So the weekend gone, I met my two friends Jimmy and Christine and took in one stage of the Lough Derg Way. I met them first between Azofra and Santo Domingo in 2013 and have kept in touch since. It was great meeting them again as it gave us another excuse to discuss anything Camino-related! They return to walk the Camino Finisterre at the end of May. I will be home by the time they leave.
The Lough Derg Way (more information here) is one of many many trails and looped walks in Ireland. It starts in Limerick City and makes it’s way northwards to a town called Dromineer which is in Tipperary. The whole walk encompasses Lough Derg and is very near to the River Shannon. It is 69km in total to Dromineer but on Saturday we walked 30km to a town called Killaloe. It is a heritage town in Co Clare and is always buzzing, especially when the weather is fine.
We were based outside of Limerick City on Friday night so after a bus ride, we started off close to 9am. The trail makes its way alongside the River Shannon for the first few kilometres until we make our way out of the city, but it isn’t long before you hit the countryside. It certainly reminded me of Galicia but there were stages where I felt I was walking down into Zubiri. We stopped off a number of times for tea breaks (no cafe con leche unfortunately 🙂 ) before arriving in Killaloe close to 4pm.
There is a real issue with signage with this trail however and we needed to ask directions from a few locals, some who had never heard of the trail itself!! This can only be viewed as a minor negative however, as I found the day really enjoyable. I’d like to walk the full 70km in one go in the near future.
But first, I have a certain trail in Spain to prepare for…
Clearskies Camino 