A Dingle Thing

Just a word about this blog before we get too far downstream: we know these are long posts and the reasons for that is we want to share the stories with you but we also want to get the details down so that we can look back on these like a diary when we’re old. Denise is working hard to get me to keep these posts short but when you’re getting paid by the word… Now back to our trip! 

The Wild Atlantic Way Part 2

The plan for our day was to drive from our hotel to the town of Dingle, where we’d pick up the path of another incredibly scenic drive on the Wild Atlantic Way.  We were hoping to have a shorter day in the car since we still had to circle back to Kenmare to get Coco after the tour and then drive on to Cork, another 90 minutes away. It was strange to spend a night away from Coco but we were getting updates from petsitter Kelly, letting us know that she was doing grand. 

I checked in with the front desk before heading to our second breakfast and was assured that the entire service, from cold buffet to hot entrée, was included in the price (charged to the room, of course). Now, freed from any sticker shock, we settled in and worked the hosted buffet like experts, even having a second croissant while waiting for our hot course to be served. Denise revisited the pancakes but I went for the Eggs Benedict, hoping they’d measure up to the heavenly Bennys at my favorite Portland breakfast spot Liddle Griddle. (Lori, you can tell them their crown is safe so far.)

Thus fortified, we headed north and, although it was definitely colder and cloudier than the day before, we were immediately encouraged by the general lack of wildfires. We made a detour to Inch Beach, where we got our first look at Irish surfing. The WAA is a hotspot for the sport, from Donegal in the north down to Cork on the south coast, and Inch Beach is a highly regarded strand of white sand stretching for a couple of kilometers. There were several surfers in the water and we watched for a while as they paddled way out and rode the surprisingly large waves back to shore. On the way back to the highway, we noticed some homemade protest signs next to a cell tower and, of course, Denise wanted to get to the bottom of the situation. It turned out that Vodafone had installed a tower in the small town of Inch and the angry locals wanted it gone. She signed their petition, wished them good luck, and then got her phone out to find the route to Dingle.  (pause for ironic eye roll)

It was a lovely drive to Dingle and we made a loop down the Main Street to get some video of the colorful town center. Denise was interested in a tour of the Dingle Distillery but, like most of the attractions, it was closed. I certainly didn’t want anything that would soften my focus on the Slea Road drive ahead, featuring some very narrow and winding roads with short rock walls on the edge, the only thing between you and hundred-foot high cliffs and the ocean. We passed by the White Cross, a roadside shrine and a place to say a prayer for no lorries or tractors coming the other way on the Slea Road. 

We braved the strong winds and cool temperatures to take a walk down to The Dunbeg Fort, some Iron Age rock structures, possibly dating to 500 BCE. The best part of the stroll down to the cliffs, however, was the view over the edge, with stunning black cliffs. We made stops at Blasket’s View, making friends with a cute gull, and Coumeenoole Beach, a dramatic strand (and movie location), high above some dangerous cliffs. Unlike in the USA, Ireland doesn’t put up a lot of barriers in these treacherous settings, preferring a few signs. Common sense is assumed here, rather than legislated. Speaking of signs, Gaelic is the primary language out here and they don’t bother so much with the bilingual requirements of the big cities. Many of the road signs have hand-painted English translations. 

Dunbeg Fort, overlooking the cliffs.

And the cliffs themselves

The treacherous steps down to Coumeenoole Beach

A Herring Gull, perched. 

Coumeenoole Beach-Pretty treacherous itself…

There’s a seasonal ferry service out to the once-inhabited, now-abandoned Blasket Islands and the “road” down to Dun Chaoin pier is one of the steepest and craziest paths you’ll ever walk. Denise made it down to the bottom but I had to stop halfway and still struggled to make it back up with my new hips. We had heard that once in a while a tourist in a rental car will try to drive down to the pier and inevitably get stuck on the impossible switchbacks. After my hike back up, I was more sympathetic to their plight. Just past that was a pull-off for a gorgeous viewpoint at Ceann Sraithe that was used as a setting for a scene in one of the Star Wars movies. The Jedi significance was lost on us but not the beauty. Apparently, more than a few scenes from the series were filmed in County Kerry and things get pretty crowded on the peninsula on May 4th. 

The Dun Chaoin Pier

Obligatory picture so you know we’re not just sharing Google images

That’s the Blaskets beyond this crazy pointy rock thing.

Instead of braving the elements, we opted to have our picnic lunch in the car, with the wild Atlantic in front of us. Time was getting tight so we decided to hit a couple of more spots on the tour and then get on the road to Kenmare. As soon as we got back on the road, however, we ran into a flock of sheep blocking the road with the herder and his dog desperately trying to get them into a nearby enclosure. We filmed it (see below) until the farmer told us to “git out the feckin’ way” and we drove on, wondering why they use dogs instead of pigs. 

Our final stop on the tour was the Gallarus Oratory, a mysterious and well-preserved stone building believed to have been constructed as a church, perhaps in the 7th century. The construction is fantastic. Each stone is fitted perfectly to the next creating an absolutely watertight structure. The Oratory is said to be the finest (and only) example of this type of structure in Europe. The Irish are pretty casual about their monuments: it sits in a field, unprotected, accessible to the public 7/24/365. I figured that if it was in America, it would have been tagged and vandalized. At least we would have had to pay an admission charge. Get it together, Ireland. 

From there, we said goodbye to Dingle and headed to Kenmare and our reunion with Coco who, according to Kelly the pet sitter, was now entirely acclimated to cats after her sleepover. Looking back over the two days of touring, we agreed that the Ring of Kerry was very beautiful but Dingle was more contained and a smidge more charming. The gorse fires were a bit of a drag but, on the plus side, we didn’t see a single tour bus either day! 

We arrived at Kelly’s place in the late afternoon and Coco leapt into our arms, beyond relieved that we were there to rescue her from the cat-astrophic holiday. It was true that she hadn’t growled or chased any of Kelly’s cats but we could tell she had merely gone into her submissive mode and tolerated the feline company. I think the picture below of the cat sitting on Coco’s rug says it all.

Now we were headed to Cork, on the south coast, and our first venture back into a big city since we had left home. The only hotel that we could find in the area that took dogs was the Vienna Woods Hotel, and they offered us a very attractive off-season rate, although the place was obviously way above our usual station. I’ll let their website describe it for you: 

Cork’s Vienna Woods Country House Hotel has a history as dramatic as the rich mustard tone that sets the building apart from the surrounding woodlands on the peaks of Glanmire, Co. Cork.

The building, perched on a height overlooking the Glashaboy River, has stood proudly since 1756. Built by Davis Ducart as a summer leisure lodge for Lord Barrymore, the building was designed in the Regency Style, a style that was very popular in the latter part of the 18th century. 

Next installment; Cork City, some castles, and then a visit to the ancestral home of the Slatterys in Tipperary, as told by Denise. Slán!