Dingle Peninsula

Tuesday, March 18
Dingle Peninsula

Off to the beach! I went south to find a beach. My guidebook suggested blah blah blah, and on the way I found Derrymore Strand. Going through Adare was a hoot. Lovely thatched cottages at the Limerick end of town, and a gorgeous expensive hotel/golfcourse complex. It is SO sad that there are very few turnouts to stop and take photos on the spur of the moment. I usually screech to a stop at some teeny tiny slip of a spot barely off the road, hop out, and snap something, terrified the whole time that I’m going to get squashed.

Anyway… Derrymore Strand, just past Tralee (traw lee, not trolley!), was a miles long sandy beach jam packed with shells. I meandered along, collecting shells between the high tide line and the very gentle surf. Lots and lots of stacked oysters; the largest shell on the bottom would have two or three or more smaller oyster shells attached to the uppermost half of its shell. I found two skate egg cases (a small shark), several of the semi opaque egg cases I found on my first beach (and no, I still didn’t collect any), just a few snail shells. I also found an awesome huge scallop shell in perfect condition.

At one point along the beach, there were a slew of small clam shells strung in long rows going towards the shore. I wonder how they get deposited in these long columns? And just in this one area…

Just a few birds; I got close enough to these oystercatchers to use the telephoto lens. I also saw some seagulls or maybe they were terns? But didn’t get any pictures of them. These guys were just waiting on the big cobbles, kind of sleeping until I disturbed them. The cobbles were hard to walk on because of the unevenness; somewhat slippery too. At this point I turned around and wandered back to the car, kind of thinking about some lunch.

It was an awesome ramble along the beach. I only had my polar fleece, forgetting the raincoat/windbreaker at home, and was comfortably warm in the very light breeze. I miss the ocean so much in Fairbanks, and I’m planning on spending a couple more days at the beach before I go home. We’re not far from the ocean, and Tony had a couple suggestions on where to go when I got home that night.

But first, I had to find some lunch. I stopped at a pub not far past Derrymore Strand, where the woman rather curtly informed me that they didn’t serve food there, and I probably wouldn’t find anything open until I got to Dingle. I found this uncommunicative attitude all through the Dingle Peninsula; quite a contrast to the very friendly and talkative folks I’ve met so far.

I kept going, and turned off at the sign to Blue Beach (I’m guessing it’s blue because if you swim in the water here, you’ll be blue!), which turned out to be a surfing area. Not much in the way of beachcombing, so I kept going. And that woman was right, no one was serving food at anything I passed.

and
I had to go over Conor Pass; it’s the highest pass in Ireland. The hills off to my left (east of me) were populated to a point, and then bare. Very rocky and sparsely vegetated, wonderfully wild in the dramatically clouded sky. The road is steep and narrow, somewhat like the Coast Highway in California, but without the dramatic dropoffs, until you get close to the pass. Lots of sheep, but the road was fenced. I did see one ewe on the wrong side of the fence though, so it pays to be careful anyway.

When you get close to the pass, there are a couple of one lane sections, where people at one end or the other would wait until the road was clear. One section wasn’t completely visible, so I watched from my tiny roadside pulloff as two cars met and squeaked by each other (wondering all the time if the emergency brake was going to hold, or would I be squished by my own car rolling backwords down the hill??).

(looking back the way I came)

(looking towards Dingle)
Of course, just as I topped the crest, there was a large carpark with views of both sides of the pass. There was a track across the road from the carpark; I wondered if it would be okay to hike up that way. If I hadn’t been so hungry, I would have loved to explore.

Dingle is a cute little town. I found a busy pub for lunch, with the waitress exhibiting the Dingle Peninsula curtness. At first I thought it was my American accent, but she seated an Irish woman and her two girls near me, and the woman was just as surprised by her shortness as I was. The oysters were delicious despite the chilly attitude of the waitress, and I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch.

Walking through town afterwards was delightful. I went into my first hat shop, and grilled the poor clerk. She couldn’t tell me much; she only worked there, and didn’t do any of the hatmaking. Owned by a husband and wife, who both make hats for the shop, it’s a very small shop. I did speak to the husband, but true to Dingle, he was too busy to talk with me. I also visited another shop with these wonderful wooly wooden sheep, made into rocking horses and footstools, as well as other pieces of furniture. Way too large to pack into the suitcase!

On my way out of town, I stopped at Kerry Woollen Mills, and found my sweater. I got a beautiful tweedy blue wool/silk/cotton sweater that is wonderfully warm. I can hardly bear to take it off when I get back in the house!

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Driving through the rest of the peninsula on the way home was so lovely. I opted not to do Slieve Head (past Dingle), as it was getting late in the afternoon, and I was hoping to get to a couple more beaches on the way home. But, of course I got lost trying to find them, so I finally turned around and went back through Tralee and on home.