Blogs from Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, Europe - page 4

Geo: 52.1433, -10.2687Only a little banging, and not till around 7:00 a.m. And at breakfast, Sue Staley said she thought she heard something, so I felt much better. Sue Anderson asked me about the banging too, and the manager overheard and asked what was wrong. I told her about the noise, and she said that what happens is that people leave their bathroom windows open, and the wind rattles the room doors. I still think it's weird that no one else heard it the night before, but she said you don't really hear it in your own room. I guess I can kind of see that because of the way the rooms are shaped, but I don't know .... At any rate, I'm not going crazy and I don't have a poltergeist. Always a nice way ... read more

Geo: 52.1433, -10.2687Yay, hot water and water pressure! O, happy day!We left the hotel at 8:20, and the hotel staff very kindly drove all our luggage down to the bus, which was about a five-minute walk away. I am once again sitting in the back half of the bus, and I need to figure out how to squidge my way closer to the front. Declan did announce on the first day that everyone should rotate their seats every day, but so far there a few people in front who just seem to be switching from one side of the bus to the other. Maybe tomorrow I'll try to get to the bus early enough that I'll have my pick of seats.About a half hour out of Kinsale we stopped at a memorial in Beal na mBlath ... read more

Geo: 52.1433, -10.2687There was more on our itinerary today than what timeallowed. Our bus didn't leave Kilarneythis morning until 10:05 so we had tea and toast with two people we'd met atthe hostel. One was a biker from Germanywho is touring Ireland. The other is awoman from the U.K. who is touring Ireland by motorcycle. Both commented about how much stamina ittakes to travel alone but that it's worth it.Our bus ride took us through mountainous sheep raisingareas. Many of the sheep have spray paintedareas of red, blue and green lines on their backs. The purpose is todistinguish ownership of the sheep. Themountain sides has commonage areas whichare shared by multiple farmers who have their sheep grazing in the same areasso the colors show ownership. There werealso cows along the way. The west side of Ireland ... read more

This morning we left our accommodation to drive to Doolan but we were told by some other travellers that we should go to Dingle, on the way, as the scenery is fantastic. On the map Dingle did not look like too much of a detour. How wrong we were!! It was worth it though as you will see from the photos. The coastline along the Dingle Peninsula is very rugged and dramatic lending itself to some fantastic photographs. When we drove into Dingle Harbour we were lucky enough to experience some traditional irish dancing and music. As we drove around the Peninsula, along a very narrow road above the cliffs, the views were spectacular. We drove out of Dingle via the Mountain Pass - more lovely scenery. We saw some of the huts, remaining after the ... read more

Geo: 52.1433, -10.2687Editor's Note: Pardon the interruption in the news and views from our travels in Ireland. Once we hit Dingle on the Dingle Peninsula in the far southwest corner of Ireland, we were without an Internet connection. So, this blog entry is being filed from our kitchen in West Salem on Sat March 27 after we had a chance to sleep off our 24-hour journey back home yesterday.Lot of driving today. Starting to figure out that distance – whether in miles or kilometers – has very little bearing on how long it takes to get somewhere in Ireland. It has more to do with the kind of road being navigated. We know that 10K = 6.2 miles (or 100K = 62 miles), but it seemed that the most relevent ratio, just for planning and estimating, ... read more