We spent a quiet Thursday in Dingle. Next Thursday we will leave on the four day journey home with overnights in Dublin, Bangor (Wales), Heathrow, and Las Vegas. It was a generally rainy day with occasional bright spots. I returned some library books and got a couple of new ones. We did some minor shopping at SuperValu. Lunch was at home and I took a nice nap. In the afternoon we drove into town and hit up a new (for us) pub, the Barrack Height. This pub is slightly off the tourist route, so it doesn’t get a lot of Americans. We chatted up Liam, the young bartender. He was surprised that we knew a lot of people in town that he knows well. Their was a fabulous live Calla Lily in the fireplace and a nice painting of local boy Jack Kennedy who is now a top jockey in Ireland and the UK. The painting is him winning the Dingle Derby back in 2014 on Coola Boula, trained by his father, when he was just 15 and riding in flapper races.
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For your information today was a milestone day in Dingle history: Dingle now has a traffic light! It went into operation today. AND today I got my first ever haircut in Dingle from Justin the Barber. (€10).
For dinner we paid our final visit of the trip to Ashe’s Restaurant where we were treated to complementary after dinner drinks after yet another fine meals. You may recall that the Ashes of Dingle are related to Gregory Peck who was once a frequent customer. After Kir Royales to start, Elaine had her favorite, sea scallops and pork belly while I had the turbot special (after six delicious Glenbeigh oysters).
Finally it was off to O’Flaherty’s for some beer and good music before returning home very late to bed.
So we had a great road trip . . . except my camera is gone. Where it is, we do not know. Best guess: I set it on the roof of the car and then drove off. But it’s gone. I was taking pictures on Monday but on arrival at our B&B Monday night there was no camera to be found. So the pictures from now on will be from Elaine’s camera or occasionally from my Moto G4 phone. Hey, it’s only a camera and it will be replaced when we get home. Stupid to lose it, but things happen. Fortunately I download all my pictures from the camera at the end of each day, so the only photos lost are the ones I took on Monday.
Monday
We headed out for County Clare at about 9:00 AM. We drove north through familiar territory to Tarbert where we caught the Shannon Ferry to Kilimer in County Clare. We were the last car onto the ferry for the 25 minute crossing.
In Clare we drove first to Carrigaholt Bay and Carrigaholt Castle. Just a brief stop there and it was on to Loop Head Lighthouse where we did the tour to the top of the lighthouse. Up until we got there the weather was cloudy and drizzly, but the sun magically came out just after we arrived. We stopped at the the Bridges of Ross which used to be three natural bridges but is now one, two having fallen into the sea.. Beautiful area but we didn’t walk far enough the see the natural bridge.
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Carrigaholt Castle
Loop Head Light
At the Bridges of Ross
We stopped for lunch in Kilkee at the Stella Maris Hotel. Then it was on to the Cliffs of Moher, one of the most famous sites in Ireland. On the way we passed Trump Doonbeg, Trump’s luxury golf club in County Clare. We flipped it off as we sped by. (Trump is coming here soon and invited the Irish Taoiseach, the Prime Minister, to visit him at the Golf Club. The Prime Minister turned down the invitation. Bless him. They will meet briefly at the airport.)
As is normal, the Cliffs of Moher were crowded with tourists and tour groups. It’s big enough to handle it, but I cannot imagine the crowds in July or August. While the cliffs are spectacular, there are cliffs almost as spectacular in counties Clare and Kerry that you can enjoy with nobody else around. Still, one has to stop. It was very windy!
After a walk along the cliffs we drove on (four miles) to tiny Doolin where we spent the night at the lovely Twin Peaks B&B. Doolin is four pubs, a couple of gift shops, and lots of B&B’s. And one more thing which I will talk about on Tuesday. We had a lovely dinner at the Ivy Cottage where we met and chatted with owner Frank Dineen. (For the Murphy’s, we asked if he was related to Kathleen Dineen in Dingle, but he was not.) The food was delicious. Crab cakes followed by Fish and Chips for me. Soup (Butternut Squash, Peanut Butter, and Chili) followed by Tagliatelle for Elaine.
The Ivy Cottage
Wedding!!
Squash, Peanut Butter & Chili
Crab Cakes
What Are They Having?
Tagliatelle
Fish and Chips
See Our Shadows?
