Hi Valerie,
Do you intend to camp wild or use official sites along the trail?
You should take into account the poor weather conditions that we've had here in Ireland in the past month or two. We've had severe rainfall which is currently been followed up by snow which is taking hold in the west of the country. The trail will either be heavily coated in snow or if this melts by the time you get to Kerry, it will be extremely water-logged.
First and foremost for advice is to make sure somebody is walking with you and somebody else knows where you are on each of the days and you've reached your end point on schedule.
Obviously, bring plenty of warm clothes and sleeping gear. Make sure your bag has is properly waterproofed and you've got a good ground sheet for your tent. Night temperatures here are dropping to about -5 Celsius at the moment. Make sure you are equipped for this.
If you intend to tackle the traverse over the shoulder of Mount Brandon, make sure you have walking poles as the ground will be treacherous on the way down. It is also
essential to have good navigational skills to get over here.
Finally, make sure you have enough money in reserve in case you reallly need to abandon camping and check in at a hostel or B&B. Bring a list of contact numbers with you and ring at least 24 hours in advance as this will be a closed season for a lot of them, although they
might open especially for you given enough notice. Our
Dingle Way website provides links to accommodation.
Good luck!
Eoin
