Fare Thee Well, Ireland !

 



Tom and I arrived home on Friday night to warm, humid South Carolina weather. Guess I won't be wearing the sweater/coat that I bought in Ireland any time soon!

We set off on our trip to Ireland to be a 'back roads' discovery of the history, culture, and people, and we definitely accomplished that goal. With its quaint rural lanes, rolling green hills, and stunning mountain vistas and landscapes there can be few countries  as rewarding for driving back roads as Ireland.

The winding roads of Ireland run through lush pastures to wildflower studded ways to granite columns falling dramatically to the sea. Along their leisurely way they pass  by ancient stone circles, megalithic tombs, Celtic crosses, medieval castles, round towers, monastery ruins, and stately homes and manors. They provided us ample opportunities for a leisurely stroll in a pretty town or village and  refreshments in the prolific 'pub scene' that Ireland is famous for.

And whenever we needed any type of assistance there were always friendly Irish folk around who were more than happy to help with directions. wherever we went Tom and I found the Irish people to be warm, polite, talkative, friendly, charming, humorous, and just nice persons to be around. Tom and I are extremely delighted with having taken the trip and we've talked about doing the northern half of Ireland in the future - and maybe for a little bit longer than 2 weeks so we can partake of the abundant hiking trail system throughout Ireland.

Some of my thoughts and observations about our trip and Ireland:

I did not like the driving on the left-hand side of the road experience. Although I was only a passenger I became a little too familiar with the bushes, rocks and drop-offs that were only inches from my side of the car !

With a few exceptions, the roads in Ireland are really, really narrow ! Driving in Ireland is not for the timid among us !

NOBODY says "Top o' the Morning" ! But, they do say "Cheers" when saying goodbye !

Everyone recycles - in each place that we stayed, there was a small bin for compost/kitchen waste, a bin for recyclables, and a bin for "rubbish". Glass and metal are recycled at large central recycling areas at "petrol" stations or street corners.

There were bicyclists on every road, no matter how narrow the road or how bad the weather.

We discovered that "Ramps" mean "speed bumps".

Instead of "under contract" or "sale pending", signs said "sale agreed".

Ireland is heavily dependent on tourism. Tourists are made to feel welcome everywhere, and many houses are also B&B's.

Almost every pub has live music. As we walked back to our cottage the night we attended the concert, we heard live music each time we passed a pub, and there were a lot of them !

 

Until our next adventure trip - CHEERS !

Dingle & Adare to Limmerick

Today is our last full day on the beautiful Emerald Isle . . . don’t worry - there will be a FINAL POST to the blog on Sunday summarizing my thoughts on Ireland . . . so don’t forget to check back one last time.

Once more we packed our bags, and loaded the car. Eva’s little cottage had been our perfect home in Dingle – so close to everything and quite enjoyable walking all over Dingle. Before we left the town, Tom and I went back to the shop where we had purchased our Irish folk concert tickets, yesterday. We really wanted to let them know just how much we had enjoyed it.

 

Instead of driving the Wild Atlantic Way, we went up over the mountain pass. The Connor Pass is Ireland’s highest, and provides splendid views over the Brandon and Tralee Bays. As usual, the road became more narrow, and I saw a sign that really got my attention. It said ACHTUNG! TURN BACK NOW – and showed a picture of a truck and a camper with a slash through them. There are only a few places on the pass where opposing cars can get past each other, and there are only a few pull-overs.

 

The cliffs were right up against the road on one side, and there was a steep drop-off with no guard rail on the other – and I should have mentioned throughout the blog posts that all roads in Ireland have no shoulders whatsoever – which makes them even more treacherous on top of the left hand driving !

When we got to the top, there was a parking area, and although the wind was howling – temps were in the 40s – the views were spectacular ! Way below us in the valley we could see the remains of two Iron-Age villages (that’s way into the BC years about  2000 BC), with circular forts and bee-hive huts. As we continued down the other side of the pass, there was another small parking lot in front of a waterfall. There was a sign there that explained that the small lakes that we could see had been caused by glaciers during the ice age.

We were soon at sea-level, and began to follow our route to Limerick, a two-hour drive away. There was NO MORE hair-raising driving, as the roads were wide, smooth, and straight – finally I could breathe a little bit easier.