Tuesday
The plan for Tuesday was a pre-booked boat trip to Inis Oirr (Inisheer), the smallest of the Aran Islands. The worst thing would have been a rainy, foggy day. We got up to breakfast at Twin Peaks to beautiful sunshine. After a nice breakfast we drove the two kilometers down to Doolin Pier. As I eluded to above, the other thing that Doolin is famous for is as a boating gateway to the Aran Islands. The small dock was teeming with tourists for the several boats running to the Islands. We were booked with Doolin2Aran Ferries for the thirty minute crossing to Inis Oirr (for a three-hour stay on the Island) followed a return ride to Doolin with a cruise directly under the Cliffs of Moher. No vehicles on this ferry, only pasengers, so Winnie stayed in the huge parking lot in Doolin. Nothing in Doolin is big except the parking lot!
The boat trip and the walk about on Inis Oirr was delightful. The sun shone brightly. We had a nice lunch at Tigh Ned (Ned’s Pub). The pictures tell the story.
Cliffs of Moher from the Boat
Upon redocking at Doolin, we jumped into Winnie the Peugeot for the two hour ride back to County Kerry via the Shannon Ferry. It was the 50th birthday of the ferry service. Happy Birthday Ferry! We stayed in Ballybunion for the night at McMunn’s Hotel where we had a nice room and a very nice dinner. From our room window we could see the Ballybunion (Bromore) Cliffs, Ballybunion Beach, and Ballybunion Castle. Ballybunion is probably most noted today as a golfing center. In the past it is famous as having been the spot from which Guglielmo Marconi (who was married to an Irish woman) made the first ever radio transmission across the Atlantic to Nova Scotia. That was in 1901. That explains the Irish, Canadian, and Italian flags flying at the ruins of Ballybunion Castle.
Wednesday
Not much to say. Before we left Ballybunion in the rain, we stopped for a picture with the Statue of Bill Clinton in front of the Gardai Station commemorating his visit here to play golf. The ride home and the rest of the day were uneventful. I barbecued chicken beasts, ground lamb skewers, and asparagus for dinner. Then to bed, to bed.
The pictures above are all from Elaine’s camera, some taken by me and some by her. Since it was a photo worthy road trip, here are some more pictures that I took with Moto G4 phone camera. It does pretty well in bright light, not so well in darker situations.
Sunday was a typical Irish day weather-wise. Clouds. Some rain. Some sun. Our weather has been great.
Sunday morning we took a ride out the R559, a local road that runs from just outside Dingle to near Ballydavid (a distance of just 12 kilometers). We often go to Ballydavid but usually via beautiful Slea Head Drive along the coast. The R559, rarely used by tourists, has a few sites worth seeing on it as well as views down to the coast. We made several stops.
Caherdorgan Stone Fort
Caherdorgan Stone Fort is a great stop. This is so unknown to most that there is not even a sign at the fort. No attendants. No cafe. No gift shop. No facilities. You just have to know where it is on this little used road. There is room for maybe three cars to stop nearby. Click the link to learn more. It was built in the 8th or 9th century. Oddly, there has been no archaeological study made of the fort. It is really pretty fascinating to think the rock walls have been there, without mortar or maintenance, since the 9th century. To get into the fort you have to climb over the wall using stones built into the wall just for that purpose.
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The Chancellor’s House
Just a kilometer down the road from the fort are the ruins of the Chancellor’s House. It was once the HQ for a chancellor of the Bishop of Ardfert. (We visited the ruins of Adfert Cathedral near Tralee a couple of weeks ago with Bob and Barbara.) Here there is at least a sign with some information, but that’s it. There were two beautiful horses grazing nearby.
Kilmalkedar Church and Graveyard
Another kilometer down the road are the ruins of Kilmalkedar Church. This is the best known of the sites along the R559. Among the points of interest are a holed ogham stone, a sun dial, a large stone cross, two Holy Wells, two Bullaun stones, and St Brendans Oratory . The Graveyard has ancient headstones but also is still in use as the local burying ground.
Gallarus Oratory
Finally, back onto the main road, you find yourself as a well known site – Gallarus Oratory. Here there is a gift shop, a cafe, attendants, and there was even a tour bus arriving when we left.
Finally we returned home for a quick stop before walking at noon to our next stop for the day.
Whiskey on a Sunday
The Dingle Distillery was founded in 2012 with the idea of returning craft whiskey brewing to Ireland. Since it takes three years (minimum) of aging to produce a great whiskey, the distillery also distilled Dingle Original Gin and Dingle Distillery Vodka because they could start selling that in just seven days. I can vouch for the fact that the vodka is excellent – smooth as silk. It is all I have been using in my nightly gimlet since we arrived in DIngle. And their gin just won the title of Best Gin in the World at a blind tasting of more than 400 gins in London. A cask of the first batch of whiskey, released in 2015, is now worth lots of money. That is good news to Dingle townsfolk who financed the distillery by buying casks of the first year’s product three years before it would be available for use. That cask, many of which are still in storage at the distillery, is now worth lots of money. The tour of the facility takes an hour and is delightfully given by a knowledgeable guide. You get samples of all the products. I generally don’t like whiskey, but I drank my sample and enjoyed it.
