The night of that thunderstorm we were camping and hiking in the Comeragh Mountains it was a fun night, we had some fun making sure the tent did not blow, good times
9:36 “this section has been absolutely beautiful” *cut to Carl flailing wildly* “yep, gorgeous” Made me smile. :) It looks incredible! Just taking a break from writing my dissertation and this is so calming.
I walked coast-to-coast across Ireland in the summer of 2013, via the Wicklow, South Leinster, East Munster, Blackwater, Kerry, and Beara Ways. I enjoyed the Beara Way the best. I would highly recommend that walk to anyone who is reasonably fit. But pretty much the whole walk is very strenuous. No walk in the park! County Cork has got to be one of the most contrasting places in Europe, ranging from the agricultural lands of the east and tourist-plagued Blarney Castle (I'd rather kiss my second-grade teacher than the Blarney Stone!) to the rugged green wilderness of the Beara and the starkness of Sheep's Head.
My wife and I walked the Beara Way in 1998 and the Sheep's Head Way last June. Both trails are very beautiful with stunning views. In our experience the Sheep's Head Way was much harder than the Beara Way, a lot of difficult terrain, rocks and at some place no trails but hopping through the bog. The Beara Way possibly had more climbs but over all there were more clear tracks and trails. Maybe we feel the age difference now, and this can be the explanation for our feeling that Sheep's Head is much harder than Beara. I love this video again, great work like in other videos, although I missed the circuit on Bear Island and the extension to Allihies and the cable car to Dursey, which was one of the highlights of our Beara Way. In Allihies we also enjoyed the Irish music in both pubs.
Absolutely beautiful and very well videoed. Great production value. You two are adorable. This marks the first time in my 61 years that I’ve used “adorable” as a descriptive adjective. Well done Carl & Ellie.
Fantastic guys, it's tough-going on that trail and it was great to see some of the spots I walked last year. Your integration of music and video is very good and you've done a really good job. Looking forward to seeing the last and final trail.
Such a poignant moment at 36:30, contemplating the end of a large life project and the unknowns ahead. Means a lot to me at my particular time of viewing (2.5ish years into COVID times). Congrats on a remarkable accomplishment and for sharing it with all.
Loved the uppy and downy nature of the Beara Way. It looked pretty remote up in the hills and the esacpe route signs are definitely a cool idea. I thought the shots when you were up in the mist were brilliant - even stacked up all those other stunning views along the way. Dragonflies are way cool, as are headbutting sheep:-) The weather advice makes sense and it looked like you got a pretty much perfect mix on your trip. 9.9 out of 10 sounded about right. Brilliant stuff :-)
Hi from Washington State! - looks like a really perfect hike - thanks so much for sharing - we day hiked near there a couple years ago and had a wonderful time. We were by Eyeries and the bay there - love the water, the sheep, and the hillsides :) we’re enjoying catching up on your videos... best to you
@@ToughSoles It was a bonus that we had clear skies that day! We visited quite a bit of the West Coast of Ireland - really enchanting ! We'd love to make another trip for more exploring!
Have you ever been to America and hiked here? I went to Ireland in 2006, but more to see it although I did walk a lot on the trip, but I never backpacked so to speak. I am planning a hike on the Appalachian Trail next year (here in the U.S. but I loved Ireland so much, I think I would love to hike some trails there too)
Beautiful video! At age 52 this is my dream. Beara, Sheeps Head Loop, Kerry and Dingle Peninsula, as well as Diamond Hill, Connemara all sound and look wonderful! How would you rate Diamond Hill if you had had better weather? I am not in the best of shape but doing strength training and some walking exercises. Hoping though probably much slower than you too it can be done.
Great video of a great trail. Strange to see it 'backwards' to the way I walked it! Sorry you missed Allihies and Dursey and Bear Island too. You did say you were going to Dursey - did you? It has to be a unique hiking experience when you go some of the way up in the air in a cable car and it is beautiful there. Allihies is a great village with loads of interesting things that you missed too.
Yes we made it to Dursey after our rest day in Kenmare - editing a mini video of it right now 🙂 As with seemingly everywhere we go, we want to make it back to the Beara Peninsula eventually!
I think we make have taken some creative licensing with “spider”, but they are arachnids, so in the same ball park! And yes certainly the parasite is very dangerous and worrying. I’m glad we’ve been lucky to find all ours quickly.
