This Woman Was HereIreland Archives

Ireland

On May 15, 2017, my son JP, his girlfriend Kaylea, and Steve and I head to Shannon for a one week indi trip to Southwestern Ireland, flying in and out of Shannon and staying in Boland’s B&B in Dingle Town for two nights while we tour the Dingle Peninsula, and The Old Church House B&B in Kenmare while we do the Ring of Kerry, and finally Fitgeralds Woodland House in Adare for two nights.

The trip, which I booked through Great Value Vacations, a trip I saw advertised on Travelzoo, includes the flights from Orlando, the hotels, and a rental car for six days for around one thousand dollars each. It was a good deal until I upgraded to an automatic car, for me a necessity since we will be driving on the left side in Ireland and the idea of shifting with my left hand is way too complicated. I was told that the upgrade would add over $400, not including insurance (another $200), all which seemed excessive. I checked Dan Dooley rental cars online for Shannon airport and found that an automatic for the period we would have the car was less than 200 Euros. When I called Great Vacations back, they insisted that they had no control over the cost of the rental car and they had no way to alter the price. It strikes me that someone is making an unfair profit somewhere, but I couldn’t get to the bottom of it and decided to bite the bullet and pay for the upgrade rather than spoil the vacation with the added stress of trying to shift with my left hand

Shannon to Dingle by way of Bunratty

About twenty minutes from Shannon airport, Bunratty Castle is one of the best restored and furnished castles in Ireland. The original Dirty Nelly’s, built in 1620, sits between the Shannon and the castle.

Burnaby Castle with the original Dirty Nelly’s

Four castles were built by Normans and destroyed by the Irish between 1250 and 1353. The MacNamara clan built the present stone castle in 1425 but by 1475, it was taken over by the O’Brien clan, which were given the title Earl of Thomond by Henry VIII in return for their oath of loyalty. Their reign came to an end with the arrival of Cromwell’s troops and the castle was subsequently granted to several Plantation families, the last of which abandoned the castle in 1804. The castle was purchased in 1945 and was restored and opened to the public in 1962. The many interior rooms give a feel for what life would have been like in the 1400 to 1600s.

The Folk Park adjacent to the castle offers a glimpse of 19th century Irish life with over 30 restored buildings.

When we were there, the wisteria, horse chestnuts, roses, lupines, foxglove, and hundreds of other flowers were in bloom.

walled Regency garden

Costumed interpreters recreate the life of an Irish village. This woman made and baked scones on a griddle over coals.

tea room cooking demonstration

Bobby citing Kaylea for drinking (coffee) in public

The drive to Dingle was a little over two hours, but for someone not used to driving on the left or on such narrow curing roads, it is a white-knuckle experience. We checked into Boland’s B&B, showered and napped before going out to a dinner of local lamb and seafood at Paudie’s Bar on the waterfront, where we listened to several hours of great local music.

Dingle Peninsula

After an amazing full Irish breakfast with sausage, bacon (ham), black and white pudding, beans, egg, tomato, and fantastic home made Irish bread, we set out for the Connor Pass, ten minutes outside of Dingle.

The pass is 410 meters high with stunning views of both Dingle Bay and Brandon Bay.

The fog swept over the pass with alarming speed, falling into the valley like a waterfall. The yellow gorse and pink foxgloves are in bloom. Both valleys are a patchwork of green fields partitioned by stone fences. We chose to go no farther than the car park because the pass is a one lane road.

Slea Head Drive is supposed to take a half day, but we spent the entire day and wanted more time to take short hikes along the coast. If you only have one day in Dingle, Slea Head is the thing to do. We walked down to the beach in Ventry, stopped at the Celtic Prehistoric museum (private 5 E, but well worth it for the stunning collection of prehistoric pieces, including he largest wooly mammoth skull in the world, and neolithic and bronze age pieces that rival any museum. There is also a shop that sells local art (wool scarves and caps, carved fairy heads, and items from norther Thailand, where the proprietor spends the winter).

Next we stopped at the Lios (2 euro), a fairy fort, built by pre Celtic inhabitants known as Tuatha Dé Danann. It is a ring fort with earth berms crating a moat surrounding the what would have been dwellings. (Also a chance to feed the sheep and thick-furred Irish donkeys).

Then it was on to Dunbeg Fort (3E), inhabited since 900 BC but used primarily in eight and ninth centuries.

