So in the previous post, we arrived in Ireland a little later than we had hoped. We toured through Galway, saw the Cliffs of Moher, ate a Medieval dinner at Bunratty Castle, and randomly visited a windmill before finding our way to Dingle. Dingle was definitely our favorite town on the trip...
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| ...and our time in Dingle also coincided with the best weather of the week! |
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The best part about Dingle is that it is situated on a peninsula
(the westernmost peninsula in Ireland) and has a great 47 km loop road... |
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| ...called the Slea Head Drive offering a lot of opportunities to see the beauty of the Irish coastline. |
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| Our first stop on the Slea Head Drive was Ventry Beach, where we could see the Atlantic Ocean. |
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| We continued along the loop, and to say each turn was scenic, would be an understatement! |
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| The coastline was spectacular,... |
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| ...the landscapes were green and rugged,... |
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| ...and we passed many interesting landmarks! |
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| Our next stop was to see the ruins of the Dunbeg Fort...prehistoric as the sign suggests! |
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We started with a short movie about the history of the fort, and then walked
around and used our imaginations to picture its presence over 2500 years ago! |
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| Right next to the fort was a field of sheep... |
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| ...where we saw a sheepdog named 'Rocky' go to work! |
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| At the sound of his owner's whistle,... |
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| ...Rocky was quickly able to herd nearly 20 sheep... |
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| ...and lead them all to... |
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| ...one spot!! |
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After the sheepdog demonstration, the twins enjoyed holding baby lambs!
(Note: Luke did NOT put his fingers in the baby lamb's mouth!) |
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| This one even rested perfectly on Clare's hand! |
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| Baby sheep can get hungry... |
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| ...and these two didn't mind filling them up! |
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| Right next to the sheep were a couple of 'clochan' or beehive huts. These primitive dwellings housed Irish folks 1000+ years ago and protected them from the harsh conditions being so close to the sea. |
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Two Class of '95 Eureka High School Hornets representing at the (hornet) hive!!
You maybe have seen a clochan or two if you have watched 'The Last Jedi'... |
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| ...and, despite these not being those 'exact' huts, the force was still with us. |
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| Driving onward, we found a nice pull-out with views one way... |
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| ...and another towards the Blasket Islands. |
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We didn't have time to ferry over and tour the islands, but did stop for lunch at a cafe (Caife Na Tra)...
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| ...and enjoyed the scenic backdrop. |
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Next up was Coumeenoole Beach, a beach that served as a filming location for the
film Ryan's Daughter (never seen it myself!). The view from above was great... |
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| ...and the view at beach level, even better! |
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| There was some climbing,... |
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| ...some rock skipping,... |
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| ...and amazing views on a cliff hike nearby. |
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The gorgeous blue water, the waves crashing in, and the beautiful
green backdrop made for one of our best views of the trip! |
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| These four were lovin' it!! |
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| As we neared the end of our drive, the scenery continued to impress,... |
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| ...and we spotted several tiny islands close to shore. |
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After almost 5 hours of driving/stopping, our final stop was the
Gallarus Oratory...an early Christian church built 1300 years ago.
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| The Oratory was a neat place to check out from the outside... |
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| ...and the inside! It was fun imagining how attending church would have been in the small space! |
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| After some dinner, we headed back to our cute Air BnB... |
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| ...and the adults headed back out for one last Dingle pub crawl... |
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| ...and took our time taking in the Gap of Dunloe. |
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| Wildlife was out and about... |
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...and ready to be seen!
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| We passed a lake or two along the way... |
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| ...and took time to explore. |
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| Everyone seemed to be having a great time... |
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| ...when, suddenly, the remaining blue sky began to fade... |
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| ...and the green (and purple here) landscapes had a gray backdrop. |
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| This didn't change the beauty of the majestic views... |
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| ...until the rain began to fall. This, inconveniently coincided with us realizing... |
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...we took the wrong turn at this sign, and we had to backtrack, making our
hike 12 miles instead of 7!! The worst part was that we had to catch a timed boat... |
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| ...to take a 1.5 hour boat ride back to Ross Castle in the pouring rain (and cold)! |
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| The smiles here hide the misery... |
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...experienced by all in the cold and wet conditions. As I told
the group, this was a 'character building' experience! |
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Cold, wet, and defeated, we finally made it back to Ross Castle where we started the day,
and, sadly, called it a day at that point and headed to our next destination of... |
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| ...Kinsale...a small port town in southwest Ireland. |
We still had three days to go. These will be covered in one final Irish blog post coming soon!
