Saturday

Weather Update: Sunny and beautiful. Where are we?
Health Update: Feeling great this morning!

We drove to Clogher Strand once again. You’ve already seen it. Picture fest today!

Here’s the map again with our location today circled.

Click on the galleries and pictures below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

The promontory to the left in the picture above is Clogher Head, a long and difficult hike. To the right is an unnamed promontory that goes through fields of nearby farms. It’s our favorite easy hike. Three stiles to mount. But it’s relatively level and has great views. First a potpourri of pictures from the hike. It’s almost impossible to stop taking pictures. There’s even one of me in there.

Animals along the way:

Various views of the Sleeping Giant

Wildflowers everywhere

One view of the Three Sisters in the distance

Oyster Catchers on the Rocks

And one panorama

It was a great hike except for the moment at our farthest out point that I remembered that I hadn’t locked the car and left the keys in the console. And Elaine’s purse was in the car. But all was well when we returned. The car was there and the contents intact. I wasn’t worried. It’s Dingle! Elaine was concerned. Good that it ended well.

We then drove back into Dingle for lunch at John Benny’s Pub (No relation to Jack!) We always eat there once and usually enjoy the fish pie. We did that again along with pints of Beal Ban Ale from the West Kerry Brewery served in glasses from the Open Gate Brewery (which I’ve never heard of, but it turns out it’s in Dublin and it’s owned by (who else) Guinness).

Dinner was just cheese and cracker at home. We watched tv and went to bed, the sun still shining. It’s light until almost 10 pm here.

Elaine doesn’t take a lot of pictures with her phone. But she takes some good ones, even of me. (The ones you’ve seen of me previously were, of course, taken by her but with my camera.)

Here are some from previous days

And here are some from today.

See you tomorrow.

Friday

Weather: perfect once again.
My cold lingers on – from sore throat, to sneezing, to chest congestion. Good news: by end of day Friday I felt pretty close to normal.

So, we took today totally off. I never left the house.

Elaine got an Irish birthday card and a nice set of earrings that I bought at Grainne’s gift shop.

No pictures and nothing else to report.

Tomorrow is another day.

Thursday

Still under the weather, so a short post. The weather itself meanwhile remains terrific. Another all sun, no clouds day.

Regular readers of the blog will remember Tom Crean. He’s the Antarctic explorer who was born and died in Annascaul, just a short ride from Dingle. Refer to the map from yesterday (or was it the day before?) He actually spent more time in the Antarctic than either Scott or Shackleton, both of whom he served under. Read the story about it in the link above. It’s weird that when he returned from his explorations that he was despised by many because he had joined the British Navy, and Irish republicans hated the British. He joined in 1893 when he was just 15. On his return to Annascaul he bought and operated the South Pole Inn for many years. And he he never spoke about his life as an explorer. Never once did Tom Crean give an interview to a journalist or an author. Even his two surviving daughters were told precious little about his adventures. The South Pole still operates, but it not owned by the Crean family. Years ago a Dingle businessman (of ill repute) opened a brewery called the Crean Brewery, and all the pubs in Dingle and the South Pole Inn had Crean beer on tap. Alas, the businessman failed to pay his taxes, went broke, and the brewery closed. Crean’s granddaughter (Aileen) bought the rights to the beer brand and opened a new Crean’s Brewery in Kenmare. The South Pole Inn has three of the new Crean Brewery beers on tap. But I haven’t seen it anywhere else in Dingle.

So anyway, we went to Annascaul today to have lunch (at the South Pole Inn) with Susan McCarthy who used to be the hostess at the now defunct Chart House restaurant in Dingle. We’ve known her for 25 years, and she and Elaine have bonded over the years. She confirmed a fact I was pretty sure of. When we were last in Dingle at Christmas time 2023, we had dinner at the Chart House on New Year’s Day 2024. Jim, the owner, always closed the restaurant for the rest of January, reopening in March. He never reopened the next spring. Susan confirmed that Elaine and I and a couple from England were the last diners to ever eat at the Chart House. It was fun to see Susan and talk over old times and new Dingle happenings.

Pictures of the Day

The statue of Tom Crean shows him holding young dogs. It’s a famous pose from a picture originally taken in the Antarctic where one of his duties was caring for the dogs on the expeditions.

Then home for rest. Dinner was homemade Chicken Korma with salad and naan. Those are the same flowers still on the table from previous pictures. See that sun still shining in the backyard?

Wednesday

Rest easy and get on with your day. We did virtually nothing today. I dropped clothes at laundry, picked up two library books, and bought some cheese at the Little Cheese Shop. Elaine had a cold earlier in the trip. Now I have it. We just use tissues and carry on. Sunny morning and sunny evening. Some decent rain in the afternoon. Dinner was our second visit to Solas. Great food. Food pictures will have to do. for today.