After the tour we had lunch at Flannery’s Fish Box and spent the rest of the day at home. Tomorrow we head out for a two-day road trip. We will spend one night in Doolin (near the Cliffs of Moher and a gateway to the Aran Islands) and one night at Ballybunion. More on that to follow. I’m not sure if I will post along the way or wait until we get back to Dingle on Wednesday.
Tralee once had a viable horse racing track at Ballybeggan Park.. Ballybeggan once ran a week long meet in August as part of the Rose of Tralee Festival. It closed its doors to regular flat racing and steeplechasing back in 2008. The track was slated for redevelopment, but the economic downtown shortly after meant the development never happened. As you can see from the pictures, the facilities have deteriorated significantly. But the local North Kerry Harriers have kept a breath of life in the track with an annual one-day point-to-point meet where amateur riders and hunting horses compete in steeplechase races. There were six races plus two flat pony races for under 16 riders. We stayed for the first three jump races. All six races were run at three miles over thirteen fences. There are bookies that take bets. The first race had 42 entries and was split into two divisions with 14 horses in each. (The rest were scratched). I had no winners.
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As the races progressed there was also a dog show going on behind the stands. Amateur jockeys mingle with the crowd and their families if they are not riding in the current race. Elaine took my picture in a well worn judge’s stand. There is a special parking area for vintage cars. There is a bouncy castle for kids. There is an ice cream truck. Given the state of the facilities, it all makes for a surreal experience.
Before the races we had a nice lunch in Tralee at Quinlin’s Fish Bar that we visited some days ago during our day out in Tralee. Dinner was at home. In the morning before setting out for Tralee, I visited Kennedy’s Butcher shop and bought a nice strip steak for myself and some chicken breast fillets for Elaine. There were delicious on the barbecue.
An aside: Tralee still has a very popular greyhound track that runs three nights a week. I have never been. Also, before we leave the Dingle Peninsula we will attend a real race meet at Listowel.
Friday was mostly cloudy with some hazy sunshine filtering through. No blue skies though. We decided to do something new today – a visit to Glanteenassig Forest Park near the town of Castlegregory. Castlegregory is located just over Conor Pass from Dingle and we have ridden by the side road to the park dozens of times but never visited before. Although it’s reportedly a great picnic spot, we decided not to pack a lunch.
The park is quite beautiful. There are several lakes fed by mountain streams. The lakes are populated by local brown trout and stocked with rainbow trout, so anglers will love it here. There is, oddly, lots of dead trees and some deforestation, but it is still very scenic. There is no explanation provided for the dead trees. We hiked 1.8 kilometers (OK, walked) around one lake on an ingeniously built wood plank pathway. There was a tree growing out of a rock and a tree that started growing upside down before righting itself. Elaine especially loved it here. And, indeed, it was a great spot for a picnic.
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This Gate Does What?
Lots of Moss
Ingenious Walkway
It Runs for 1.8 Kms
Rest and Contemplation
My World!
Upside Down Tree
Wildflowers Galore
After our visit we planned to return to Dingle through Anascual rather than back over Conor Pass. Inch Beach is just a few kilometers from Anascual, and a friend had recommended Sammy’s Restaurant at the beach. So we stopped there for a nice lunch. Elaine had a Reuben and I had a delicious Steak and Guinness Pie with chips. It was, of course, accompanied by a Guinness.
View from Our Table
Ahhhhh
Dinner consisted of a baguette from Bacus (disappointing), duck paté from the farmer’s market (wonderful), and a variety of cheeses (yum!) from Dingle’s Little Cheese Shop. After dinner we ventured into town for some music at O’Flaherty’s where we chatted with some people we knew from previous trips and some new friends made this trip.
My trusty Canon G7X Mark II has taken a two-day rest, so no photos from today in the post. Actually it is the photographer (your trusty admin) who has taken a rest from using it. At the end I’ve posted a potpourri of photos taken by Elaine
Wednesday morning arrived with the sun still shining. But, as predicted, the clouds soon rolled in. By early evening it was raining lightly. We had a nice do-nothing day. We both did our walks into town in the morning. After lunch at home we walked back into town in the afternoon to try a new (for us) pub. We stopped in at the MacCártaìg Pub on Goat Street. It’s been in the MacCarthy family since the 1800’s. We met a pretentious American woman customer who now lives in Mexico. She is travelling with a man she barely knows, is staying in a hostel, drives a Volkswagen bug, is the daughter of a three-star general, and knows all about everything. We left after one beer to escape her.
