Hiking the two sides of The Gap Of Dunloe...One Of Kerrys Finest

I've not done a whole pile of hill days recently. I'm back running again and I must say I am enjoying it. I did the Cork to Cobh 15 mile run last Sunday and I was well pleased with 1 hour 57 minutes. I suffered a fair bit for the final miles but that always seemed to be par for the course for me and it is worth it just to be back at full health. I'm actually thinking of returning to Ballyvaughan and giving the Burren Marathon a go next May.

In the meantime I headed back to Kerry today with the intention of possibly doing Howling Ridge on Carrauntooohil but it was quite windy so I decided that a hike would be the better option and I chose to do a circuit of the Gap of Dunloe, a hike that is fast becoming one of my favourites in the area. It offers a challenging outing with 1500 metres of ascent and between 18 and 19 kilometres in distance depending on whether you opt to use the "Chimneys" under Tomies or not. I left the carpark by Kates at 10.15 and went up Strickeen first. This gives a nice easy ascent to this lovely viewpoint and the strength of the wind up there confirmed my choice to forsake Howling. The continuance of mainly dry weather meant the long walk towards Cnoc na Brácha was pretty dry underfoot. The views to Cruach Mhór are inspiring and made me want to continue on the ridge but I turned towards Drishana and then dropped down to the head of the Gap. Straight across and up to Glas Lough where I enjoyed a bite of lunch. The drag to the very windy summit of Purple Mountain went well and I continued easily to Tomies. I descended "The Chinmneys" and eventually reached the road in the Gap where it is a short walk back to the car. 5 hours 30 minutes wasn't too shabby. The Pyrenees are probably next 😍😍