@@ToughSoles I wasn't trying to make you wrong - I just thought that Lyme's is such a serious issue that the correct information is given out. I know several people whose lives have been badly affected by it. One friend who caught it and has done some in-depth research thinks that deer get too much of the blame. Rodents and other mammals also carry the parasite he says. Also the common remedy of applying things like tea tree oil to a tick itself may be wrong because it makes them puke into you. The only way is to remove them with sharp tweezers and only then apply antiseptic. Looking forward to your Dursey video!
At the beginning you talked about the bakery in Kenmare. In 2018 it already was closed. What about your experience? Thank you very much for this video.
You should splash out on a good 4 season tent that may last for the rest of your trekking lifetime May I suggest a Hilleberg Tunnel tent . Maybe the Nallo 2 or 3.
When you say your doing all the trails in ireland, have you done the national famine trail. If you had I'd love to chat, thinking of doing it after lock down has lifted, and would love your input on places to stay and over how many days etc.
Hi Dave! We’ve done this trail in two parts - we walked the Royal Canal itself back in 2017, and then last year when we learnt about the National Famine Way we went and walked the connecting section from the canal to strokestown house. I think the National Famine Way will add a lot of really great history and context to the walk as in general it’s through a lot of flat midlands, so the history really makes the place more interesting. As for where to stay, we camped for the trail but do know that’s not for everyone. I think it would take about 6-8 days, if you’re walking between 20 - 25km a day. I definitely walking it from The National Famine Museum back to Dublin as they’ve built the history with that in mind. The guys in strokestown house are amazing and were great to talk to about it. Even though we walked this extra section last year I haven’t had a chance to edit into a video yet - I’ll hopefully get to it soon! Thanks! - Ellie
@@ToughSoles thanks for the little video online, just watched it there. Yeah were planning on doing it late this summer as long as guidelines allow us, though we plan to travel extremely light and do it in 4 days, hence the need for stops along the way to sleep aand food. Not carrying a tent or more food than we nees for that day, and literally one change of gear. We'd cover about 40kms a day(not every ones idea of a holiday I know!)
Haha no sounds great! I’ve done a couple of trips in the 40+km a day region, it’s intense but fun! At that pace you’ll have almost no problems getting to places to stop for food / accommodation. Sorry for not getting back to your first comment sooner, had a few college deadlines the past while! - ellie
It definitely is one of our favourites! We think it's absolutely one of the best trails in Ireland, such incredible quality! I actually really want to walk it again as soon as it gets a little warmer.
Do you recommend this walk for a solo traveller? I am traveling alone and the car hire is so expensive and guided walking tours I are mostly already fully booked, I have been several times in Ireland hiking alone but only shorter walks, Diamond hill or in Glencolumbkille cliff walk and so on but never a full walking way. I have been to Carrauntoohill and Achill Cliffs /Croghaun too but with a guide
This is one of the tougher trails in Ireland - all the trails here are designed for people to be able to hike solo, but it is a large jump from Diamond Hill to the Beara Way. Each day is quite remote feeling, so it depends on how comfortable you are doing long day sections without towns or possibly other people. Having said that it is an amazing trail, we both really love the route.
@@ToughSoles well what about the jump Carrauntoohill and Beara way. There are also moderate routes at hill walking Ireland,not all are challenging. I cannot decide between Beara, Dingle, Kerry and Western way....and then there's even sheep head way. You did them all, didn't you? 🤔
a spider living IN your body?!!! are you serious! do you have a link for details on this? great video btw.. i'm catching up on your walks.. you 2 are awesome!
Hey - we did a lot of wild camping, and then filled in the rest with B&Bs, hostels, etc. We’d generally look up if there was any affordable accommodation or official campsites along a trail and plan around that! Different trails have widely different infrastructure, so it was really a case by case basis. But yes, lots of camping, otherwise we couldn’t have afforded to spend 6 months a year hiking ☺️
Mostly google! Google maps is pretty good too - and if you’re thinking of doing a Waymarked trail, we’ve been making “3 minute trail” videos that have links to all the campsites that we’ve found close to those trails ☺️
Oh that’s a really hard choice! For me, they’re both on the same level. I think the Beara Way is wilder and less trafficked, and the Dingle Way has possibly more infrastructure? But it’s a close call - both really great trails. I think the Beara Way is a tougher hike Hope this helps at all! - ellie
We don’t have a GPX available, but we do have free maps (based on the official open data route information) available on our website, toughsoles.ie/maps ☺️
why do you feel embarrassed talking to the camera ( or not, as in the case of the car from the UK ) when cars are passing. To me, it seemed an odd comment
We get a lot of funny looks with our bags and so on - talking to the camera gets us even more! We just never got comfortable doing that around people. The UK thing was just a bad joke ☺
Thank you for this awesome insight! I still have got some more in-depth questions if I might: 1) Is it possible to branch-out, short-cut, re-route this? I.e. avoid 500m mountains climb bits but take the rest. Or split a group into two different parallel routes? 2) Are there any beaches or nice accesses to the Ocean in reach of the trail? Detouring to the ocean for a day and then coming back inland, is that feasible on this peninsula? 3) About Camping? Are you obligated to go to campsites because of dense tourism or can yo rely on wild camping only (we are on a budget). If yes, can you in theory pitch tents like these with pegs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohte ? 4) Can you restock food in every village you find? or for how many days on average to I need to carry food? 5) If avoiding hard sections: doable with 12yo experienced hikers (15km/day scenario)? 6) can we jump in/out of the peninsula with the public transport bus at any village on the coast ring? I would really appreciate and thank you for any minor or major comments on these questions. ATM deciding between Western Way or Beara (or Dingle).
