Saturday, September 28th
Left Cahersiveen and headed for Dingle. The roads were pretty decent for the majority of the drive, just not enough places to pull off to fully enjoy the sheer beauty that whizzes by. Left the Ring of Kerry and continued on to the Dingle Peninsula pulling off where we could to take photos. Stopped at Inch Beach and then Minard Castle, a mid-16th century structure which is reached via a single lane road and a bit of hunting. Reached the city of Dingle, and like most of the towns we visited, the sidewalks were full with visitors and all street parking taken. Lots of tour buses parked in a lot explaining the congested sidewalks.
We found a B&B, the Dingle Harbour Lodge, and since the rooms weren’t ready yet we walked the town. We shared an order of fish and chips for a light lunch and by the time we walked back we were able to get into our room. After working up plans for tomorrow we decided we stay another night and explore the end of the peninsula while the lodge does our laundry.
Headed into town around 8:30 pm in hopes of listening to some live music. It was cold, it was raining and the wind blowing so fiercely that we couldn’t use our umbrellas. We did listen to some music and we did get soaked walking back to the lodge. But our feet were dry. Thankfully, knowing Ireland can be wet and rainy we both bought waterproof hiking shoes.
Sunday, September 29th
First thing today was to double check the clothes we were leaving for laundry service. In by ten, back by three. Then breakfast and a early drive into town to take photos along the dock and a few street scenes ahead of the tour buses. No sooner had we parked the buses started rolling in and off loading. Took pictures and headed for the Slea Head Drive which loops the end of the peninsula and returns us back to Dingle. Something’s up – it’s not raining.
We set out to find the Rathanane Castle shown on the map on an unnamed road. We were off by miles (I mean kilometers) and ended up skirting one whole corner of the drive. Diane was determined and we had a most unpleasant drive back along the coast on a shamefully narrow road between oncoming traffic, including tour buses, and cliff walls. On the way back to our wrong turnoff we stopped to see ancient beehive huts and another ring fort. The ring fort was a six euro scam. Phil’s in a real good mood by now. Stopped by a Prehistoric Celtic/Antique shop charging seven euros per head. No thanks, Phil smells another scam.
Continued on past the wrong unnamed road to another unnamed road which was more like a four mile, I mean kilometer, overgrown alley. Eventually we spotted a sign for the Rathanane Castle at a farm house. Two euros per head. We were directed to go through two gates and a pasture. “Be careful” we were told. After a lengthy trek through a heavily mined cow pasture, there it was. No barriers, no restrictions. If we were stupid we could have climbed all over it. It was great! We’ll worth four euros. Not shown in our photos is a very wide and deep moat along the back and sides. Then another risky trek back through the pasture. Oh, hello sheep, where’d you come from?
Back in the car Diane’s ready for more. Now her sights on set on Castle Sybil. Kilometers and kilometers of crappy roads and no castle. Well then how about the Gallarus Oratory and nearby castle? What’s an Oratory Phil wonders. We find road signs to Gallarus and we find the Oratory and nearby castle (stone tower home). Headed back to Dingle via a shortcut which takes us past another ring fort. And “pass” was the best we could do. No access and no where to park. We barely got a glimpse of it. See the photo we didn’t take.
Back in Dingle we retrieved our laundry and went out for fish and chips for dinner.
Monday, September 30th
Woke up to a windy and raining morning. Not in the mood for another meat breakfast, we had protein bars and coffee. Stopped in town to pick up some fruit and paper towels and headed towards Kilkee via the Conor Pass and Tralee. Conor Pass is a sight to behold, so we’ve read. What we saw was a hard blowing, cloud covered rain on a steep narrow road waiting to have its way with us. Phil’s not smiling. The car is not too happy either. Still smells like it wants to burst into flames now and then. Such a wimp. The car I mean. Heading down the mountain, Diane wanted Phil to get a picture of the steep, windy one lane road with a stone wall on one side and a threatening stone sided mountain on the other, but he wouldn’t let go of the dash. Such a wimp. Phil I mean.
At Tarbert we hopped a ferry over to Killimer. It’s been raining nonstop and it appeared we’d get 30 to 45 minutes of downtime on the ferry so we dug out our iPads to do some reading. Ten minutes later we were in Killimer. Darn!
Stopped in Kilrush for a very late lunch (still raining) and discussed whether to stay in town or move on to Kilkee twenty minutes away. The pub proprietor recommended the Bay View Hotel in Kilkee.
Arrived in Kilkee around 4:00 pm in the rain and checked in. Had the option of room 6 on the second floor or 14 on the third. Looked at 6 and Diane wondered if 14 would be worth another flight of stairs with luggage. Phil suggested letting the room decide. Room 14 it was.
It’s 5:08 pm and the sun is peeking through the clouds. Hello, hello, hello, Mr. Sun. So we took a quick tour of the village noticing that many businesses were closing up for the season.
As the sun was getting low in the sky we thought we’d head to the Kilkee Cliffs for a few photos. Great view but so easy to drop off the edge.
Tuesday, October 1st
After a small Irish we breakfast we headed back out to the cliffs again. Much too windy and bitter cold to stay long.
Headed northeast away from the coast in order to save time and visit some castles and archeological sites. Spent too much time driving down blind alleys but did manage to locate enough to consider the hunt a success. Some of the sites searched for appeared to be on private property and inaccessible. One ring cliff fort required a three quarter mile hike up a cliff following a narrow foot path and we still couldn’t get a good view. Due to the extremely rocky and overgrown terrain we had to exercise caution with each step we took.
Two impressive sites were the Caherconnell Irish Ring fort and the Portal Tomb of Poulnabrone. The site at Caherconnell records human activity dating from 3700 BC up to the 17th century with the stone fort being constructed in the 10th century AD. Some 33 remains were found at the Poulnabrone dating from 4200-2900 BC with an infant dating back to between the 17th and 15th century AD.
It was getting pretty late so we headed for the next larger town, Ballyvaughan where we had a big dinner and settled in at the night at the Burren Atlantic Hotel. Still windy and bitter cold outside.
