How difficult is the The Kerry Way?

Two walks joined end to end. The first sixteen kilometres are Killarney National Park: pavement out of town on the Muckross road, lakeshore path along Castlelough Bay, then tarmac avenues past Muckross House among jaunting cars and coach parties, and a tunnel under the N71 to the foot of Torc Waterfall. A stone stairway lifts you out of the crowds in twenty minutes and the Old Kenmare Road takes over, a made surface on open moor under Torc and Mangerton, boardwalk across the bog at Crinnagh, and the oak-hung cut of Esknamucky Glen before a steep drop to the N71 at Galway's Bridge. The leg returning from Kenmare joins just short of Derrycunihy Church, so everything behind that point is walked twice on a full circuit. Beyond the road it is oakwood and gravel down to the Upper Lake, level lakeshore to Lord Brandon's Cottage and the six-arch bridge over the Gearhameen, then quiet tarmac up the Black Valley. The second walk begins where the valley road gives out past Cummeenduff Lough: unsurfaced track under Brassel Mountain, rough ground round Broaghnabinnia, and a steep pull to the pass into the Bridia Valley at about 300 m, which is where shelter ends. The drop off it is loose and awkward, and the section finishes on top of the Lack Road, the old droving zigzag out of the Bridia that is the crux of the whole circuit and gets materially harder the wetter the ground is.

Navigation: Yellow arrow on black the whole way, but the first half is shared with half the waymarked walks in the national park and the arrows compete with a lot of other signage; a first-hand account of this stage records a wrong turn at a badly signposted junction near Torc Hill. From the upper car park to Galway's Bridge the old road is a made line that cannot be lost. The far end is the opposite problem: on the Bridia pass and the Lack Road the posts stand in country with no path between them, and in cloud the work is map and compass rather than following anything.

In poor weather: The stretch between Derrycunihy Church and Lord Brandon's Cottage floods at various times of year and particularly after heavy rain, and that is the one thing here that can alter a day rather than merely spoil it. Above it, the boardwalk and the stone steps are slick when wet, the bog either side of Crinnagh holds water, and the two passes at the far end lose their line as well as their view in low cloud. The Lack Road is described by walkers as difficult at any time and especially in the wet, which is what the alternative below exists for.

Escape options: Easy for the first third and then not at all. The park end has the N71, the Muckross road and several car parks within a kilometre. On the Old Kenmare Road the only realistic exits are back to the upper car park at Torc or forward to the N71 at Galway's Bridge; nothing else touches it. The Black Valley has a public road along its whole length that a car can reach, but it is somewhere a lift comes to rather than somewhere a bus calls. Past Cummeenduff Lough there is no vehicle access at all until the floor of the Bridia Valley.

Over the Lack Road the walking settles into what the western half of this trail mostly is: green roads, boreens and old engineered highway, with more tarmac than the map suggests and far easier going than the passes behind. The rocky drop off the top gives a choice of a short rough line or a longer tarred loop round Lough Acoose, and the two rejoin before Glencar, the first roof since the Black Valley. From there the Way follows the Caragh into Lickeen Wood, where the river opens out into Caragh Lake, then pulls over the Windy Gap above Coolroe for the first sight of Dingle Bay and Rossbeigh before dropping to Glenbeigh. Beyond the village the route turns seaward on field paths and quiet roads to Drom West, and then comes the best of it: the old coach road cut across the flank of Drung Hill in the 1790s, holding the contour for several kilometres with the Atlantic below and the Dingle mountains across the water. It is firm underfoot, barely climbs, and asks nothing of navigation. The last hour is boreen and grass track down into the Ferta valley and the footbridges at Foilmore, ending at the Teeraha fork. A long stretch, but the length is in the distance rather than the effort.

Navigation: The clearest ground on the trail and also the most junctions. Three decide a day: Gortdirragh, where the Windy Gap and the longer Seefin line part; the split beyond Behy Bridge outside Glenbeigh, where the two options rejoin at Drom West; and Teeraha at the far end, where one branch is the arm into Cahersiveen and the other is the Way south. The coach road itself is a made surface and cannot be lost.

In poor weather: The Windy Gap and the coach road are the exposed parts. Both are firm underfoot, so rain costs the view rather than the day, but the coach road runs along an open hillside high above the sea with nothing between it and a westerly, and the Dingle Bay view that is the whole point of it goes first in cloud. The low ground either side is farmland and forestry that holds water after rain.

