Doolin to Dingle To Killarney

---

First welcome to those that Michelle and I added to the Blog's email list. We'll be doing this once every couple of days or so... so have a read and don't expect any real good grammar...

So yesterday was a marathon of a drive from Doolin to Killarney via the Dingle peninsula. We started the day with a quick drive to the Cliffs of Moher which are spectacular. We then took off south down towards the River Shannon, which is the widest river in Ireland at 5 miles, to cross on a ferry. On our way we stopped at St. Brigid's Well which was pretty cool. After that we learned a very valuable lesson... always carry spare side mirror with you while driving in Ireland; You see the roads are quite narrow and with all the tour buses around the collisions happen quite frequently. Sorry to say that our driver side mirror was knocked out and so our driver had loads of fun trying to pass the little Citroen pulling two cows in a trailer with a flat tire. We fixed the mirror on the ferry across the river by "dismantling" the left mirror and then taping it to the right side mirror. After the ferry it was off to Dingle and the tour out to Slea Head. This was one of the areas most affected during the famine in the 1840s and not nearly as many people live there now. At one point there was as many as 500 people per square mile, now you're lucky if there is 5 or 10. It also has what are called bee hive huts, little house built from stone that are over 2000 years old. The road was even narrower here; only wide enough for one car or most of our tour bus. Passing was a joy. After that we had an hour shopping in Dingle then off to end the day in Killarney...

Today we got up early and had a quick stop for some shopping at one of the local "unique" shops that has some pretty nice Irish jewellery. We then headed out to the Gap of Dunloe and proceeded up the mountain pass in a Jaunting car (small single axle cart pulled by a small horse). The horse pulled us most of the ways but we had to get out at a few points because it was a little too steep (and we didn't want the horse to die of a heart attack). Once over the pass we were dropped off at Lord Brandon's Cottage for lunch where a boat picked us up and took us 14 miles through the 3 loughs and back to Killarney via Ross Castle. The whole trip was pretty amazing and took 6 hours.

---

Photos

Cliffs of Moher
Cliffs of Moher

Cliffs of Moher
Cliffs of Moher Looking down

Fixing the Mirror
Me, the Driver and an other helpful Irishman trying to fix the mirror.

Bee Hive Huts
2000 year old houses on Slea Head

Slea Head
Looking Down From Slea Head

Plots of Land on Slea Head
At one point before the Famine everyone of these small plots would have had house and supported a family. The average grown male would have eaten 14 lbs of potatos a day.

Jauntie Driver
This is the guy who drives the Jauntie cart...

The Gap of Dunloe
The Gap from a Distance

The Gap looking Back
This is looking back down the Gap

Going Back Down
The Gap is at ~1000 feet above sea level, now we have to go back down to about 100 feet above sea level

The Loghs of Killarney by Boat
Starting back to Killarney by Boat

Bridge on a River between the Loughs
Yup we just went through there

The end of the Boat Trip
With our little friends