Whiskey on a Sunday

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.

Click on the galleries below to bring up scrollable windows with full size pictures – the gallery previews show just thumbnails of the pictures

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Cheers for now.