Dingle

On Tuesday, we decided to drive to the Dingle Peninsula. When we got up, it was raining slightly and threatening even more so we were concerned about taking a long drive. But then we figured if the Irish can live their entire lives doing everything in “soft weather,” then so can we. So off we went.

The drive to the town of Dingle, the westernmost town in Europe, took over two-and-a-half hours; the drive time was lengthened by lots of slow moving trucks. We were determined to avoid the tourist havens of Killarnney and Tralee. Dingle is a quaint, old Irish town that tourism has turned into something similar to Sausalito. However, Dingle is much nicer (and smaller) and still has a lot of charm. We visited St. Mary’s Church, which has six stained glass windows that were specifically designed for the site by Harry Clarke; these are the most beautiful and unusual windows we’ve seen, they are absolutely breathtaking.

The accents in Dingle are even more difficult than those in Cork. It seems the further you get from Dublin, the stranger the accents get. Our purpose for being here was to drive the peninsula, so after walking around town for a bit we left for the drive. As it turned out, the rain never came on strong and we actually saw some sun before the end of the day.

The road around the peninsula tip is reminiscent of driving Highway One to Gualala, but worse. If you don’t like Highway One, then skip this road. The road is narrow and often one lane—at one point, we had to ford a stream! The sheer rock wall to one side is the real deal, not a CalTrans fake. Other similarities: lots of wild iris (but yellow), rolling green fields (but sectioned by low rock walls) IMG_1040, sheep (but more scattered out everywhere rather than clumped in one place), broad expanses of water (but Bay of Dingle rather than Pacific Ocean).

The scenery is breathtaking. And there are a lot of places to stop and view ruins of stone houses, old forts and churches plus the natural beauty of ocean and hills, plus flora and fauna. The film Far and Away (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman) was filmed here; the scene where Cruise was fighting his brothers on the hill over the ocean can be seen. We also saw a “famine cottage” which is the remains of a cottage used by a family during the potato famine period, and some old stone churches.

On the way off the peninsula, we were held up by a ewe with her two lambs who were taking a stroll down the middle of the road. In Inch, we stopped and walked on one of the nicest and widest beaches we've ever seen; it occupies the head of Dingle Bay.

It was a long day, but an enjoyable one.