Cathy Kelly is a bestselling Irish author, with millions of books published around the world. Her trademark is warm and witty Irish storytelling about modern life and her love of the outdoors and of hiking, made her a natural presenter for this episode of Tracks and trails in Co. Kerry.

Presenter
Cathy Kelly

About
There is a reason Kerry is called The Kingdom, as Cathy takes to two majestic parts of the county to conquer beautiful trails. On stunning and across contrasting landscapes, it lives up to its title and will inspire us all to discover Kerry.

Cathy’s episode starts with a 15km walk from the pretty village of Ventry in Co. Kerry. Cathy gets into her stride by hitting the long open beach section, which is the smoothest and flattest part of this walk. After completing a road section, she turns to begin the gentle ascent of Slea Head which runs parallel to Slea Head Drive. The change of terrain here is also a change of scenery and the views open to reveal stunning views across to Valentia Island with Skellig Michael in the distance.

Along this section of narrow grassland paths, Cathy meets Liadain Slattery, who is the trails officer for this region, for a wander and a chat while soaking up the views in front of them. Leaving Liadain behind, Cathy continues above the rocky coastline to the top of Slea Head to the high point of this trail where the Blasket Islands, Coumeenole Beach and the vast Atlantic Ocean are spread out far below. Cathy then begins her descent to the final road section before turning towards Dunquin Harbour.

Before she reaches this famous harbour and the end of her walk, she stops to talk to Lorcán Ó Cinnéide who is a local historian and manager of the Blasket Centre closeby. Lorcán and Cathy chat about the history of the Blasket Islands and in particular hear of the many fellow Irish writers who once lived there.

We often use AllTrails to find trail guides and maps and you can follow the Slea Head Loop trail here on the free AllTrails app.