At 19 minutes...."up and downiness" universal hiking term...enjoying the video. Thanks.
Only the fanciest terminology in our videos 😂
The night of that thunderstorm we were camping and hiking in the Comeragh Mountains it was a fun night, we had some fun making sure the tent did not blow, good times
9:36 “this section has been absolutely beautiful”
*cut to Carl flailing wildly*
“yep, gorgeous”
Made me smile. :) It looks incredible! Just taking a break from writing my dissertation and this is so calming.
I think this video features the most moments of Carl almost falling out of any trail video - wait until you’re in Eyeries 😂
I walked coast-to-coast across Ireland in the summer of 2013, via the Wicklow, South Leinster, East Munster, Blackwater, Kerry, and Beara Ways. I enjoyed the Beara Way the best. I would highly recommend that walk to anyone who is reasonably fit. But pretty much the whole walk is very strenuous. No walk in the park!
County Cork has got to be one of the most contrasting places in Europe, ranging from the agricultural lands of the east and tourist-plagued Blarney Castle (I'd rather kiss my second-grade teacher than the Blarney Stone!) to the rugged green wilderness of the Beara and the starkness of Sheep's Head.
My wife and I walked the Beara Way in 1998 and the Sheep's Head Way last June. Both trails are very beautiful with stunning views. In our experience the Sheep's Head Way was much harder than the Beara Way, a lot of difficult terrain, rocks and at some place no trails but hopping through the bog. The Beara Way possibly had more climbs but over all there were more clear tracks and trails. Maybe we feel the age difference now, and this can be the explanation for our feeling that Sheep's Head is much harder than Beara.
I love this video again, great work like in other videos, although I missed the circuit on Bear Island and the extension to Allihies and the cable car to Dursey, which was one of the highlights of our Beara Way. In Allihies we also enjoyed the Irish music in both pubs.
Absolutely beautiful and very well videoed. Great production value. You two are adorable. This marks the first time in my 61 years that I’ve used “adorable” as a descriptive adjective. Well done Carl & Ellie.
Haha why thank you very very much! ☺️
Fantastic guys, it's tough-going on that trail and it was great to see some of the spots I walked last year. Your integration of music and video is very good and you've done a really good job. Looking forward to seeing the last and final trail.
Thanks so much Michael! Looking forward to sharing the last one too! ☺️
Such a poignant moment at 36:30, contemplating the end of a large life project and the unknowns ahead. Means a lot to me at my particular time of viewing (2.5ish years into COVID times). Congrats on a remarkable accomplishment and for sharing it with all.
Lovely to see the film !
Thank you! 😁
Loved the uppy and downy nature of the Beara Way. It looked pretty remote up in the hills and the esacpe route signs are definitely a cool idea. I thought the shots when you were up in the mist were brilliant - even stacked up all those other stunning views along the way. Dragonflies are way cool, as are headbutting sheep:-) The weather advice makes sense and it looked like you got a pretty much perfect mix on your trip. 9.9 out of 10 sounded about right. Brilliant stuff :-)
I knew you'd love it. Special place. Excellent video too. Nearly there lads.
Thanks Ray! Indeed, an absolutely fantastic place! 😄
Loved those edits to the music around 15:20!
Such beautiful views! Tfs.
Those earrings are adorable omg
Thank you for validating my impulses! ☺️ hahaha
The coin flip was hilarious 😂
Thanks for the preview. We will be there next week, walking from Killarney to Castletownbere including Dursey Island.
That sounds great! Make sure to stop in the French bakery in Kenmare when you go through!