Escape options: The best-served stretch of the western side. Glencar and Glenbeigh both sit on public roads, the Way crosses the N70 by the overbridge at Mountain Stage, and the coast road runs below the coach road for its full length, though the hillside between them is steep. This is also the one arc of the circuit with a genuinely frequent bus along the road below it, so leaving here does not depend on finding a lift. Foilmore and Teeraha are on tarred roads at the end.

The lonely part. From the Teeraha fork the Way turns inland and climbs onto the hogsback ridges that run down the spine of the Iveragh, and then stays on them: a switchback of boggy tops linked by townland boundaries and ladder stiles, over several summits to the crest at Cnoc an Bhotháin, which the Irish Times calls the highest point on the trail. Nothing here is technical and no single climb is long, but the ground is rough and wet, the stiles are constant, and progress is slower than the distance implies. Then it drops the whole way to the Inny at Mastergeehy, a few tarred roads and a church on a valley floor, and immediately climbs back out onto the Dromod ridge. There is no village on the line, nothing open, and no road between the two ends. This is the stretch where the forecast should change the plan rather than just the clothing.

Navigation: Waymarked, but this is where the waymarking is doing real work rather than confirming an obvious line. Much of the crest has no path, the posts and the ladder stiles are the route, and in mist one boggy top looks much like the next. Carry the map and use it here even if you have not opened it since Killarney.

In poor weather: Exposed for its whole length with nothing to get behind. Wind comes in off the Atlantic across open moor, the bog holds water and the descents off the tops are greasy, and low cloud removes not just the view but any sense of which of the several tops you are on. Warm still weather has its own cost, because there is no shade and no water you would want to drink.

Escape options: Poor, and the honest answer is that there are two: back to the Teeraha fork and down the arm to Cahersiveen, or forward to Mastergeehy. Between them no road touches the ridge. Mastergeehy has tarred road, but the Dromid area has an occasional pre-booked link rather than a service to plan around, so leaving there still means arranging a lift.

The circuit comes back to the sea and turns sociable. The Dromod ridge runs on over Knag with Lough Currane and Ballinskelligs Bay opening ahead, then lets go and drops through farmland at Termons into Waterville, the first town the line has entered since Killarney. South of the village it is narrow tarred lanes through Ballybrack and Baslickane, then an old road climbing steadily across the hillside past the Loher stone fort with the bay below and the Skelligs offshore, over the top near Coomnahorna and down lanes that hold their height about a kilometre above Derrynane. Caherdaniel is the turn: from there the Way climbs a grassy path set with the planet markers of the local dark sky walk and settles onto an old butter road, alternating short lengths of tarred boreen with green track between small fields, a rhythm that repeats all day and involves a great many gates. Past the Staigue road it crosses the shoulder by Bohacogram forestry, the rougher of the two climbs, then works east on mountain road and rough grass and drops onto the N70 for the last few hundred metres into Sneem. Nothing here is hard, the views over Kenmare Bay to Beara are constant, and the coast road is never far below.

Navigation: Well waymarked and undemanding once off the ridge. The junctions that matter are route choices rather than traps: the split on the Dromod ridge above Mastergeehy, the divide at Farraniaragh where the Derrynane Mass Path drops to the harbour and the direct line carries on to Caherdaniel, and Camomile Corner at Coad, where the long inland option from Waterville comes back in. On the butter road east of Caherdaniel the arrows are frequent and the gates do most of the navigating.

In poor weather: West and south facing throughout, so it takes an Atlantic wind full on and the sea views that are the point of it are the first thing lost in murk. Surfaces are firm, tarmac and old road for most of the way, so rain costs the view rather than the day. The exceptions are the shoulder past Bohacogram, which is open and takes the wind straight off the bay, and the green tracks between fields, which are stock-worn and get greasy in a wet spell.

Escape options: As good as this trail gets. The N70 is rarely more than a couple of kilometres downhill, Waterville, Caherdaniel, Castlecove and Sneem all sit on it, and the Staigue road, the lane at Moneyflugh and the Sneem approach run down to it directly. The southern arc also has a real bus along that road, thin enough that a missed one costs hours but frequent enough to count as a way out. The one stretch without vehicle access is the ridge at the start, between Mastergeehy and Termons.

