Trip Report - Beara Way (Ireland)
I recently thru hiked the 128 mile Beara Way over 9 days. The Beara Way, or Sli Beara in Gaelic, is a backpacking trail in Ireland that roughly follows the route of Beara O’Sullivan in 1602, who led a traveling caravan of Irish refugees throughout the peninsula as they fled British conquest. The route forms a loop around the Beara Peninsula and includes two islands that can be reached via ferry and cable car.
This was my first foray into European-style village to village backpacking and my wife’s first time hiking several days back to back wearing a heavy pack. We carried camping gear but only ended up using it once at an RV-style campground. I wish I had left the gear at home, it would have really lightened our load and made the hikes a lot easier. We stayed in BNBs/hotels along the way. I would not consider them “hiker friendly” (they are expensive for what you get). I wanted to camp more but the terrain was more challenging than we expected so I was ok with shelling out for a bed every night to keep my wife’s morale up.
We averaged about 3200 feet of elevation change per day. The views and scenery far exceeded my expectations. Although the tallest mountain on the peninsula, Hungry Hill, stands at only 2238 feet, because the country was almost entirely clearcut, you have constant views throughout of surrounding mountains, valleys, and ocean bays. The overall feeling of wildness and remoteness also surpassed what I had imagined - there are no homes whatsoever and few roads at high elevation. We saw lots of interesting archeological features like stone circles.
The part that made it more challenging than expected: I would estimate 20-25% of the trail is on backcountry gravel or paved roads, but unfortunately the vast majority that is on “trail” is in a bog (thanks to the complete deforestation of the area). The ground appears to be solid, but when you step on it your feet sink in an inch in water. For miles on end your options are either stepping in mud/water or literally walking on top of shrubs. My feet were basically soaking wet the entire trail. There is no clearly defined path for much of the way, you are just picking your way through bogs towards the next blaze. This got extremely tiring mentally and physically.
While you could wild camp on this trail, the terrain would make it a challenge. There is no “legal” wild camping as it is 95%+ private property, but there are spots along the beach, behind abandoned homes, and nestled into tree lines dividing properties where you could make it happen.
We saw 4 other backpackers the entire time, 2 of those had camping gear, maybe 10-20 day hikers, and thousands of sheep.
The official terminus of the trail, and where we started, is in the village of Glengarriff but since it’s a loop, you could start it anywhere. We did it clockwise. The town of Kenmare is the largest and most accessible on the trail. We got heavy rains the first two days, which were arguably the toughest, so while that wasn’t an ideal start to the trip it kinda made the rest seem like a cakewalk. I’m proud of my wife and myself for finishing and we plan to travel more like this in the future in more camping-friendly locations.
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Originally Posted by Gambit McCrae