@@ToughSoles Will do! Thanks for the recommendation
Hi from Washington State! - looks like a really perfect hike - thanks so much for sharing - we day hiked near there a couple years ago and had a wonderful time. We were by Eyeries and the bay there - love the water, the sheep, and the hillsides :) we’re enjoying catching up on your videos... best to you
Thank you so much for the lovely comment! It really is such a magical place, one of the (now many) places on our list to revisit ☺️
@@ToughSoles It was a bonus that we had clear skies that day! We visited quite a bit of the West Coast of Ireland - really enchanting ! We'd love to make another trip for more exploring!
Have you ever been to America and hiked here? I went to Ireland in 2006, but more to see it although I did walk a lot on the trip, but I never backpacked so to speak. I am planning a hike on the Appalachian Trail next year (here in the U.S. but I loved Ireland so much, I think I would love to hike some trails there too)
Superb video !
Thank you!
Beautiful video! At age 52 this is my dream. Beara, Sheeps Head Loop, Kerry and Dingle Peninsula, as well as Diamond Hill, Connemara all sound and look wonderful! How would you rate Diamond Hill if you had had better weather? I am not in the best of shape but doing strength training and some walking exercises. Hoping though probably much slower than you too it can be done.
You can always take the walk discription with a pinch of salt,,almost never as described ,but always great to get out there and, do it 🦌
Great video of a great trail. Strange to see it 'backwards' to the way I walked it! Sorry you missed Allihies and Dursey and Bear Island too. You did say you were going to Dursey - did you? It has to be a unique hiking experience when you go some of the way up in the air in a cable car and it is beautiful there. Allihies is a great village with loads of interesting things that you missed too.
PS - Ticks are 'spiders'? Really??? And they don't live inside you, they pass on a parasite which is much much worse if not treated.
Yes we made it to Dursey after our rest day in Kenmare - editing a mini video of it right now 🙂 As with seemingly everywhere we go, we want to make it back to the Beara Peninsula eventually!
I think we make have taken some creative licensing with “spider”, but they are arachnids, so in the same ball park! And yes certainly the parasite is very dangerous and worrying. I’m glad we’ve been lucky to find all ours quickly.
@@ToughSoles I wasn't trying to make you wrong - I just thought that Lyme's is such a serious issue that the correct information is given out. I know several people whose lives have been badly affected by it. One friend who caught it and has done some in-depth research thinks that deer get too much of the blame. Rodents and other mammals also carry the parasite he says. Also the common remedy of applying things like tea tree oil to a tick itself may be wrong because it makes them puke into you. The only way is to remove them with sharp tweezers and only then apply antiseptic. Looking forward to your Dursey video!
One of the best videos so far - funny and beautiful!!!! You convinced me I need a walking Elvis tote bag - is shipping to the US available?
Oh thank you so much Katherine!
And yes shipping to the states is definitely available, I’ll send you a link in a few minutes ☺️
Here is the link! And it's free shipping!
toughsoles.ie/ellies-masters-funding/limited-edition-tote-bag
@@ToughSoles WOW!!! Awesome :)
The very best walk the way from Kerry to sligo
Sounds like a long route! Do you know if it has a name?
At the beginning you talked about the bakery in Kenmare. In 2018 it already was closed. What about your experience? Thank you very much for this video.
Hi,
No, every time we’ve been to Kenmare it’s been open! I’m sorry it wasn’t when you were there in 2018
- ellie
You should splash out on a good 4 season tent that may last for the rest of your trekking lifetime
May I suggest a Hilleberg Tunnel tent .
Maybe the Nallo 2 or 3.
When you say your doing all the trails in ireland, have you done the national famine trail. If you had I'd love to chat, thinking of doing it after lock down has lifted, and would love your input on places to stay and over how many days etc.
Hi Dave!
We’ve done this trail in two parts - we walked the Royal Canal itself back in 2017, and then last year when we learnt about the National Famine Way we went and walked the connecting section from the canal to strokestown house.
I think the National Famine Way will add a lot of really great history and context to the walk as in general it’s through a lot of flat midlands, so the history really makes the place more interesting.
As for where to stay, we camped for the trail but do know that’s not for everyone. I think it would take about 6-8 days, if you’re walking between 20 - 25km a day. I definitely walking it from The National Famine Museum back to Dublin as they’ve built the history with that in mind. The guys in strokestown house are amazing and were great to talk to about it. Even though we walked this extra section last year I haven’t had a chance to edit into a video yet - I’ll hopefully get to it soon!