On to the reliable Dingle Pub where we chatted with a nice couple from Maine and a young woman (from Chandler, AZ) travelling alone. Then it was home to rest.
We had dinner at Ashe’s (Glenbeigh oysters and turbot for me; gambas and hake for Elaine – no camera with us). After dinner we moved two doors up to the crammed pack full Dingle Pub. The woman (Lynn) from Chandler was there and we successfully negotiated our ways to the back of the bar where we found seats. David Geaney danced (between bar-tending and waiting on tables) and Richie entertained with Dreams of Freedom. We gave Lynn a lift back to Pax House (her B&B) before heading home to #23 Ard Na Mara for bed.
Thursday was a day of rain, overcast, and fog save for a brief spell of sun late afternoon. So we decided on another quiet day at home. We did a bit of shopping for tonight’s dinner – a store bought SuperValu fish pie – which turned out to be edible but not memorable. We did drive the 10 kilometers to Ballyferriter (Baile an Fheirtéaraigh in Irish) for lunch. In Irish, Bally means town or township or townland, so Ballyferiter is Ferriter’s Town. The Ferriters settled here way back in late medievil period. We ate at the small hotel in town – Ceann Sibeal. We got there shortly afternoon to beat the tour buses that often stop there for lunch. None appeared during our pleasant lunch. I had the best seafood chowder EVER and traditional Irish lamb stew. Elaine skipped the starter and enjoyed chicken goujons for her main.
Naps, reading, and television consumed time after lunch. We especially like watching the UK series Four in a Bed. At 4:00 I went to the Dingle Pub for a pint. After cocktails and dinner (the fish pie) at home, it was off to bed.
Photo Potpourri (None from yesterday or today) (All taken by Elaine on her Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W830)
Good lord, another stunning day on Tuesday. The weather has been so good, we finally planned a picnic lunch, our first, for today. No walks this morning. We headed out in Winnie the Peugeot at 9:30 headed toward Killarney once again.
“Kate was a well known beauty in Ireland in the years before the Great Famine (1845-1849). The legend of Kate has captured the imagination of people far and wide down through the years.It was at this síbín that Kate distilled her famous poitín, ‘Kate Kearney’s Mountain Dew’, which was “very fierce and wild, requiring not less than seven times its own quantity of water to tame and subdue it.” It was of course illicit. However, Kate flouted the law and invited the weary traveller to partake of her hospitality.” (We didn’t sip any!)
Normally you can drive the very narrow and hazardous road through the Gap of Dunloe, but today the road is closed to motor traffic for maintenance. I hadn’t planned on risking the drive anyway. Instead we took another jaunting car ride partway through the Gap. This time our driver was Paddy O’Donaghue and our horse was 10 year old Lily. It’s a stunningly beautiful area and we enjoyed our ride. Paddy was a great guide and Lily was great.
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After returning to Winnie P. we drove past Killarney to Ladies View. It was here we enjoyed our sandwiches and chips sitting on the wall looking down on the Killarney lakes. Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting visited here during the royal visit in 1861. They were so taken with the view that it was named after them. Lunch was great and followed by an ice cream cone in the shop/restaurant at the site.
Then it was back home for a nap. I went into town for a Guinness at the Dingle Pub before cocktails and appetizers (smoked salmon paté and cheese) on the patio. I fired up the barbecue and grilled some delicious sausages from Kennedy”s Butcher Shop for dinner while Elaine sauteed spinach and made a potato salad with the delicious Maharees Potatoes. Yum!
Rain predicted for tomorrow. We’ll see.
PS: Here’s a panorama Elaine took yesterday at Lake Anascual:
Monday – Weather close to perfect again. Lots of sunshine. Rains predicted to arrive on Wednesday.
The usual walks in the AM. I walked mostly around the harbor area and enjoyed a hot chocolate at My Boy Blue.
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Late morning we drove to Anascual, small town just a 20-minute drive east of Dingle. It is most noted as the home of Antarctic explorer Tom Crean. We have read several books about him. After retiring from exploring he returned to his birthplace in Anascual and opened a pub, the South Pole Inn. The pub is filled with interesting memorabilia of his journeys. I’ve written about it in past year blog posts. It’s gone downhill under the present owners, so we skipped a return visit.
Anascual is also the home of Jerome O’Connor, a noted sculptor who emigrated to Springfield, Massachusetts. There is a Jerome O’Connor Trust that has a collection of his works on display upstairs at the South Pole Inn.
