Cheers,
Brian.

richardh1905

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Welcome to the forum Brian.  :)

I'm not going to comment on the detail of your itinerary, because I don'd know the area at all, but I suspect that the weather will have a say in it! I tend not to make a detailed itinerary myself, rather make a list of certain things/walks that I would like to do, and then play it by ear, allowing flexibility for the weather, and being quite prepared to change my plans, even driving outside of the area if something else caught my fancy, or to dodge some local bad weather.

Regarding islands - I spent 17 years living on the Orkney islands in the north of Scotland, no two were alike - they all have their own character. The one thing that I would say about your itineraryis that I would space the islands out rather than leave them for the last 3 days.
WildAboutWalking - Join me on my walks through the wilder parts of Britain

 

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