It has a series of four earthen berms and an inner drystone wall, which has a stepped structure on the interior that might have accommodated seating for some sort of ceremony. Inside is a large stone Beehive structure that is believed to have had a thatched roof. A storm in 2014 washed away part of the wall and the fort’s days seem numbered.

From Dunbeg Fort we walked to the famine houses (2E), with more food for sheep, ponies, and a llama.

The story of the potato famine is a horrendous one. When the potato crop was killed in 1845 and 46 by a blight apparently imported from US, thousands of poor Irish farmers died of starvation, leading to massive emigration to the US and Canada on boats that were so overcrowded they were called coffin ships.

Many contracted fever and died in route or once they reached their destination. Gross Isle, outside of Quebec, was a quarantine island for new immigrants, with many forced to remain on the ships they arrived on, with both healthy and sick people confined in overcrowded conditions that spread the disease.

After the famine houses, we decided to eat lunch at the Storehouse Restaurant where we parked because of the gorgeous view. It started to sprinkle after we ordered and we moved inside and enjoyed a lovely meal minus the view. Kaylea has been impressed by how everyplace we have been has had a gluten free menu.

Next, we stopped at the Beehive huts, inhabited between 2000 BC and 1200 AD.

Slea Head

I had read about two great short walks, one from the Blasket Island Center carpark, which was easy enough to find. We skipped the center and opted to walk right from the carpark for ten minutes to the coast and then another five minutes around the headland and were rewarded with unbelievable views from what must have been a landing spot for boats going to the Blasket Islands because we found cement stairs leading down to the crashing sure, quite dramatic.

The second hike was from the car park for Clogher Head Beach, but by then it was after five and we had ticket for a 7:30 concert in St. James church, so we decided to skip that walk and head back to Dingle via N-560 just past the Gallarus Oratory (3E), a drystone built rectangular building that looks much like an upturned boat.

We took R559 back toward Dingle, and our last stop was Kilmalkader Church, a roofless Romanesque ruin with a ogam stone that is said to have the Roman alphabet inscribed on its side.

In the graveyard, there is also an ancient sundial and a second inscribed stone.

Sundial

We got back to our B&B in time for a short rest before we headed out to a 7:30 folk concert at St James Church on Main Street, a regular even on Wednesdays, We heard a wonderful evening of music with fiddle, Irish pipes (a modified and much better sounding bagpipe).

When that ended, we wandered next door to the Dingle Pub for more trad music and hoping for some food, but as we discovered, kitchens all over town shut down at 9 pm. We wandered down to Dick Macks, a traditional pub with lots of tiny rooms, and ended up at John Benny’s where we heard a female group with lovely vocals and enjoyed Guinness for dinner.

Ring of Kerry

5/19 The Ring of Kerry

After another fantastic Irish breakfast Helen, our host, suggested a shortened version of the Ring of Kerry, up to Valentia Island and back again, which turned out to be quite a good suggestion.

We followed Kenmore Bay all the way from Kenmore, driving through gorgeous forests. The Ring of Kerry is quite different from Dingle in that it is much more heavily forested, with hawthorne hedgerows in bloom and wild purple rhododendron bushes throughout the woods. Our first stop was in Sneem, a quaint village with houses painted in bright primary colors.

Next was Staigue Fort, the largest and best preserved dry stone fort in Ireland. It was four kilometers off the main road, all of it on a one lane road with blind curves where two cars could not pass without one pulling into the occasional widened pull-offs. How JP drove it without turning gray I don’t know, but the fort was well worth the drive. The fort is nestled in a bowl surrounded by mountains with a spectacular view down to Kenmore Bay.

Staigue Fort

The size put Dunbeg Fort to shame. The circular fort is 25 meters wide with walls 4 meters thick and over 7 high. Stone steps on the inside make the rampart easy to climb, which we all did.

On our way out we stopped at a cute stand for coffee and apple pie with strawberries and cream. The young man who waited on us was from Philadelphia, but his grandmother lived in the house overlooking the fort.

Our next stop was Derrynane, the home of Partick O’Connell, the father of Irish Independence. Educated in France during the revolution, he believed all men should be free and equal and was a committed abolitionist in addition to campaigning for Irish emancipation, which he achieved in 1822. The gardens surrounding the house are spectacular as is the beach walk to Abbey Island and the ruins of an abby where his wife is buried overlooking the water.

Just past Waterville, we took the Skellig Ring Road through Ballinskelligs. The mountain roads that lead to Portagee offer spectacular views of the Skelligs.