Grilled Sour Dough, Confit Cherry Tomatoes & Dingle Sea Salt.
Cantabrian Anchovy Cracker, Cured Tomato, Ramson & Pine Nut Pesto
East Kerry Rack of Lamb
Chocolate Delight

Beidh mé ar ais arís amárach. (try Google translate!)

Tuesday

Another brilliant weather day. It hit 70º today. That’s July weather for Dingle. This will end eventually. You’ve seen Slea Head Drive which is west of Dingle. In Dingle going that way is commonly referred to as going “out west”. You’ve seen the view from the top of Conor Pass. Today we drove up to Conor Pass and down the other side to Brandon Point, Fermoyle Beach (Strand) and Castlegregory. Then back to Dingle via Camp and Annascaul. Map refresher: we did the yellow and green routes today:

Near the town of Brandon

Find life preservers in a tree. And those are tall dandelions (if they are, in fact, dandelions).

At Brandon Point

This is the other side of the mountains from where we were at Brandon Creek yesterday. You can hike it. It’s a difficult hike. Of course, we haven’t done it. There is a notational sign here about St. Brendan’s journey which originated at Brandon Creek. And it’s a long way down if you lose your balance here.

At Fermoyle Strand

You can drive on Fermoyle Strand. We didn’t. But we took a long walk. It’s VERY low tide. Lots of dead crabs on the beach. And almost no people. You can see Brandon Point, where we just came from, off in the distance. We’ve been here when you couldn’t even see the mountains.

Here’s my favorite picture so far – the clouds and mountains reflected in the low tide waters on the beach:

On to Castlegregory Beach

And then back home again. We stopped to buy tonight’s dinner. Pork chops for Elaine. A steak for me. Asparagus. Potatoes. And a one-time use BBQ kit. Wine we had on hand. The house wine at 11 Marian Park is Australia’s Oyster Bay Pinot Noir (which Supervalu always seems to stock). And the asparagus was delicious. We have almost stopped eating it at home because it’s always so tough and stringy.

Walking through Dingle today.

Monday

The sun was shining brightly when we got up. That’s a good thing. We decided to do the other half of Slea Head Drive this morning. We could have cut cross country to where we left off, but we actually did the whole route. By the time we got to the mid point where we left off last time, it was overcast and raining. Bummer. We almost doubled back home again but decided to soldier on. And we were rewarded with a return to sunny weather.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

First stop was at Ballydavid (Baile na nGall) beach and pier. It’s about 2,838 miles from Boston, I’d guess. The yellow building is T P’s Pub (Tigh T P). We used to have beers and/or lunch here often, but since the pandemic, it’s rarely open at lunchtime anymore, at least on weekdays. We walked the small beach and picked up bunches of shells and sea glass. Elaine is in two of the pictures – one easy to spot, the other not so easy. I assume you spotted me right away. The beach across the water (next to last picture) is Wine Strand (where Joan and Paul, mentioned previously, used to stay in a house).

Next stop – Dooneen Pier. From here you get the closest shot of the Three Sisters (An Triúr Deirféar). And in one shot you see the four sisters! No trouble finding Elaine here.

Final stop – Brandon Creek (Cuas an Bhodaigh), one of my favorite spots. It’s from here that St. Brendan, the Navigator, took off for his journeys. Some have even proposed that Brendan reached the Americas long before Columbus, although this theory is a subject of ongoing debate. There’s a small sculpture commemorating Brendan in his tiny boat. See the wild Calla Lilies? They are often known as the flowers of death because they are so often present at Irish funerals? Why isn’t it called Brendan Creek, you ask. Because it’s Brandon – Mount Brandon rises up from here and the town of Brandon is on the other side of the mountain. It wouldn’t be so confusing if it had been St. Patrick who did the sailing. He was presumably busy with other things.

Then it was cross country home for lunch and then another short journey to Curran’s for a beer. Then naps. Dinner was at home. Chicken Kiev once again with roasted vegetables and bread. Some tv and off to bed.

Sunday

We awoke to cloudy skies, and it remained that way most of the day with periods of light rain and drizzle. Real Irish weather at last. But by supper time the sun was out once again. We had a quiet day at home. Elaine won the game of Scrabble (but only because I got stuck with a “J” tile as the game ended, so my score was reduced by 8). Oh, well, Wait until next time. I am undefeated in Gin Rummy (3-0) so far.

