BootsnAll Travel Community

Hi, I'm planning on walking down Ireland from Mallen head to mizen head in july and was wondering if anyone's done it and have any tips? I reckon it'll take roughly 2 weeks if we walk for 24miles a day, is this feasible or am i completely deluded? I'm also wondering if any particular routes are recommended and if there's any protocall about camping aling the way?

WALKING IRELAND - TOP TO TOE!

The Malin to Mizen route is regularly undertaken in Ireland - particularly by folk walking or cycling the entire route for charity. The shortest route does not follow the coast, and takes in some pretty dreary scenery. Even that short route is fully four hundred miles, and by the time you add in a few deviations (just to access pubs, hostels, good camp sites) you might well cover ten per cent more. Start following one of the established 'charity' routes, like that followed by the Lazarus Trail www.lazarus.ie, and the mileage really stacks up. The Lazarus route takes in some fabulous coastal scenery, but it is almost 800 miles long.

I would judge 24 miles per day to be quite tough in of the wilder terrain (particularly in north Donegal) - unless you plan to stick to roads, which would really be a hellish way of doing the walk. Better, I would suggest, to just walk the coast of Donegal (or Connemara, or Kerry or West Cork), usually footpaths and minor lanes. Any one of these ventures could easily provide three weeks of happy walking. Or the Dingle Way, a well marked footpath that can be completed in about nine days (at twelve miles a day, often over quite tough terrain). To try to do Malin to Mizen in just two weeks would be a tough call.
Hope this helps.
Nicky
www.hiddeneurope.co.uk