A Day In Dingle

---

Geo: 52.1433, -10.2687

There was more on our itinerary today than what time
allowed. Our bus didn't leave Kilarney
this morning until 10:05 so we had tea and toast with two people we'd met at
the hostel. One was a biker from Germany
who is touring Ireland. The other is a
woman from the U.K. who is touring Ireland by motorcycle. Both commented about how much stamina it
takes to travel alone but that it's worth it.

Our bus ride took us through mountainous sheep raising
areas. Many of the sheep have spray painted
areas of red, blue and green lines on their backs. The purpose is to
distinguish ownership of the sheep. The
mountain sides has commonage areas which
are shared by multiple farmers who have their sheep grazing in the same areas
so the colors show ownership. There were
also cows along the way. The west side of Ireland is more suited to
grazing animals due to rocky and mucky soils.
We also passed through the city of Tralee where we needed to switch
buses.

We arrived in Dingle in time for lunch to be eaten at the
hostel but our plan didn't work out because the hostel was locked with no receptionist. We located one of those friendly Irishmen
that Dermot had told us about . He called the hostel for us and located the owner who then gave us the code for the front door so we could come in and drop off our backpacks. Then we were able to have lunch and a cup of
tea.

We set out to check out the bike rentals and on our way
stopped off at the tourist information center
for additional maps of the area.
On our walk to the info center it became very obvious that even walking
was a chore due to the severe high winds.
Our plans became flexible at this time and we researched the possibility
of taking a tour around the Dingle Peninsula instead of biking it. The lady at the information center concurred with our decision and make a
phone call to arrange a personal van tour of the Dingle Peninsula.

A middle aged man named John was our tour guide. Our first stop was a house that formerly was
Lord Ventry's. It's now a private school
for girls between 13 and 17. Tuition is
8,000 euros a year. We saw the Ogham
Stones which were used as grave markers or boundary lines in the 4th
through 7th centuries. The
lines on the stones indicate letters of the alphabet. The tour moved on to Ventry Harbor where we
saw lobster pots in the bay. Don't know
if there was anything in them because all we could see was the markers bobbing
in the water. Next it was off to Paidi O'Se's
Pub. It was explained to us that he is a
famous gaelic football player. He was
sitting there watching Obama give a live speech on TV. Dunbeg Fort, the
Famine Cottage, and the Bee Hive Huts were our next stops. We made a brief stop to get a photo of the
Fahn River crossing the road. We then
moved on to see the Blasket Islands, the
most westerly point of Europe. The wildlife around there includes puffins,
seals, choughs, and gannets. Located
here are statues and a cross dedicated to the memory of all the people who were
lost at sea. Do any of you remember the
film "Ryan's Daughter" with Robert Mitchum?
We stopped at the beach where it was filmed. It took 7 years to film the movie including
building the village and a road to the beach and the actual filming. Eventually the village was knocked down
because it was built on commonage and the people couldn't decide how to split
it up. We saw Brandon Bay which is world
renowned for windsurfing. John told us
an interesting story about Ceann Sleibhe or Slea Head . A renowned Irishman lived there with his 7
wives. He accused one wife of being
unfaithful so he beheaded her and threw her body over the cliff, so the name
Slea Head was attached to this cliff. Our last stop was the Gallarus Oratory
built in the 4th-7th century. It was a stone home and a church.
The people had services in the church and then spent the night in the
nearby stone building. It had none of the comforts of home. Our 2 hour tour lasted 3 ½ hours and covered
50 miles.

Dinner tonight was not too Irish. We had stir fried chicken at the Marina
Inn. Both of us enjoyed it. For our
nightly dose of Irish music we went to O'Connors and the Dingle Pub.

More Photos to come

---