Not much to report. We headed off to dinner at 6:45 pm for our 7:00 reservation at Out of the Blue. Alas, we got there and realized that our reservation was actually at the Half Door. So we hustled across town to the proper venue. Dinner was grand. I had oysters and rack of lamb (yes, it’s rare just like I like it!). The oysters were from Réalt na Mara which, like the more prevalent Glenbeigh oysters, are from Dingle Bay. Elaine had seafood chowder and baked hake. The wine was a red from New Zealand. (You almost never see wines from the USA on Irish wine lists – it’s mostly France, Spain, Germany, Chile, Australia, and New Zealand. It’s not triff related as it’s always been that way.) Our old landlord, Grainne, was dining at the Half Door as well and graciously paid for our bottle of wine. She stopped by our table for a nice chat as she was leaving.

The Half Door is just a two minute walk from the Dingle Pub, so we stopped in and listened to music for a bit. We met four young men from the Boston area who are doing a stint at Sacred Heart University’s Dingle campus. It’s USA campus is in Fairfield, Connecticut. For quite a while, the campus was only available for one semester stays, but with the opening of their new buildings, you can now do your full four years in Dingle (I think).

And home to bed.

Saturday

Can you believe this? – another perfect weather day. Elaine did a morning walk. Later in the morning we hopped in the car and headed up to Conor Pass (An Chonair in Irish) for some pictures. Beautiful day and no wind. Lots of motorcycles up there. The first picture (and the next to last one with the helmet) looks down at Dingle Town. Most of the other look northward toward Brandon and Castlegregory. One guy was up there selling painted stones and other home made stuff. There’s a stone commemorating Dingle’s relationship as a sister city to Santa Barbara, California. Interestingly enough, all the land around Conor Pass was owned by an American. He decided to sell it. Here’s an old story about the impending sale. One could imagine houses and fast food outlets being built. Ugh! Well, the Irish government stepped in and bought the land and it is destined to become a County or National Park. That’s a much better outcome. Things move slowly in Ireland, so it may not happen in our lifetime.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews may show just thumbnails of the pictures. By the way, the pictures look much better on a tablet or a computer than they do on your phone. Just saying.

Then we drove back down to Dingle. The scary part of the Conor Pass road is going down (or up) the other side toward Castlegregory. Very narrow. Anyway, we went back through Dingle Town and out to the next town, Ventry (Ceann Tra in Irish) with the idea of having lunch. When we got to Ventry, we took a walk on the long beach. It was sunny but a bit windy and chilly (57º F), but there were people on the beach and even a few swimming. We were bundled up in our windbreakers.

Then we crossed the street to Quinn’s Pub for lunch. It was nice enough (and out of the wind) to sit outside and enjoy the day. We both had Irish beef cheeseburgers and fries. The beer was brewed-in-Dingle Dick Mack’s Pale. You’ve heard lots about Dick Mack’s Pub (where is it located?). They also now brew their own beers. Good food. Good beer. Glasses on in the picture to read the menu.

Funny story about Quinn’s. Years (and years) ago we were staying in a house in Ventry for a month, and our friends Bill and Mianne were coming over to spend a week with us. They had friends (Paul and Joan Green) who rented a house in further out on Slea Head, and the plans were for the six of us to meet up during their visit. So, I’m in Quinn’s ordering a beer (Elaine was sitting outside) and a couple comes in. Unlike me (usually), I strike up a conversation asking where they are from, and they respond “Scituate, Massachusetts”. So I ask if they know Bill and Mianne (who also live six months a year in Scituate). They looked shocked and say they are going to see them soon here in Dingle. And I tell them they are staying with us. So that’s how we met the Greens a couple of weeks before Bill and Mianne arrived. Small world. Over the years we met up with the Greens several times in Dingle for lunch or beers. Paul has since passed on and we haven’t heard from Joan in several years. (Is she still alive, Mianne?)

After lunch we drove back to Dingle and stopped in Curran’s for a beer. I had Béal Bán from the West Kerry Brewery. (The West Kerry Brewery is in what was and still is Bhric’s Pub, another venue we visited out on Slea Head Drive.) Elaine had Rockshore Lager from Guinness. And we had a long chat with Craig, an American ex-pat that we have know for years. Last time we were here (at Christmas and New Year’s 2023/24), he got quite sick and went into the hospital. So we were glad to see he was well once again. Turns out he had had RSV and almost died.

Dinner was at home. Frozen Chicken Kiev and salad. We watched some of the Chase quiz show on tv and went to bed.

Friday

Again a perfect weather day. We did a lot of sitting around in the sun. In the morning we did drive over to Tralee to visit T K Maxx (Yes, it’s T K, not T J, in Ireland – some kind of copyright thing, I guess) and the Tesco Superstore (groceries and everything else). We stocked up on some stuff not available in the smaller Supervalu in Dingle. And we stopped at a much photographed (including by me on previous trips) overlook for a couple of snapshots including a panorama of the north Dingle Peninsula coast. Review your map from yesterday’s post.