We had a picnic lunch overlooking a beautiful bay and beach as we watched the rain obscure the Skellig Islands and make its way toward shore, finishing our picnic just as the rain arrived.

The road that crosses over the mountain is again one lane most of the way, so one car must stop to accommodate an oncoming car or motor bikes. Luckily, no buses are allowed on the Ring Road.

On Valentia Island, we visited the Skellig Experience, well worth it for those too timid or sane to hazard a visit to Skellig Michael, a monastery founded in 500 AD by Augustinian monks seeking a retreat from the world. Skellig Michael is ten miles off the coast, and the ascent to the stone beehive huts at the top of the island is vertical. The scene from the latest Star Wars in which they find Luke in a monastery was filmed there, stimulating new interest in the island.

On our way from Valentia toward N70, we saw fields where long rows of peat bricks was being dried, and most farmhouses had a pile of peat under plastic in the farmyard.

It was almost an eight hour day and I can’t imagine doing more than we did.

Back in Kenmore, we had a lovely dinner at Davitt’s listening to more live music (Kenmore seafood platter with salmon, cod, crab claws, mussels, prawns and smoked salmon for me, duck for Steve, lamb for Kaylea, and fish and chips for JP).We have not had a mediocre meal yet. The food is gourmet, the portions large, and the prices reasonable.

Afterward we wandered down the street, impressed by the number of restaurants/pubs that had live music.

Dingle to Kenmare

We drove from Dingle to Kenmare by way of Inch Beach, a long white sand beach with a steady line of breakers rolling ashore.

After restorative naps at our B&B, the Old Church House, we explored the ruins of an 1816 church across the street and walked into Kenmare (15 minutes) on a lovely evening. Kenmore is a larger market town, with lots of shops and restaurants.

We heard great music from Mac and Mel at the Wander Inn and enjoyed yet another fantastic meal, warm goat cheese salad and Irish stew.

The food has been a lovely surprise, both in the quality and in the availability of gluten free options for Kaylea.

Kenmare to Adare via Killarney Nat’l Park and Muckross House

After another lovely breakfast, we decided to take the mountain pass road from Kenmore through Killarney National Park, which took us to Lady’s View

Ladies View

and down to a parking area beside Torc Waterfall, where we hired a jaunting car to drive us around Muckross Gardens and Abbey.

It was a great experience being driven by a third generation driver, with the clip-clop of Polly’s hooves as we drove through the park and passed the house that was built in 1833 by an Englishman out of English sandstone and sold in 1899 to a Guinness, who rented it out for hunting parties.

In 1911 it was bought by an American gold mine owner as a wedding present for his daughter. Unfortunately, she died a year later and the family donated the house and 11,00o acres to Ireland in her memory. It became the first National Park in Ireland.

The Franciscan Abbey was was built in 1448 around a yew tree that was 200 years old at the time.

It was burned first by Henry VIII and then by Cromwell in 1652 and subsequently abandoned.

The gardens that surround Muckross House are spectacular, with hundred year old trees and flowering rhodedenron and azaleas.

Our driver dropped us back at Torc Waterfall (meaning boar in Gaelic).

Next we visited Ross castle, a tower house built in the mid 1400s by the O’Donohue clan. It is a tower house, with slit windows, murder holes, and double oak doors, meant to defend against the cattle raids of nearby clans. The clan took 1500 cattle and 7000 sheep from another clan.

Ross Castle

The there we made our way to Adare, which was very crowded on a Sat, but not as busy as the Fitzgerald Woodland House where we were staying. They were hosting a wedding and a half dozen first communion celebrations, so we were conspicuously underdressed for the crowd in the lobby.

That evening we went into Adare, with its thatched roofed cottages for what was once again an amazing pub meal of duck and steak.

Cliffs of Moher and the Burren

The Cliffs are only an hour and a half from Adare and the roads are much better than I remember from my first trip. The crowds have increased significantly, however. We were once again lucky with the weather with rain only when we were in the rock and fossil shop just before the cliffs.

The Burren Way, the walking path along the cliffs has a section behind stone barricades, but lots of people chose to walk on the open cliffs, risking the danger of the cliff collapsing under them. Someone died just last month by getting too close to the edge.

Afterwards we drove into the Burren, an unusual carst topography area laid down on the bottom of seas in the last ice age. The roads through the Burren are narrow, but luckily there was not much traffic.

We visited Kilfenora Church with the largest collection of stone Celtic crosses carved in the 11^th and 12^th centuries.