The Irish Coast To Coast Walk

370-mile waymarked route through Ireland from Dublin in the east to Bray Head in the southwest on the Atlantic coast. Created by linking the Wicklow Way, South Leinster Way, Munster Way, Avondhy Way and the Kerry Way. An opportunity to discover the heart of the Emerald Isle.

Waymarked long-distance walking routes are a relatively recent addition to the Irish countryside. The Wicklow Way was the first such trail to be fully marked and offered to walkers, and it was soon connected with other waymarked trails to offer a Coast to Coast Walk across Ireland from the heart of Dublin to the Atlantic cliff coast of Co Kerry.

Much of the credit for initiating the development of the waymarked trail network must go to the late J.B.Malone; often referred to as the ‘Walking Encyclopedia’, JB took to the hills in 1931 and contributed articles about walking to the Evening Herald newspaper from 1938 to 1975. The Wicklow Mountains were the hills he knew and loved best, and in 1966 he prepared a plan for a route that was to become the Wicklow Way. Originally he envisaged a circular walk, but Cospoir (the National Sports Council) became involved in the development of walking routes and the Wicklow Way became a linear plan so that it could link with a proposed South Leinster Way. This was in turn planned to link with other trails, including the Kerry Way in the south-west of Ireland. The Wicklow Way was declared open in 1982 and other routes followed in turn. JB was appointed as Field Officer by Cospoir and he was closely involved in the development of the early waymarked trails. A stone above Luggala in the Wicklow Mountains commemorates him as the ‘Pioneer of the Wicklow Way’ ­– a picture of this stone appears on the front cover of this guidebook.

Problems with the waymarked trails arose almost immediately after they were opened. Following extensive media coverage, large numbers of walkers took to the Wicklow Way and some of the boggier parts became badly overtrodden. Strategically important footbridges in Glencree and at the Watergates were swept away in floods, while loose waymark posts were either uprooted by vandals or accidentally run over by heavy forestry vehicles. The committees that helped to establish routes such as the South Leinster Way and Munster Way fell apart soon after blazing those trails, so that no-one was available to address maintenance issues. More seriously, problems concerning occupier’s liability arose. Put simply, walkers injuring themselves in Ireland could, in theory, sue the landowner for damages. Disputes arose about who would cover the insurance costs for each of the trails and indemnify landowners against any potential claims for injuries. Given the complex nature of these problems, the development of the trail network ground to a halt for a couple of years.

Insurance, liability and maintenance issues were all addressed in the mid 1990s and new trails have since been blazed across the country to bring the Coast to Coast Walk to completion. The Wicklow Way and South Leinster Way continue to lead walkers onwards, as they always did. The Munster Way has been overhauled and is now known as the East Munster Way. The Avondhu Way and Duhallow Way are now promoted jointly as the Blackwater Way, and the Kerry Way remains a popular trail in the south-west. Together, these trails form the basis for the Irish Coast to Coast Walk. Apart from short gaps, almost the entire route is now waymarked and signposted. Walkers who leave the centre of Dublin and follow these trails to Bray Head on Valentia Island will cover up to 623km (387 miles). As most of the trails have been routed across gentle countryside, often using minor roads and forest tracks, walkers can usually adopt a brisk pace and should be able to cover the route in three weeks if they are used to walking long distances. This guide offers walkers information about the course of the Coast to Coast Walk, and the facilities available along the way.

The first edition of this guidebook was published in 1996, and its contents have since been completely overhauled. All the trails have been walked again and route alterations have been noted. Changes in the provision of facilities along the way – food, drink and accommodation – have also been checked. This edition also contains information on Ordnance Survey of Ireland Discovery Series maps (1:50,000), many of which were unavailable for the first edition. The maps presented in this guide illustrate the route and the main features you will pass on your way, but need to be used in association with the OSI Discovery maps.

Coast to Coast Geology

Coast to Coast walkers travel quickly from the urban sprawl of Dublin into some of the toughest terrain in the first few days of the journey. The Wicklow Mountains, Blackstairs Mountains and Brandon Hill are all part of a vast intrusion of granite that takes over a week to walk across! The course of the Wicklow Way meanders between the granite massif and the glistening schistose rock that surrounds it. The schist was formed when the molten mass of granite was intruded into the existing ancient Ordovician bedrock, altering the rock through a process of tremendous heat and pressure known as metamorphism. Kippure, Mullaghcleevaun and Tonelagee are granite, while Djouce and Croaghanmoira are schist. Lugnaquillia is unusual, because it is mostly granite, but has retained its original ‘roof’ of schist. On the whole, the granite uplands form vast, rounded, whaleback hills, while the schist tends to weather into more shapely peaks and has been excavated by glaciers, leaving deep glens between the mountains.

After passing Graiguenamanagh, the landscape of the South Leinster Way is dominated by the Three Sisters, the rivers Barrow, Nore and Suir. All three rivers seem to chart curious courses and appear to carve their way through entire ranges of hills and mountains. Opinions are divided as to whether these rivers have been ‘superimposed’ on the landscape after wearing down through long-vanished upper layers of rock, or whether they display ‘antecedent drainage’ and have simply kept to their original courses despite any uplifting of the rock succession through geological time.

The Comeragh Mountains and Knockmealdown Mountains are formed of Old Red Sandstone; vast thicknesses of Devonian sands and grits that have been crumpled and contorted by immense pressures through the ages to produce this sandstone. In fact, this rock type is crossed by the East Munster Way, Blackwater Way and Kerry Way. Of particular interest is a feature known as the Armorican Front, the line dividing the predominantly Old Red Sandstone massif from the predominantly Carboniferous Limestone of the lowlands. You can look along this line and see the division clearly between the Knockmealdown Mountains and the River Suir, between the Nagles Mountains and the River Blackwater, and between the Derrynasaggart Mountains and the lowlands around Millstreet, Rathmore and Barraduff. Walkers are seldom aware of the Carboniferous Limestone. It dominates much of the Irish Midlands, but the Coast to Coast route steers clear of classic limestone features such as Mitchelstown Cave and Crag Cave. However, an exploration of the shores of Lough Leane or Muckross Lake in the Killarney National Park reveals water-worn limestone at its very best.

All the mountain groups crossed on the Irish Coast to Coast Walk feature typical corrie lakes and ‘U’ shaped glacial valleys. In the mountains of Co Kerry these are particularly well developed. The Kerry Way runs through the glacial Black Valley, and ice-scoured corries can be seen along the flanks of MacGillycuddy’s Reeks and other mountain ranges. Only rarely do winter conditions remind walkers of the last Ice Age, as snow and ice seldom lie long on the Kerry mountains and are quickly removed by the warm, damp Atlantic airflows.