When we got back home, we had soup (Elaine) and a sandwich (Joe) for lunch. Elaine decided to sit in the sunny backyard and read while I walked into town for a beer at Curran’s. Well, two beers – this time Rockshore lager (made, naturally, by Guinness). After walking back home it was time for a nap. Cocktails were abbreviated as we were going out to dinner at 7:00 pm.

Dinner was at Solas, a wine bar and tapas restaurant, that I resisted going to for years until our old landlord, Grainne, convinced me to go. It is really quite good! We have become friendly with the owners since discovering it two Christmas’s back. It’s family run – Ann (front of house) and Nicky (chef). The food is fantabulous.

We started with a wine (Australian Shiraz) and some Grilled Sour Dough, Confit Cherry Tomatoes & Dingle Sea Salt. Absolutely delicious.

Then it was a selection of tapas dishes including:
Queen Scallop Ceviche, Apple & Ginger, Mustard Seed & Chilli Pickle
Cantabrian Anchovy Cracker, Cured Tomato, Ramson & Pine Nut Pesto
Dingle Bay Crab Tartlet, Avocado Mousse, Nori & Sesame
and all highlighted by the
Annascaul Belly of Pork, Carrot Ketchup, Peanut & Sesame, Grilled Baby Gem
and dessert!
Lemon & Almond Cake, Lemon Curd, Pumpkin Seed Crumble, Madagascan Vanilla, and local Camp honey

Ann and Nicky have opened a second venue where Ann’s daughter is in charge. It’s called the Fish Factory and serves Asian fusion food. We’ll probably give it a try.

Then we walked the few feet to O’Flaherty’s for after dinner cocktails and some music. I didn’t record anything except for a few pictures when we arrived.. Music doesn’t start at O’Flaherty’s until 9:30 (which in Dingle time means more like 9:50) and we arrived at 8:45, so it was pretty empty. It filled up (we chatted with two nice American couples) and Fergus was at his best – singing and playing five different instruments. So we stayed for awhile and then headed home to bed. I posted a link below the pictures to Fergus singing Dingle Bay in the pub. He sings this during every session, and it is really marvelous.

Link to Fergus singing Dingle Bay

Thursday

Another perfect weather day. And we basically did nothing. I dropped some laundry off. Otherwise we just stayed home. Oh, I did make to O’Flaherty’s for a beer. Fergus, the owner, was tending bar and I learned some very sad news. Mary had worked at O’Flaherty’s for twenty odd years and we knew her well. I asked Fergus if she was still working. Alas, she died suddenly this past year. She worked one night. The next day she collapsed in her home and was DOA at the hospital. Very sad.

Why did I drop laundry off? We do have a washer/dryer. But the wash cycles are long and drying a load literally can take three hours. So we decided to let the local cleaner do the dirty work. I’ll pick up the clean clothes in the morning.

Why am I drinking Harp instead of Guinness? On our last Christmas trip here I was sick (twice). It wasn’t the Guinness that made me sick, but I sort of lost my taste for it. So I am drinking Harp (which is, of course, brewed by Guinness)..

Since we did nothing, there are no pictures. So, here’s a little more of a geography lesson. Yesterday (or the day before?) I included a map of Dingle Town. Here’s one of the Dingle Peninsula with the town circled.

Yesterday’s drive to Slea Head goes west out of Dingle through Ventry, Courmeenoole, Dunquin, and Ballyferriter. From Ballyferriter we doubled back to Dingle. Slea Head Drive continues from Ballyferriter through Murreagh to Brandon Creek from where you go overland back to Dingle. We’ll do that section soon.

The big white blob east of Brandon Creek is Mount Brandon. If you drive northeast out of Dingle Town, you go over Conor Pass (also spelled Connor Pass) to the other side of Mount Brandon. Very narrow roads! You can go to the picturesque small town of Brandon or further east to Castlegregory (the most beautiful place on earth?), numerous beautiful beaches, and eventually to Tralee.

When we go to Tralee from Dingle, we take the N86 through Annascual (home of Tom Crean’s South Pole Inn).. From the N86 you can also bear right at Annascual and go to Inch Beach, Castlemaine (home of the Wild Colonial Boy), and eventually Killarney (not shown). The road from Castlemaine through Milltown and Killorgin is the start of the famous Ring of Kerry. Just past Killorgin, you’ll see Glenbeigh where the local oysters are farmed.

Be back tomorrow (probably).