As I've travelled a little more over the past few years, I've learned the value of having a list and a map. Well, multiple lists and multiple maps really. I've made the most of my list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which has taken me to some fabulous places that I would otherwise have never have thought to visit. Two brilliant historical mining sites stand out as places I would probably not have given a second thought towards - Blaenavon in south Wales, and the Bois du Cazier museum in Charleroi, Belgium.
Of course, there's no list quite like the list of parkruns, which is why I found myself spending the second Saturday in May on a blustery and beautiful stretch of sand on the Dingle peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland. Inch Beach is a popular stop-off on the Wild Atlantic Way - a glorious, 1,600 mile road trip along the Irish west coast. It's also, appropriately for a beach, a bucket-list parkrun.
The calm before the parkrun
Unlike most of the Wild Atlantic Way road trippers, and probably unlike most of the 44 parkrunners on the day I visited, I didn't get there in a car. Three times a day, the 276 bus winds through the Kerry countryside from Dingle to Killarney and back again. It doesn't seem to be especially well publicised, at least to an outsider. It doesn't even appear on the live departures board at Killarney bus station, which - as it was my only way out of town - caused some mild palpitations. Reassuringly, I wasn't the only one waiting, and at least a couple of others were locals. At around 6.15pm on Friday night, the 6pm departure for Dingle rolled into Killarney bus station and I was on my way west.
I'd booked the night at Foley's Bar, a warm and friendly pub with rooms about a mile from the parkrun start line. My carb loading consisted of a pint of Guinness before bed. Inch is a tiny place - there are a few options for overnight stays as well as a camp site. Sadly the earliest bus westbound on a Saturday morning doesn't reach Inch Beach in time for parkrun, but the eastbound bus from Dingle passes Inch at 7.45am if you're prepared to wait. The nearest shop is five miles away on the road towards Killarney, but there was a coffee wagon set up near the pub on Saturday morning, and an ice cream van at the beach car park. The bar and cafe on the beach itself appears to be closed pending a change in ownership. There is a public toilet in the beach car park.
Inch Beach is a delight. It's a peninsula of a peninsula - a southbound spit of sandy beach and sandy dunes forming a lagoon, Castlemaine Harbour, at the mouth of the river Maine and protecting it from the North Atlantic. There are mountains to both north and south, with a great view south-east over to MacGillycuddy's Reeks - the highest mountains in Ireland. This prompted a WhatsApp group chat discussion about whether parkrun could be combined with an ascent of Carrauntoohil, Ireland's highest peak - one for another day.
The beach extends for three miles, and the parkrun course utilises about half of this - a straightforward 2.5km out and 2.5km back on the golden sands. It's impossible to get lost, and although the runner numbers are impressive for such a remote location, they're comfortably small enough that there's no real need to yell out instructions to keep left or keep right. On my visit, the group naturally fell to the right on the approach to the turn.
Navigation might be straightforward but running directly into a 30mph headwind is not. Unlike some other beach parkruns though, the sand at Inch is firm but very forgiving - great for running. After a relatively speedy first mile with the gusts behind me, the wind died down a little on towards the turn, returning with a vengeance for the final kilometre or so, as my perfect set of positive splits will attest. I've never run so hard to go so slowly, at least on flat ground, but it was worth every second. After gritting my teeth as the wind got harder, I managed to scrape under 30:00 which was good for 23rd place out of 44. Apologies to Thomas, one of five people that day running his first ever parkrun, who I pipped on the line with a late rush of misplaced energy after I'd raised the white flag and let him past with 50 metres or so to go. The leader came in at 22:19.
The bus back to Killarney was at 12:20, so I had time to shower, change, and return to the beach to explore the dunes for a bit - and to look up at the mountains and plot a return trip.
A huge thank you to all the volunteers at Inch Beach parkrun. Putting on a parkrun every week in such a remote location with a low population and a high volume of tourists is a remarkable commitment.
Useful information if you’re looking to visit Inch Beach parkrun
Local Link Kerry - local bus services in County Kerry
Kerry Airport - fly direct to Kerry from Manchester, London, and Dublin as well as selected locations in continental Europe. There are buses from the airport to Killarney and Tralee - and it’s just under a mile easy walk to Farranfore railway station.
Exploring the dunes at Inch Beach, post-run