Ireland-Scotland 2013 - Dingle Peninsula  

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On Sunday morning we awoke to find the breakfast room already full. The owner apologized for the delay, due to an unusually full house & a boisterous party of fishermen. 'Come back in 45 minutes', she advised, so I briefly joined Doris, Paul, and Mary, for coffee in the front room.

From the picture window I could see surrounding hills and grabbed the camera and took a short walk down the nearest lane. It was a beautiful morning, sunny with a chilly breeze.  

	out on a walk		a cool & windy Sunday morning
		the sea is everywhere

After a big Irish breakfast we mobilized & had an hour's drive to Conor Pass, on the way to the popular coastal town of Dingle. Conor Pass is the highest drive-able mountain pass in Ireland. 

note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.

	Conor Pass drive		we parked & climbed to the best view		there was intense wind on the ridge
		chat with other tourists		Kerry Peninsula on the horizon
	closer look		sunny Dingle  town below
		back to the carpark
	center city Dingle

We got coffee in Dingle & spent a few minutes walking around. Next we toured the Dingle Peninsula, a scenic two-hour drive which was completely uncrowded.   

	visitor center & cafe		red fuchsia was everywhere
		a currach		Paul at visitor center
	ancient Dunbeg Fort across the street		Dunbeg has 5th & 6th century artifacts
		Mary & Paul		impressive horse, note 1
	famine house		SW corner of Ireland

note 1 - on the path from a carpark to a famine house, a young Irish lad was sitting and warning tourists not to go near this horse.

note 2 - The Slea Head area, seen below, is the western-most part of the European Continent.   

The Potato Famine in Ireland in the 1840s is sometimes called The Starvation, because even with the terrible blight, which ruined Irish potato crops, as it already had in Europe, for a decade, Ireland still produced a bumper crop of other foods, like eggs, meat & vegetables, but all of it was by law destined only for English consumption.  

Irish farmers and their families were completely dependent on the potato to feed themselves, so when the famine hit, starvation quickly followed, and because the blight kept returning, over the next a decade a million Irish men, women and children, perished from starvation. 

Members of Parliament denied that their policies were causing this outcome, instead blaming the (Catholic) Irish for having too many children. It took international journalism to shame the Brits into doing anything about it, and what they did was too little and too late.

In the 1840s, an Irish exodus began that lasted a hundred years, when one-third of Ireland's population (or 2M people) emigrated overseas to the US & Canada. 

For the four of us, that Irish emigrants were our ancestors.      

The Dingle Peninsula drive continues -  

	Slea Head				Paul looking out to the Wild Atlantic...
		...at Coumeenoole		Mount Brendon in the distance (see note)
	Smerwick Harbor		tourists at the ancient church of Gallarus...		...an early Christian church, from 800 AD
		Celtic symbol		Saint Brendan's area, see note 1
	B&B in Ventrys		Kerry Peninsula in the distance		views from the B&B
		Palm trees in Ireland ? see note 2		Mary spotted a Norman castle ruin nearby
	back in Dingle for food & pub music

note 1 - Mount Brendon is the second highest peak in Ireland, at 3,123 ft. There's an annual Catholic Pilgrimage to a monument at the top. Saint Brendan was born in County Kerry in 484 and was ordained a Priest, later becoming a scholar & preacher, founding Monasteries along Ireland's west coast.  

There's a myth about him rowing a Currach west to Newfoundland & back, about 4,000 miles, with a group monk-explorers; more later on the story...

note 2 - Palm trees are somewhat cold-hardy & do just fine in the southern-most coastal areas of England, Ireland and even Scotland. For instance, you can find palm trees in the gardens of Stirling Castle or Holyrood Palace, a testimony to the warming currents (the Gulf Stream) flowing NE from the Caribbean. (On the south coast of Cornwall, even sub-tropical plants can be found.)

Dingle is a very popular tourist destination, because of its sunny weather, amazing scenery, and its active traditional Irish music scene. There are 36 pubs, some with music every night, the majority only on weekends. 

We were there on a Sunday night and summer crowds were long gone, so there was no wait for a table at dinner, or in the pubs. 

On the cobbled main street, Mary and I sat at a pub to hear general Irish music, whereas Doris & Paul went uphill in search of fiddle music. Mary & I also had an interesting encounter with two locals (who had not seen each other for 15 years) in front of the Pub. 

Soon enough Doris & Paul returned and we had a short & curvy coastal drive to the B&B at Ventrys. The Moon was still full, lighting up the landscape.   

The B&B was not far from the Atlantic  and my 2nd floor bedroom, at the front of the house, had an astounding view across miles of open water, towards the Kerry Peninsula. Once again, a large crank-out window brought in cool air & this time a subtle 'murmur' of waves breaking against distant shores.         

go to day 3 & 4 - Killarney

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