Day 13 – A Relaxing Day

The weather continues to be very cooperative.  Nice sunny skies with lots of big fluffy white clouds.  No sign of rain.  We planned a quiet day in town with a nice lunch somewhere and dinner at home.

First order was the ten minute drive up to the top of Connor Pass (An Chonair in Gaelic) to snap some pictures.  Then we returned to town to get postcards, stamps, and makings for dinner at home tonight.  And we also picked up our pants that we had dropped yesterday with the washing ladies.  Dinner will be lamb sausages with potatoes and a veg.  Sounds simple, but it is actually a meal I am much looking forward to.  We buy the lamb with rosemary sausages from Kennedy’s Butcher Shop.  Mr. Kennedy was there and I told him I had come back all the way from Arizona to have his sausages again.  He said that since we come so far, the sausages were on him.  Only in Ireland!  We also bought Maharees potatoes from O’Connor’s Fruit and Veg Stand next door.  Maharees potatoes are so creamy and delicious.  I also picked up some local strawberries that were just out.

 

 

 

 

Then we grabbed a good spot on the street to watch the An Post Ras bicyclers leave town at 11 AM on the next stage of the big race.  We actually followed them out of town by a few minutes (in the car, not on bikes!) as we had decided to go to Annascual for lunch.  The first An Post Ras was won 50 odd years ago by a Dingle man who lives on the route out of town.  He was out to watch the racers go by complete with flags and a small band, and he was still there when we went by.

 

 

 

 

Lunch in Annascaul was simple: soup and sandwiches at the South Pole Inn, a pub created and owned for many years by Tom Cream, an Antarctic explorer who traveled on expeditions with famed explorers Ernest Shackleton and Robert Scott.  Crean’s story is compelling.  I switched from my usual Guinness to have Crean lager, a beer named after Tom Crean and brewed in Dingle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch Elaine did a little shopping in Dingle while I had a pint with Tom and Suzie at the Dingle Pub before my afternoon nap.  Cocktails and dinner at home, as described above, was delicious.  After dinner we walked back into town to listen to Richie O’Brien sing again at the Dingle Pub.

 

 

 

All in all, a great day!