About 20 minutes from Limerick, we came to Village of Adare. With its thatched cottages and beautiful park, it is considered “Ireland’s Prettiest Village”. The beautification of this estate village was a personal project of the third Earl of Dunraven, who in the early 19^th century wished to create a bucolic haven and indulge his passion for early Irish architecture.

Adare contains numerous medieval buildings, including three monasteries, two still in use – the White Abbey and the Black Abbey, and the third a ruin. The nearby ruined Desmond Castle was erected around the early part of the 13^th century. In the middle of the village is the Heritage Center, which explains the history of the village, and next door is the 15^th Century Catholic Parish Church, once part of the Trinitarian Abbey – the White Abbey.

 

This is quite significant for Tom as he went to high school in Hyattsville, MD – DeMatha Catholic High School and run by the Trinitarian Order of priests – it is their only high school in the US. The Trinitarians are known for their white robes with red and blue cross on the chest.

St. John DeMatha (namesake of DeMatha Catholic High School) and St. Felix of Valois founded an order dedicated to the Holy Trinity outside Paris in the late twelfth century. Their intention was to help the poor and to ransom captured Christians taken by pirates or during the Crusades. The Trinitarians or White Friars as they were known because of their white robes emblazoned with a red and blue cross, spread quickly. The Trinitarian Abbey in Adare was probably established between 1230 and 1240, and is the only Trinitarian Abbey in Ireland. By 1683 the abbey was a ruin and given to the Catholic Parish in Adare. The building was re-roofed and restored over the years and improvements continue today – and the abbey is absolutely brilliant.

Just up the road about 400 yads is the Augustinian Friary, now an Anglican Church and school. This monastery was founded in 1315. In addition to the Church several 15^th Century buildings remain on the property, and are now used as a school and parish hall.

We continued our drive to Limerick, and found our lodging for the night, a “room in a private house”. Fran is our host, and grew up in the 100 year-old row house that once belonged to her grandfather. She is an actor doing film, TV, stage, and advertisements – and quite an interesting character. Tom and I spent a bit of time with her learning about her profession, travels and accomplishments.

 

Fran recommended a restaurant (The Curragower – meaning The Old Goat) on the Shannon River overlooking King John's Castle for our last fish and chips dinner in Ireland – the portions are so large that Tom and I split a single dinner (along with our pint each of Smithwicks Ale) – it was so good ! So sad to be leaving tomorrow.

 

 

Dingle Peninsula



Tom and I woke to sunshine (!!!), so we ate a hasty breakfast and walked down into the town. Dingle is the westernmost town in Europe and has been referred to as the prettiest town on the edge of the world.

There are brightly painted houses, traditional storefronts, numerous pubs, and tightly bunched, narrow streets, all of which run down to the harbor. We browsed in the little shops, many of which sell artisan jewelry, crystal, pottery, woolens, and other locally-crafted items. Suddenly, I heard the familiar clip-clop of trotting horses ! There was a group of 8 horses and riders trotting down one of the main streets of the town on a “pony trek”. Sure wish I had been one of them.

 

We wanted to take the Slea Head Drive around the Dingle Peninsula while the sun was still out, so we picked up the car and took off for another adventure. The peninsula combines in its landscape the ruggedness of rocky outcrops and cliffs with the soft shapes of hills and mountains, skirted by coastal lowlands. National Geographic has described it as “the most beautiful place on earth”.

We were soon on a narrow, cliff-hugging road, high above Dingle Bay.

The drive was still part of the Wild Atlantic Way which Tom and I have been doing for the past three (3) days – still the same twisting, narrow, back roads with barely enough room for two cars (let alone tour buses) to pass each other – very harrowing in parts !

Our first landmark was the Iron Age Fort of Dunbeg. Surrounded by the sea on three sides, this fortress has walls 23 feet thick, bounded by earthen trenches. Although much of the original construction has long since fallen into the sea, it still presents an imposing sight. The nearby beehive huts (clochans) are prehistoric dwellings constructed of un-mortared stone. Many of the nearly 400 huts in the Dingle area are in good condition and remain watertight.

