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Published: August 8th 2007
Irish Signposting
You have to watch out for these little buggers while driving around.Ange and I had decided we had been working too hard - so it was time for a few days off and an opportunity to see another part of the northern hemisphere.
With five days off we decided to take the opportunity to duck over to Ireland to catch up with Ange's friend Lawrie - a fellow Tasmanian now based in Dublin - and to do a bit of sightseeing around Dublin and the southwest of Ireland.
Once again we began our day with an early 5.30am start for the journey out to Stanstead airport and onto Dublin. It still surprises me the short distances between countries here. The flight is only an hour from London to Dublin - crazy!!!
Well after a fairly uneventful flight, we arrived in Dublin to what could only be described as a fairly ordinary day. It was pretty windy and raining fairly steady. We powered on however and caught the bus into town and found our accomodation fairly easily.
Turned out Lawrie worked just around the corner from where we were staying, so we took the opportunity to catch up with her for a quick bite to eat at a local
The Beast
No guts what so ever - when we wanted to overtake another car, Ange would try to paddle through the air with her hands to help push us along - and yes a Guinness was order as soon as I walked in the door.
Now I don't know if it's a purely a psychological mindset, but I do have to say that the Guinness does in fact taste better in Ireland. Now while many of you may think it's all in my head, I do believe from my own beer drinking experience and what I was taught on the Boags brewery tour in lovely old Launceston town, but a traditional beer brewed in it's home town will always taste better than those brewed in other facilitites as the water is drawn from traditional local sources (whether that be from the streams in Tasmania for Boags or the mountain fresh waters of Ireland for Guinness). So while some of you may mock my view on a better tasting Guinness being poured while in Ireland - all I can say is, come and try it for yourself (or alternative - get off the grass!!! - Tammy I hope you appreciate my use of our new saying - people take note).
Mmmmmm Guinness - it's like a meal in itself.
Enough of my ramblings on the local brew
On our way to Kenmare
Just outside of Killarney - looking down towards some of the lake systems Following lunch, we decided to take the city sightseeing bus for a quick spin around the city to see what Dublin had to offer. These bus tours are awesome I have to say - they have them in every city and for very little money you get driven around in this double-decker open top bus (had to sit downstairs on this trip however, out of the rain) and are shown all the key sights and given commentary on it all. There is no better way to get a feel for a city straight up and allow you to plan your attack for following days.
Considering we had very little time in Dublin itself on this trip, the bus ride was a good way to look around the city and get a look at it all. I have to say Dublin felt more spread out than some of the other places we've been. Some of the sights we cruised past included Dublin Castle, St Stephens Green, Trinity College, the Guinness Brewery (took note of it's location as this was to be a must for me), and Phoenix Park (where the presidential residence is based, along with the zoo and American
embassy). Now due to the rain and bad traffic the trip took a fair bit longer than normal, so we didn't get a chance to get off and do too much as we had to meet Lawrie for dinner and cocktails. Plus the heavens opened up even worse and it absolutely poured Thursday evening.
We woke Friday morning to another average sort of day - drizzly rain and wind. Today we were going to pick up the rental car and make our way down to the south west of Ireland to explore the Ring of Kerry and the Dingle Peninsula for the next few days. It was a long drive actually, taking about 5 odd hours to cross the country from east to west, but the scenery was just beautiful - though I must admit I did take a nap for a good hour or so.
We drove down past Limmerick, onto the tourist town of Killarney, and then onto our destination for the night being Kenmare - the drive was very picturesque dotted with amazingly green fields and mountains, castle ruins, stone walls, and fields of sheep. I was surprised that most of the larger mountains in
the region are fairly bare - with no real trees to speak of, just green grass and rocks. I was surprised how rocky the region is - guess it made it easy to build forts and castles however.