Thanks!
- Ellie
@@ToughSoles thanks for the little video online, just watched it there. Yeah were planning on doing it late this summer as long as guidelines allow us, though we plan to travel extremely light and do it in 4 days, hence the need for stops along the way to sleep aand food. Not carrying a tent or more food than we nees for that day, and literally one change of gear. We'd cover about 40kms a day(not every ones idea of a holiday I know!)
Haha no sounds great! I’ve done a couple of trips in the 40+km a day region, it’s intense but fun! At that pace you’ll have almost no problems getting to places to stop for food / accommodation.
Sorry for not getting back to your first comment sooner, had a few college deadlines the past while!
- ellie
I wonder why this is not one of your favourites, it looks soo nice
It definitely is one of our favourites! We think it's absolutely one of the best trails in Ireland, such incredible quality! I actually really want to walk it again as soon as it gets a little warmer.
Great video.. just wondering how did you navigate?? Thanks Trevor
Do you recommend this walk for a solo traveller? I am traveling alone and the car hire is so expensive and guided walking tours I are mostly already fully booked, I have been several times in Ireland hiking alone but only shorter walks, Diamond hill or in Glencolumbkille cliff walk and so on but never a full walking way. I have been to Carrauntoohill and Achill Cliffs /Croghaun too but with a guide
This is one of the tougher trails in Ireland - all the trails here are designed for people to be able to hike solo, but it is a large jump from Diamond Hill to the Beara Way. Each day is quite remote feeling, so it depends on how comfortable you are doing long day sections without towns or possibly other people. Having said that it is an amazing trail, we both really love the route.
@@ToughSoles well what about the jump Carrauntoohill and Beara way. There are also moderate routes at hill walking Ireland,not all are challenging. I cannot decide between Beara, Dingle, Kerry and Western way....and then there's even sheep head way. You did them all, didn't you? 🤔
a spider living IN your body?!!! are you serious! do you have a link for details on this?
great video btw.. i'm catching up on your walks.. you 2 are awesome!
How do you guys usually plan around sleeping/accommodation, do you mostly do camp sites or Bnbs, any Wildcamping?
Hey - we did a lot of wild camping, and then filled in the rest with B&Bs, hostels, etc. We’d generally look up if there was any affordable accommodation or official campsites along a trail and plan around that!
Different trails have widely different infrastructure, so it was really a case by case basis. But yes, lots of camping, otherwise we couldn’t have afforded to spend 6 months a year hiking ☺️
@@ToughSoles That make sense, thank you! Any particular resource for finding official campsites or just googled it?
Mostly google! Google maps is pretty good too - and if you’re thinking of doing a Waymarked trail, we’ve been making “3 minute trail” videos that have links to all the campsites that we’ve found close to those trails ☺️
If you had to choose between either Dingle or Beara, which would you choose and why?
Oh that’s a really hard choice! For me, they’re both on the same level. I think the Beara Way is wilder and less trafficked, and the Dingle Way has possibly more infrastructure? But it’s a close call - both really great trails. I think the Beara Way is a tougher hike
Hope this helps at all!
- ellie
Is there a
Gpx for this route?
We don’t have a GPX available, but we do have free maps (based on the official open data route information) available on our website, toughsoles.ie/maps ☺️
Always bring duct tape for broken poles...
why do you feel embarrassed talking to the camera ( or not, as in the case of the car from the UK ) when cars are passing. To me, it seemed an odd comment
We get a lot of funny looks with our bags and so on - talking to the camera gets us even more! We just never got comfortable doing that around people.
The UK thing was just a bad joke ☺
Thank you for this awesome insight!
I still have got some more in-depth questions if I might:
1) Is it possible to branch-out, short-cut, re-route this? I.e. avoid 500m mountains climb bits but take the rest. Or split a group into two different parallel routes?
2) Are there any beaches or nice accesses to the Ocean in reach of the trail? Detouring to the ocean for a day and then coming back inland, is that feasible on this peninsula?
3) About Camping? Are you obligated to go to campsites because of dense tourism or can yo rely on wild camping only (we are on a budget). If yes, can you in theory pitch tents like these with pegs en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kohte ?
4) Can you restock food in every village you find? or for how many days on average to I need to carry food?
5) If avoiding hard sections: doable with 12yo experienced hikers (15km/day scenario)?
6) can we jump in/out of the peninsula with the public transport bus at any village on the coast ring?
I would really appreciate and thank you for any minor or major comments on these questions. ATM deciding between Western Way or Beara (or Dingle).