A windy day in Dingle

My visitors, Rebecca, Garnet, Kelsey and Carley, arrived in Limerick on Tuesday evening in time for me to take them out to the campus pub, Scholar's for the weekly traditional music session. These sessions are great ones to see because many of the music students studying Trad at the Irish Academy come here to play. On this particular evening there must have been about 15 musicians. The next day my visitors traveled to the Cliffs of Moher and we reunited in the evening to have supper at one of my favourite Limerick pubs, Dolan's.

Come Thursday I was able to embark on a road trip with my visitors around the Dingle Peninsula and Ring of Kerry in south-western Ireland. Our decision to rent a car was a wise one because it afforded us the liberty to stop for pictures whenever we liked, and there were many pictures to take! The landscape around this area is gorgeous and has some incredible variation in a relatively short distance.

Upon our arrival in Dingle we began by driving the 48km coastal loop around Dingle Peninsula. It was an incredibly windy day, and with big white-cap waves on the water. Just look at my hair in this picture!

Kelsey had a self-guided tour book which proved very informative on our drive. For instance, when we came across these small huts we knew that they were "Beehive Huts," stone-built dwellings used as far back as 2000BC.

 

As you can see in the picture above, this peninsula is composed of some very rocky land. In order to farm the land, residents actually created their own top soil by hauling up sand and seaweed from the coast.  This area was largely abandonned during the famine because of infertility. My most favourite part of our drive was the discovery of crops remnants from the last year before the famine. On one hillside you can see lines in the dirt from the potato crops of 1845!!! The land has not been used since.

 

Meanwhile on the other side of our drive we were granted some amazing coastal views. The road weaved along the coast providing an impressive look at the Blasket Islands. The picture below is of Dunmore Head, a finger of land amidst the islands which branches out into the sea marking the westernmost point of the European Continent. Again note the massive waves.

A special shout out now to my readers in Northern Ontario. Did you know that Ireland also has a Sleeping Giant Island like in Lake Superior near Thunder Bay? Well, here is photographic proof that it does exist, and is the northernmost of the Blasket Islands. It is also called "Dead Man" island, or Inis Tuaisceart (Inishtooskert) in Irish.

When we finished our drive we checked in at our evening accomodation at SouthBound Holiday Homes. Incredibly, we were given a generous free evening in a four bedroom/four bath home, arranged through a friend of Rebecca's. These holiday accommodations would be a great retreat for a long stay, or to be shared through a large group of 8 people.  The town is within a few mintues walk so that you can complete your tourist shopping or try the local Crean's Beer in a pub.

Next we were off on a really "big" adventure... big as in "big, big waves." We had arranged to see Dingle's resident dolphin, Fungi, with a couple who takes onlookers out in their dingy boat. Due to the intense wind, we were pretty shocked when our guide began handing out raingear for us to put on (we were told after that they had expected us to cancel on them!). Carley, Garnet and I were to go out first, and I believe all our eyes widened when we realized a dingy was exactly what we thought: a small inflatable rubber boat which holds about four people. Apparently there is no difference between dingys used on a lake or on the sea.

Feeling a bit apprehensive, we set out into the bay (the blasts of a docked shipping boat not adding any confidence). Four foot waves greeted us around the corner and we rocked ominously up and down. Before you get too concerned, I'll let you know we did not get far before we turned back and returned in one piece. We could not get across the bay to where the dolphin resides, but the upside is that I still got to taste the salty sea water as it splashed on my face. Boy, was it COLD! We may not have got any pictures of the dolphin but I did come away with some lovely images of the harbour.

Dingle was a great craic and we were sad to move on early the next day. Little did we know what hilarious adventures and amazing sights we'd see around the Ring of Kerry.

My apologies for making you wait to learn more!
Shannon