The Dingle Peninsula is home to many treasures. There is the town of
Dingle itself with an active art community, a lively music scene, a dolphin
making Dingle its home and, not to mention, all the pubs in this harbor side
town. Also on the peninsula is Inch Beach, the Sorth Pole Inn, bee hive
huts, historical monuments, Gaelic culture, horse races, narrow lanes, Louis
Mulcahy pottery, sheep, views, sandy beaches along the Atlantic coast, the
Blasket Islands, and Mount Brandon to name a few.
The attraction that brought me to Dingle was the Dingle Way. With limited
time and an easy loop to walk, I decided on a 4 day walking tour taking me
through the following places:
Dingle – Ventry – Dunquin – Ballyferriter - Dingle
Taking the bus from Killarney I
arrived around noon time giving me the afternoon to walk around Dingle before
enjoying a nice meal with a CouchSurfer, his housemate, and two other
travelers. We had the national dish I wanted
to try, boiled cabbage and ham. It was
hardy and good and perfect for carbo loading for the next day’s hike.
Bright and early on August 5th
I walked the local pathway into Dingle.
I passed the lighthouse, an old tower, looked for Fungie the dolphin in
the water, and enjoyed watching the green hills change colors as the sun was
climbing the sky.
The walk was a long one but the
scenery kept me going. Not only did the
scenery keep changing but so did the weather.
By the time I finished at 4:30pm in Dunquin, it was raining hard and it
was cold. I was happy to be staying at a
hostel rather than pitching a tent somewhere.
The hostel has excellent views of the ocean and the Blasket Islands once
the skies cleared. The hostel was warm
and well run. I wanted to extend for
another day but it was booked up. On this
leg of the walk you pass by the most western point of Europe at Dunmore Head.
Day 2 was a shorter walk to get
to the next hostel allowing me some side trips and an extended two hour picnic
at a sheltered spot on some cliffs at Dun an Oir. The Black Cat hostel had a nice homey feel to
it and it is on the small side with three bedrooms. The couple running the hostel also runs the
store downstairs and this store happened to be the most popular store among the
two in town with the local high school kids attending an overnight camp on the
edge of town. The store had a run on
Pringles and soda.
From the kitchen window upstairs,
a German couple and I watched a neighbor and his sheep dog herd sheep into
clusters until the rain started pouring.
Day 3 I lightened my load and did
a big loop in the area wanting to see an early ecclesiastical site at Reask
featuring a pillar stone inscribed with a Greek cross and pendant spiral
designs, the Gallarus Oratory which is a 1000 year old dry-stone church built
without mortar, and then to the Kilmalkedar Church housing early Christian
monuments like the alphabet stone, a sundial and boasts a fine Romanesque
doorway. These stops took me inland and
uphill. The country side is quiet and
scenic and with the sun coming out, I couldn’t think of a better place to
be. The walk back along the coast was
also a special treat. The kids here grow
up playing in the surf in wetsuits and with more sheep and cows than kids, the
beach had few beachgoers. While the few
kids were out enjoying the later afternoon waves, I sat mesmerized by the surf.
The last day was a short three
hour walk along one of the few roads on the peninsula to get back to
Dingle. The roads can be a scary place
to walk or bike because they are narrow and the hedgerows are high giving
limited sight access. Some locals drive
extremely fast and there is no shoulder to escape to. Extreme caution is required on these twisty
roads no wider than three cows abreast. It should be noted that the hedgerows in
places are stunning because they are fuchsias giving a nice touch of red in an
otherwise very verdant setting.
To cap off the rewarding walk, I
met my sister and her boyfriend Willie for a hot and tasty meal at the marina
restaurant. The day kept getting better
too because we had two more treats coming up.
The first was on the way home when we stopped off at the South Pole Inn
for beers and an Irish coffee. The
reason why there is something related to the South Pole in Ireland is because
of Tom Crean. He was a former owner of
the inn and was a stalwart of the Scott and Shackleton expeditions to
Antarctic. A famous picture of him has
him with his pipe clenched in his teeth clutching an armful of puppies.
The last big event was the farewell
dinner for the three of us at the Park restaurant located in the Killarney Park
Hotel. The hotel is five stars and the restaurant is
elegant and stylish. We had a table by
the fire place and I was glad the fire was going because the evening was more
fall like than summer. The service was excellent
and dining experience was superb. We
ate, we drank, we laughed, and we recalled the adventures we had over the last month. While Ireland was not on my summer radar, it
was a highlight.
