We woke to a beautiful sunrise but a cold windy morning. The weather map showed a huge rain band coming in and it wasn’t wrong. As we left the rain started and continued.
Not long after we left we passed a Trump golf resort. In a few villages around the course there are lots of American flags flying. Apparently in one small village the Trumps sons shouted the town drinks, now they are local heros.
We did the Kilkee Cliff clifftop walk. The rain eased off while we walked, it is sort of like a mini Cliffs of Moher (I would guess about 1/3 the height), but much prettier and far less people. The dark cliffs set against the green grassy tops and a very blue ocean was outstanding, add to that some very large stacks just off shore, where areas of cliff have been cut off by the ocean, and you have great views.
While we were driving we noticed some wind turbines painted to blend into countryside. Ireland has lots of wind turbines all over the country, but these were the first we have seen anywhere that were painted to blend into the surrounds.
The rain kept falling as we arrived at The Bridges of Ross. There is only 1 of the original 3 stone arches left, the others have fallen into the ocean to form a couple of stacks. The geology around them is really interesting with huge slabs of rock tilted into the ocean. The last remaining arch is behind a very large “island” of rock and should be there for some time yet. We saw the makings of a potential new arch, a sort of blowhole formation has formed close to the carpark, if the rock structure is right and the wave action does its thing you never know, come back in 50 years and there might be another arch. Our trousers got soaked, well very wet, during the walk and took most of the rest of the say to dry! Who would have thought we would get wet in Ireland!
As we have been driving around we have noticed that many of the old churches that have been left to end up as ruins have been converted into graveyards. I guess it saves on consecrating new ground!
We got the car ferry across the Shannon River, it took about 20mins for the crossing. The ferry had a capacity for about 30 cars but only 7 other cars joined us for the ride over to Tarbert. In the river area we saw the 400 year old lighthouse at the tip of Peninsula on Shannon River. We also saw a Power station fuelled by wood pellets from Australia. There have been many protests about the station but it keeps operating. To placate the protesters the power company surrounded the Power station with wind turbines, it didn’t work, and the protests continue.
We are in County Kerry which is famous for its dairy products, particularly butter and ice cream. There are lots of dairy farms along the roads we are travelling. The schools in Kerry are rewarded for environmental activism with flags flown outside school. Up to five flags can be gained, the more flags a school gets the more prestigious it is seen. Most schools I have seen have only had 2 flags flying.
We did a drive by quick photo stop of Ballybunion Castle, it was too wet for anything else. The weather was a bit better by the time we got to Ballyheigue castle, now surrounded by a golf course, and we were able to get out of the car in the light rain, have a closer look at it and get a few pics. We again had to take in the sights of the Blennerville Windmill, built in 1804, from the car. It is one of three remaining working windmills in Ireland.
From there we set course for Dingle in part along the Connor Pass. This is one of the highest mountain passes in Ireland. The road runs twisting and turning for almost 12km. There is a really “interesting” stretch of about 2 or 3km where it is a single lane two way road with passing points every 50m or so. The road in this section is very narrow and runs along a cliff edge. No trucks or coaches are allowed to use the road because of it being so narrow and the presence of high rock over hangs on the road. Every now and then a non-english speaking European driver attempts the road in error, causing all sorts of grief. Unfortunately for us the cloud cover and driving rain obscured the magnificent views that are apparently present from the pass.
We arrived in Dingle safe and sound, and Martin took us for a familiarisation drive around town before dropping us off at our hotel/BnB.
For dinner tonight Martin had made a reservation for us at Fenton’s of Dingwall. A well rated, busy small restaurant in town. It was still raining, so Martin organised to come and pick us up and drop us off at the restaurant, so thoughtful. It was amusing walking into Fenton’s and saying we had a booking under the name of Deborah Fenton. We got great service, it seemed like we had two people trying to look after us. The food was great and we enjoyed the atmosphere.
From there we went to, An Droichead Beag (The Little Bridge Hotel) to listen to some live local music. We had a good time there, a great way to finish our day. When we walked home the rain had stopped and it was a beautiful evening.
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