This trip our goal was a visit to Anascual Lake located in the hills a couple of miles down a narrow side road. We were last there back in 2000. We parked and did a short hike from the lake.
Back in 1976 a French teenager tried to climb the highest peak near the Lake. A local recorded the following on the website for the lake (link in last paragraph). “Not to labour the ‘safety’ message too much, but when I was a kid I saw a French guy being rescued by Mountain Rescue after he scaled the mountain to the left of the lake and got stuck between the two peaks. This guy had no climbing gear, he was wearing runners and put himself at great risk by underestimating just how steep the climb was.” He was more than at great risk. He died. There is a memorial stone.
On the way back to the main road we stopped at the local Anascual cemetery to view the grave of Tom Crean. Interestingly, there are lots of Kennedys buried here – Kennedy is a common local name in the Dingle area.
Then it was home to Dingle for sandwiches and a nap. After a quiet afternoon at home, we had cocktails outside on our warmest day yet. I barbecued burgers for dinner – delicious West Kerry beef from Kennedy’s Butcher Shop. And off to bed.
Sunday was the best weather day so far. Still cool but brilliantly sunny. Pictures will do the talking today.
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Morning Walkabout in Dingle
Loop Hike at Clogher Strand
A delightfully pretty 2.7 kilometer loop trail starting at Clogher Strand, one of my favorite spots on the peninsula. We had it all to ourselves. It follows the ocean for 80% of the loop, then a dusty track back to Clogher Strand and Winnie the Peugeot.
At the Start
Clogher Strand
Fields of Clover
First and Last Selfie
The Three Sisters
The Four Sisters
Resting
The Road Back
Friends along the Way
Back to Clogher Strand
And a panorama from Elaine
Beers at Ballydavid’s Tigh T. P.
Tigh T. P. is a nice pub with tables outside that we rarely find open. (Mianne and Bill will remember eating here. And, Mainne, the old Bhric Pub near where Joan and Paul (RIP) lived is now the West Kerry Brewery – we must stop someday for a pint.)
Dinner at the Chart House
Food as wonderful as ever at our favorite Dingle restaurant.
Anascual Black Pudding Pastry
Arancini
West Kerry Rack of Lamb
Monkfish
German Pinot Noir
I forget (d’oh)
Ice Cream with Caramel Sauce
Music at Neligan’s
After dinner we listened to some quiet music at Neligan’s Pub before heading home to bed.
Not much to say about Friday. It was rainy during the night and into the morning, but it turned into a nice day – mostly overcast but with the sun trying hard to sneak through. We walked into town in the morning for a quick stop at the Farmer’s Market and a stop at Ó Catháin’s, the fish market, to buy today’s lunch (seafood chowder) and tonight’s dinner (monkfish)..
We walked separately into town again in the afternoon, me for a brief pub stop and Elaine to drop off some mail at the PO. I had a pint at Neligan’s where I chatted up some locals. Then Elaine met me at the Dingle Pub for a visit with Tom and Suzy. We met a nice young man from Pennsylvania who was travelling Ireland for a week by himself.
Pictures From Our Yard
Saturday was rainy in the morning, but just cloudy most of the day with some sun breaking through in spots. We drove to Tralee for the day. The two largest cities in County Kerry are Tralee and Killarney. We have driven through Tralee countless times, but we never really stopped. We parked near the center and had a good walkabout. We visited two churches: Holy Cross Dominican Church and St John’s. Tralee defies the Irish city normality of having its church named after St. Mary. And we toured the Kerry County Museum where they had a brilliant special exhibit on Roger Casement and the 1916 Easter Rising. Another part of the museum is a walk-through of Tralee as it would have existed in medieval times. After the museum we walked through Tralee Town Park and the beautiful rose garden. Tralee is probably most famous for its annual Rose of Tralee Festival in August.
We had lunch at Quinlin’s Seafood Bar & Market where the main business is selling fish, but they have five tables where they serve food. I had grilled John Dory and chips while Elaine lunched on Dingle Bay Squid and chips. Then it was back to Dingle for a relaxing afternoon (after a brief stop at a Tesco Superstore for a few items we can’t find in Dingle).
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Holy Cross Dominican Church
St John’s Church
The Kerry County Museum
The Kerry Town Park & Rose Garden
Tralee Street Scenes
Didn’t Eat Here
Mural
We Ate Here
Drinking Consultants?
Dinner was at home. Soup for Elaine. Leftover lamb for me. Just before going to bed, I took these pictures at 9:20 PM.
