After the Dingle Marathon: Slea Head Drive, Revisited

The Route: Dingle Town → Slea Head Drive (Ventry, Dunbeg Fort, Coumenoole Strand, Dunquin) → Dingle Town Logistics: By car or organised tour, following the same road the marathon uses, but now open to normal traffic. Marathon Month: September Duration: Day trip

Dingle Town ──(by car/tour)──> Slea Head Drive ──(loop)──> Dingle Town

Racing along Slea Head is not the same as seeing it. On race day the road is closed to traffic specifically for the marathon, but the views pass in a blur of fatigue and pacing; the day after offers the chance to actually stop and look. September on Slea Head: the coast is into early autumn, generally quieter than the summer peak, with the Blasket Islands still clearly visible on a good day.

Ventry, Dunbeg Fort and the Blasket Islands

Ventry Strand, the first major landmark on the drive, is a wide, flat beach worth a short stop. Dunbeg Fort, an Iron Age promontory fort perched on the cliffs, is passed directly on the marathon course itself and rewards a proper visit rather than a glance mid-race. Further along, the road offers repeated, striking views of the Blasket Islands, uninhabited since 1953 and visible clearly from several points along Slea Head.

Coumenoole Strand, a dramatic beach below steep cliffs, and Dunquin, the small village where the half marathon finishes, round out the drive before the return to Dingle Town.

Where to eat: Kruger's Pub, in Dunquin, at the half marathon's own finish line, is a well-known stop along the route, a natural place to pause partway through the drive.

Getting Back

The return drive to Dingle Town completes the loop back along the same road, or via the inland route through Ballyferriter and Murreagh that the full marathon itself uses on its return leg.