Nothing better than a new adventure on the horizon and this one, my dear blog readers, is so exciting …

Running for the Gate is heading to Ireland!

On June 17, this gal departs from Canada to hit the the green streets of Dublin Ireland where I to meet up with two of my fav hikers / besties to make our way along the Kerry Way!

The Kerry Way

What is this Kerry Way you ask?

• 215 kilometer circular, long distance walking path often called the ‘walkers ring of Kerry’
• Begins and ends in Killarney in County Kerry
• Loops around the Iveragh Peninsula, following old coach roads, mountain paths, and small country lanes called boreens
• Longest and oldest of Ireland’s National Waymarked Trail and often called most scenic
• Moderate difficulty, often remote and includes mountain ranges (e.g MacGillycuddy’s Reeks including Carrauntoohil Ireland’s tallest mountain) and coast line (e.g Kenmare Bay)

Our Kerry Way

How are we approaching the Way?

While generally a 9 stage walk (aka walk it over 9 days), we are doing the distance in 10 days. We added a boat tour day 1 and a rest day approx. mid way to see if the weather is in our favour to visit Skelling Michael island. A World Heritage site and Luke Skywalker’s island! Yup Star Wars film location! This nerd is very comfortable with geeking right out on location – reenacted scenes coming your way!

I had the absolute pleasure of exploring Ireland back in 2006 with my dearest friend Lana (a name you may know from many Running for the Gate adventures) and I am excited to go back 20 years later. I can almost taste the Guinness!

We are dusting off the water proofs (there is a reason Ireland is so green) and making sure the clips and cords are battened down (walking though places called Windy Gap) – bogs, gusts, climbs, descents, duckboards, bridges, vistas and forests here we come!

More to come as we ramp up to this adventure in just 59 sleeps and as we make each step. Now I better get off my phone and onto to the trail to train for the Way.

Brande