Killarney

We woke to blue skies and a wonderful view from our b and b windows of the very impressive Magillycuddy's Reeks, the highest mountains in Ireland with the most amazing name! Fantastic start to what was to be a rather terrifying yet fabulous day. 

The Dingle peninsula is certainly in the shadows of its next door neighbour, the Ring of Kerry, but I really do not understand why. We loved it.  We were told that the roads were not as busy and were also considerably wider, so I set off without a care in the world 

 

Why on earth would one worry with a day like this and such gorgeous landscape. I had been advised to go over the Connor Pass from the north, so despite some low cloud hanging over the mountains, we set off. The sign at the start of the 5 km road to the Pass said the road was unsafe in severe weather, but at that point it was just a little misty. Within minutes we were plunged into thick fog on a virtually single track with jagged rocks to my left and what was presumably a sheer drop off the right ( thankfully I could not see past the stone fence at the roadside). Visibility was about 5 metres. There were lots of new experiences here - fog, narrow mountain pass and driving an expensive BMW rental car. I started to panic and then we came face to face with a large blue van on one of the narrowest stretches of the road. I am embarrassed to say I froze.

 There was a car behind , just visible through the fog. What should I do? I was helped a little by the thought of what Mark and David would say. 'Don't worry, you will be fine' from one and ' come on, harden up ! from the other. Both quite encouraging and motivating! Sadly, it took a while for me to reach the point of being reassured I could manage, but luckily, there was a really kind, helpful, patient and presumably local man in the car behind who came to the car window to try to help. I am afraid that by then I had lost it completely and the tears were trickling down my cheeks. I even asked him if he could drive for me, but he had never driven an automatic so I had to do it. We slowly edged forwards and backwards, getting horribly close to the cliff face,until the blue van could squeeze by, only millimetres away from us! What a terrifying experience. The guy behind said he would drive ahead to guide me but took off so rapidly, I soon lost him. Thankfully we were near the top of the pass and could take a breather there and shortly afterwards, after a very curvy road, we got out of the fog. I think it would have been an amazing view from the top in fine weather . I was rather weak at the knees by the time we reached Dingle, a small fishing town in a Gaeltacht area - Irish speaking area. It is a very pretty, colourful place and seemed like a haven to me at that moment. Best tea and scones I have tasted for months.

 

What a beautiful peninsula it is with its green fields with sheep and donkeys, lovely stone walls, spectacular views along the coastline and its fair share of ancient forts. The one below is afun Beg with its four earthern rings of defence and stunning views.

 

We stopped at both the fort( you can see the remnants of the fog in the background!)

 

 And also some fascinating beehive huts dating back to 2000 BC, probably inhabited by farming families until about 800 years ago. They must have been incredibly small people, the doors were so narrow and very low. Very cleverly built though with mortar.

 

We did run into another traffic issue just before Slea Head but fortunately we had a large bus infront of us which meant those coming towards him had to back back! Not sure I could have coped with reversing here. We were deceivingly high up and the road was very narrow. There was still some sea mist around but not a problem thank goodness.

 

The hold up was worth it for this breathtaking view just round the corner of the craggy cliffs and long sandy beach

 

It was really freezing there, hence the virtually deserted beach!

The Skea Head drive was really spectacular and once we left the main road we were pretty much alone, just like driving in NZ, even with fields of sheep around us!

 

We had to pass through Dingle again and Trudi very kindly shouted me a trip out on the little fishing boat to view Fungi, a dolphin who has been resident there for over 30 years. He is almost 95% guaranteed to show up, and he did for us, but was impossible to photograph. It was a wonderful trip and probably one of the other highlights was seeing dozens of gannets fishing, diving like arrows into the sea,p. That low cloud, fog, was still hanging over Connors Pass. 

 

We were so lucky with the weather. It looked threatening, but in fact it was warm and sunny where we were!

 

Luckily we could go back on a much easier route, with a stop off at Inch Strand, an incredibly long sandy beach, popular with surfers and at sunset even more magnificent.

 

We arrived home a little weary but ready for a really delicious meal at Cronins Restaurant in Killarney. A really fantastic day on this wonderful peninsula.