Our accomodation in Kenmare was a quaint little B&B - and the owner was this really nice Irish guy who gave me the run down on the three stouts on offer in Ireland (Guinness of course being seen as the top drop) and the local whiskies. He did tell me the sad news however that they had a restriction on how many Guinness they were allowed to serve you at the pub - the limit being 30 pints. He even paid me a compliment (I think) in saying just like him I had the storage space for many a Guinness. His other little word of wisdom was to tackle the Ring of Kerry (our plan for Saturday) clockwise, as the masses of tourist buses run it anticlockwise and that can be a right pain in the arse.
Kenmare itself, was a beautiful little town. Ange and I loved the way building after building are painted in a different bright colour.
We did wonder how they decided who got which colour, as no two place was the same.
On Saturday we woke to a fairly good day - no rain, a bit overcast but the sun did shine on us a few times throughout. Saturday's plan was to spend the day driving around the Ring of Kerry - this takes in some beautiful coastlines, magnificent fields, old ruins, and amazing seaside cliffs and rolling mountains. Was a really nice drive actually. Some of the coastline is truly amazing - and the ocean is so clear you could watch all the fish swimming around (in fact I would have to say they were some of the clearest waters I've seen). We sat at one little headland and watched a pod of dolphins just cruising around. Although time was against us, the Skellegs (small rock outcrops off the coast) looked amazing - and apparently there is a monastery at the top of one of them which you can climb to.
Our stop for Saturday night was a town called Dingle - a quaint little place on the coast just north of the Ring of Kerry. I was surprised at just how
Dinner in Kenmare
Lawrie and I ready to feast busy this place was - lots of locals and tourists alike. I even have to say it looked like the night life was pretty good. Dingle itself is renowned for its famous local - Fungi the dolphin who apparently has been living in the harbour for some 20 odd years. He attracts many a tourist.
On Sunday our plan was to drive around the Dingle Peninsula. Now I was feeling up for a bit of driving (Lawrie had driven all of it till now) as I haven't driven since leaving Australia - issue was the car was a manual and I haven't really driven a manual for about a good decade. Ange of course was nervous as hell - yee of little faith. I think I did fairly well. And with the windy roads (and cliff faces down one side) I felt like a bit of a rally car driver - much to Ange's amusement 😊 Except I must admit the car failed to give me the guts required to make use of the roads - in fact I rounded one sharp corner in second gear to head up the hill only to stall the car as it didn't
This is why I love her!
Ange tackling a nice pint of Guinness have enough power to get up the hill.
Anyway back to the drive - this was by far our favourite stretch of road - and I would have to suggest if you only have time for the Ring of Kerry or the Dingle Peninsula then I would without a doubt suggest The Dingle Peninsula. Absolutely beautiful coast lines with the roads running right along the coastal cliffs.
The highlight of this stretch was sitting on the cliff edge watching a massive shark just cruising around the cove - looked amazing (as I wasn't in the water with it) as the big fin just cut through the water. A local told me that it was most likely a Basking shark (google it) - a close second to the Whale shark in size and virtually harmless.
Another fanatstic part of this trip was the trek we did out to the most westerly point of Ireland. The climb was a bit straining but was well worth it - walking along tiny goat tracks on the edge of the cliff face. We sat out there for ages just taking in the quiet surrounds and watch yachts sail past. Once again the
Overlooking the coast
The start of our drive around the Ring of Kerry view down into the ocean below was crystal clear.
Following this great half day drive, we then had the joyous drive back to Dublin to look forward to - a nice 6 hours or so.
With only half a day to fill in before we had to run off to the airport on Monday - there was no questioning that it would be a trip to the Guinness Brewery for a tour. There was no way I was going to Ireland and not doing this tour. Really enjoyed it - and they have such a good setup. Plus I got to finish up with a complimentary pint of Guinness - and for good measure I got to drink Ange's too - nothing like a couple of pints at 10.30am.
Well that about sums up our trip - I will let the pictures hopefully do the place some justice (click on them to enlarge the pictures and get a better effect).
Till next time.
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