The longest stretch on the circuit, and the one that catches people out, because Kenmare is not the end of it. It starts well: tarred boreen out of Sneem, then unsurfaced road across farmland, bog and forestry to the coast road at Derryquin, and sheltered wooded going by Tahilla, Lough Fada and Doon with Kenmare Bay showing through the trees. After Blackwater Bridge the balance tips. Forest and estate road through Dromore gives way to repeated returns to the N70 around Templenoe and Reen, and the Way keeps lifting inland over bog and forestry at Lacka before the last pull over Gortamullin and the drop into Kenmare. None of that is hard ground and the surfaces are almost all made, but being pulled back uphill away from a town already in sight is what makes it feel longer than the profile suggests. Then the town goes past and the trail climbs straight out of it again, north on Railway Road and onto an old road through farmland into oak woodland and boardwalk over bog, up to the pass between Peakeen Mountain and Knockanaguish. The descent off it is rocky, and the circuit closes on the old road above Galway's Bridge, where the outward line comes back in and the last kilometres are already familiar.

Navigation: Waymarked throughout and the forest roads are obvious, so what this section asks for is road sense rather than route finding: the Way crosses the coast road at Derryquin and Tahilla, joins it at Blackwater Bridge, uses lengths of it around Templenoe and Reen, and takes it again on the approach to Kenmare, all with fast holiday traffic. The one junction worth naming is the last, where the Kenmare leg meets the outward line above Galway's Bridge; turn the wrong way there and you are heading down to the N71 and the Black Valley rather than up towards Killarney.

In poor weather: Low, wooded and sheltered for most of its length, so the least weather-affected of the long stretches. The bog at Doon and Lacka holds water after rain, Gortamullin is open, and the pass above Kenmare is properly exposed with a rocky descent that is slick when wet. In heavy rain the problem in the first half is the N70 lengths, verge and spray, rather than the terrain.

Escape options: Better than anywhere else on the circuit as far as Kenmare. Tahilla, Blackwater Bridge, Templenoe and Greenane all sit on the coast road, which the route crosses or joins repeatedly, so a car can meet you at many points, and Kenmare itself has the most frequent bus anywhere on this trail. After Kenmare it reverts: nothing touches the climb to the pass, and the first road you reach is the N71 at Galway's Bridge.

The outward line walked backwards, and it walks nothing like it. From the high ground the Old Kenmare Road tips gently down for its whole length: the gorge-like cut of Esknamucky Glen, boardwalk across the Crinnagh bog with the Reeks away to the west, the flat ground at Cores Cascade, then woodland beside the Owengarriff to the upper car park at Torc. The stone steps and tree roots past the waterfall are the only awkward ground on the section, and they hand you straight into the most visited place on the route, where the trail stops being a trail and becomes a queue of day visitors. Beyond the tunnel under the N71 it is parkland: level tarmac avenues past Muckross House and Muckross Abbey, lakeshore beside Lough Leane, then out of the park onto pavement for the last stretch into town. For anyone closing the circuit this is a downhill lap with a station, a shop and a shower at the end of it, and the fact that it is ground already walked matters less than it sounds. For anyone walking it as a day out, the last hour is roadside.

Navigation: Clear ground with a busy end. The old road and the boardwalk are unmistakable, but from Torc downwards the Kerry Way shares the park with the Torc Mountain path, the estate trails and the lakeshore walks, and its arrows are one signpost among many; the recorded wrong turn on this ground is near Torc Hill, in the woods above the waterfall. Coming down, the crowds are a fair sign you are on the right line.

In poor weather: Wooded, low and gentle, so wind and low sun are not the issue here; water is. The boardwalk over the bog is slick when wet, the stone steps and exposed roots beside Torc Waterfall are the one place a fall is likely in the rain, and the stepping-stone river crossings on this ground can become impassable after heavy rain. The lower half is surfaced and walks much the same in any weather.

Escape options: The easiest on the trail. The upper Torc car park is reachable by car and is the standard road access to this ground, the N71 runs close from Torc downwards, and Muckross House has parking within a few hundred metres of the line. From Muckross it is level pavement into Killarney, so from there on leaving early just means stopping. Above Torc there is no vehicle access at all: the old road is a walking route, and the nearest road end behind you is the N71 at Galway's Bridge.