Saturday 26th September 2026

Mallow to Tralee

No early alarm today, it was a casual breakfast and then off to the station to take a train to Tralee which will be the starting point for our walk.

A couple of hours taking in the scenery with farmlands and lots of animals on one side and emerald green hills, towered over by mountains on the other. We will venture closer to them as we progress along the Dingle Way.

Off the train and a short hop to our digs which was temporarily interrupted by a funeral procession of about 80 people.

Arriving early meant no room being available for us and the young couple who arrived at same time and were also doing the walk.

Went for a walk to find the laundromat for later in the day and to our surprise it was outside a service station/ car wash. Would be an interesting session later in the day.

With Tralee being relatively small we didn’t have much planned and on the way we noticed a major racing carnival was having its last day in Listowel. Whilst not having any finery we jumped on a bus for a 45 minute ride to the town.

The town was abuzz with people and an Irish band was smashing out great music in the town square, just a stones throw from a Luna Park like amusement park. With a couple of hours before race time we enjoyed the music and a lunch in a quaint cafe.

The racetrack was positioned on a riverside and was accessed by a castle side bridge which led to a stiletto challenging walk off about 800 metres on gravel for the dolled up local girls. The track and meeting was reminiscent of the famous Warnnambool carnival in Victoria with a crowd of about 5000 watching hurdle racing on the fifth day of the carnival which is the second biggest in Ireland.

Managed a pensioner entry fee of 25€ which meant a few winners were needed to claw back the days expenses. It was a pretty expansive set up with marquees behind the three grandstands and at least 50 bookmakers doing a roaring trade taking cash and debit cards along be it in Euro or Sterling.

The broadcast companies had several sizeable facilities set up around the track and there was no shortage of food and drink outlets. As the day progressed and crowd swelled a 30 minute wait for a drink was the order of the day.

Most of the grandstands were standup jobs and after Race 2 it was almost impossible to secure a spot. The race fields ranged from 7 to 21 and horses came from Ireland, UK and France.

Jane was the only one to secure a winner and after 4 races we made an early exit grabbing a spot on the fence over the back of the track where we got a Birds Eye view of the horses. We also got a great view of the nerve tingling rides at the fun park which one could only ride on an empty stomach.

Overall it was a great experience.

Headed for the bus stop and waited anxiously for a bus which was 20 minutes late. It was a joy to see it arrive after local told us it was cancelled the previous day.

Back in town we gathered the clothes and headed to an alternate outdoor laundry and stood around chatting to an excitable young Italian boy who had just completed the DinglevWay with his girlfriend. It was great to get a fresh perspective and heightened our anticipation.

Back at the hotel it was a nice dinner before retiring to lay awake listening to a rowdy party until 200am- not the ideal preparation for an 18km walk which is now predicted to be in rain and gusts up to 40mph.