The Slea Head is the westernmost point in Europe, and the focal point of the drive. The sweep of sea, craggy coves and outlying islands that come into view as you round the headland is a spectacular sight. A short distance further on, the road sweeps around to Coumeenoole Bay, popular with surfers and swimmers. There were no surfers, but a few brave souls were in the water ! It has been our warmest day of the trip so far (still needed our jackets with temps about 60), but I would not have ventured into the ocean !

 

Tom and I could have continued along the coast, but had purchased tickets for a 7:30 PM Irish folk concert in Dingle at St. James Church. We needed to get to the market, get back to the cottage and eat dinner, (once again, we hadn’t stopped for lunch) and we did not know how long it would take us to get there.

The track that we took for the 'back road shortcut' (pictured here - they call this a 2 lane road !) over the mountains didn't last long, and we were back to Dingle in no time.

The concert was superb ! Dingle is the home of many traditional Irish musicians and our performers were truly talented.

We ended the evening by treating ourselves to Dingle’s famous Murphy’s Ice Cream – made in Dingle from the milk of rare Kerry cows. I hadn’t yet had my Irish whiskey here in Ireland, so Tom and I had the Irish Coffee flavor – coffee ice cream blended with Jameson Irish Whiskey ! Oh, so good ! ! !

Ring of Kerry

Tom and I had to bid farewell to Clonakilty and to the small delightful cottage this morning. The drive to the town of Dingle would take 4 ½ hours, and we had to be there before 5:00 pm to meet our host, Eve.  Our route took us inland, mostly along major roads, where we came across a ruined old mill alongside a fast moving stream. We would not see the ocean again until we reached the popular Ring of Kerry.

 

The Ring of Kerry is a 180 km (108 miles) circular drive located on the Iverage Peninsula, the largest of five peninsulas jutting out into the Atlantic from the southwest of Ireland. The scenic promontory is famed for its vistas of sea and mountains – visitors have been coming here for centuries. The drive offers plenty of opportunities to enjoy a dramatic landscape of coves, cliffs, broad bays, and rugged countryside, all set against the MacGillycuddy Reeks, Ireland’s highest mountain range.

Part of the Ring encompasses Killarney National Park, which covers approximately 25,000 acres and includes three lakes – Upper, Muckross, and Leane – and the surrounding mountains. It contains Ireland’s largest area of ancient oak forest and its only remaining herd of indigenous red deer.

Tom and I thought we had seen and experienced the roughest of the off-the-beaten path back roads in southern Ireland – but, oh no, we hadn’t ! The previous days back roads adventures were just ‘training wheels’ for today . . . continuous up and down, switchbacks, bumpy rural routes, deep forested glens, windswept ridge lines, rain showers – all of this with Tom driving from the right front seat, shifting left-handed, and driving on the left (wrong) side of the road. He said tonight that his arms, shoulders, and back were all sore from the constant steering left/right and manual shifting of the Skoda Citicar.

We heard on the radio that the gale force winds of yesterday had subsided, and today’s winds would be “fresh to strong” – I still have not figured out what that means. I got the full experience of that wind when Tom pulled the car over (at my suggestion), and I jumped out to take a photo. The wind practically took the camera out of my hand and blew me over!

There were numerous tour busses on the road, and we quickly learned that they stopped at all of the good photo spots. Wherever one was stopped, we stopped there, too – at the beaches, cliffs, streams, rivers, lakes, and overlooks. The good thing about being in our small car, we could also stop at the narrow pullovers that the busses couldn’t get to.

We cut off one small section of the drive since we needed to get to Dingle, (yes, we got onto another narrow road) but by doing so, we avoided the tour busses, and were greeted by a herd of sheep in the road – the whole road ! The sheep were being herded by a sheep dog, and the dog was being guided by an elderly man in a car. The man would tap on the roof of the car with his cane to communicate with the dog !

Once we got into the National Park, we were surrounded by deep forest, and the sides of the road were lined with blooming rhododendron. Just beautiful !

We made it to Dingle with time to spare. Eva, our host showed us to our little cottage that is located behind her house, gave us the keys, and directed us to the Reel Dingle Fish Company. Best Fish and Chips that we have ever eaten. This cottage has something that neither of us has ever seen – there is a small box on the wall, and when the electricity goes off, you have to drop in €2 coins to turn it back on !

We are less than two blocks from the center of town and the waterfront, and we are looking forward to exploring the town and Dingle Peninsula tomorrow.