Allihies is one of those colourful towns in the Beara Peninsula that make the rest of the country look dull. At 394km, it is the furthest town away from Dublin by road. It has the strange distinction that if you set out from here to the capital, by the time you reach the halfway point you would still be in County Cork. The sandstone mountains that surround the small town were mined in the 19th century. It attracted a community of Cornish miners who helped turn it into the largest copper centre in Europe. They passed on their skills and when the copper got too difficult to extract everyone hopped over to a place called Butte, Montana to carry on mining.

The Allihies North Engine Loop starts at the Copper Museum. It bills itself as the most inaccessible museum in Ireland and it is housed in the church built for the Cornish miners. This walk, like many others, started off wrong. We went in the wrong direction and had to backtrack after going uphill for about 400m on a sweltering August day. Not a great start but sometimes it is better to get these bumps out of the way early.
We walked back downhill following the green signposts, passing clatches of cyclists who had dropped in from the hills and were loading up on coffee and cake. We soaked up the heat and headed towards the white beach below that can be seen for miles in the rocky coast . This is Ballydonegan Beach. It is man-made. It was created from the tailings of the copper mines. Today it is one of the most popular swimming spots in Cork.

The sea looked very inviting but we had no time for a dip this afternoon as we had a loop that was going to bring us up into the hills and back again. We skirted the right of the beach with the crowded campsite beside and a cute little caravan coffee shop.

We followed the road to the end and crossed the first of many stiles with the yellow man icon of the Beara Way. We were on the coastline now. The sea was to our left.

Ahead were the green and grey heights of the Miskish Mountains. Although their name translates as the Mountains of Malice, they look peaceful and welcoming on a sunny day with the shadows of clouds adding to the patchwork effect.

The trail along here was made for walking – soft and spongey. We passed plenty of holiday-makers from the campsite in flipflops. The ground was so pleasant that we chose to stop here and rest while having our snacks. It was the ideal spot to relax after the hour and fifteen minute long drive from Kenmare. Red dotted Cinnabar butterflies danced around the small wisps of purple heather that gathered above the sea.

We took the ‘noculars out to get a better picture of Dursey Island and the Skelligs far off before starting off again. We continued to follow the coastline as it pulled in towards the hills. Two white horses stood under the hill where paragliders play. On a good day you can see hangliders throw themselves off the top. On a bad day you can see nothing. Today all we had was the screeching of seabirds.

We crossed a few more stiles and followed the trail around a bay of jagged rocks that rose out of the water like knife-points. We entered a field with more horses. They came galloping over to see if we had any treats for them besides baby talk and hundreds of photos. They soon got bored of us and they wandered off while we started to move away from the coast.

This last field brought us to the main road. Delphine adjusted her walking shoes and we started tramping along. We passed a woman on a bicycle who was carrying a bag of seaweed and a man walking a friendly collie. The road would bring us back into Allihies but we would be turning left soon and start the climb up the hill.
Delphine was just getting over an injury so she was not sure if she would do the full route. The walk had been extremely pleasant so far. The sun was making a liar out of the weatherman. It would have been hard not to carry on. When we reached the next stile we were back on a green trail. This brought us up a laneway, through a farmyard with sheds and out onto the hillside proper.

Above us we could just make out the Beara Way markers as their tops peeked out above rocks. Higher still were what appeared to be old mine openings in the rocks. After the flat coastline this brought our calves to life.
We climbed up above a remote house and came to a small lake that was buzzing with large green dragonflies.

The ground was a bit boggier here but the trail kept to the high ground and the recent good weather meant we could avoid any wet feet. We carried on upward following the trail between two large rock outcrops. This brought us to a larger lake. It had some construction at the front of it. It may have been an old road or maybe it was built to control the flow of water from the upper lake to the lower one.

The trail ascended steeply from here with a few sections of light scrambling over rocks. Looking backwards we could see the Skelligs, Dursey Island and the roofs of Allihies below the heather and the rocks. Another ten minutes and we were at the high point of our walk. We joined the road that takes the short cut across the mountains from Allihies to Eyeries.

Two cyclists climbed uphill, panniers filled with gear for a long distance journey. These were followed by two hikers with large backpacks who had set out from Castletownbere this morning. We were heading downhill now and we followed the road around the industrial engine house that could be seen for miles.

Built in 1862, this was used for lowering the miners 420m down into the belly of the mountain. It is the only one of its type in Ireland and is one of only a few left in the world so it is good that it is being conserved by the Mining Trust.
The road looped around the engine and brought us through some wonderful sections of rock and heather. We took many pictures here but none of them looked anything as good as the reality of the purple heather, the sandstone rocks and the green patchwork fields.

After about 400m we left the road and followed the trail signs down towards the village. We skirted old ruins of mine buildings, walls and an opening into the mountain. Parts of the trail were covered in scree but for the most part we were back on the soft grass and heather we had been on all day. The trail narrowed down in between two high hedges and deposited us back in the village which was dealing with a fresh onslaught of cyclists and visitors.
Google Maps: 51.639210, -10.045621
Distance: 7 km
Time: Three hours
Type of walk: Waymarked way along the coast and up mountains with a few sections of quiet road
Views: Coastline, uplands,
Animals: Horses, sheep, butterflies, dragonflies
Plant of the Day: Bog heather

Humans: Lots of walkers near the campsite.
Score: 9/10