The+DINGLE+PENINSULAR

=**The DINGLE PENINSULAR**=

The Dingle Peninsular, Kerry’s “other” famous drive is shorter but just as scenic and probably more interesting that the Ring. It has a wealth of historical monuments - Iron Age stone forts, inscribed stones, early Christian oratories and beehive huts can be found scattered around this ancient land where Gaelic is common (even some road signs are only in Gaelic – we had to turn on Sean, our GPS friend, at one stage to work out which way to go). We decided to drive over Connor Pass, the highest mountain pass in Ireland, on our way to Dingle, the starting point of the Slea Head loop. The weather forecast assured us that the weather would be sunny in the morning with heavy rain in the afternoon, so we headed off bright and early (well, around 8:30 which is early in this part of the world!) Of course, the rain started to drizzle as soon as we left Killarney and turned into an absolute downpour by the time we were heading up Connor Pass. Thankfully buses aren’t allowed on this route as, with the very narrow, windy road, the heavy rain and the almost zero visibility due to fog it was quite a drive! Unfortunately the only pictures we got of the supposedly fantastic views are below…. By the time we reached Dingle the sun was trying hard to come out and soon after we had the car windows down and I was searching for a cap to wear when we got out. What a country! Our first stop (after a cuppa and look around in Dingle) was Dunbeg Fort. Dating from the Iron Age, Dunbeg Fort is a promontory fort (ie one side hangs over the cliff) – as it is on private land we had our first experience of having to pay to visit. A mere 3 euro each ($4.20) muttered the man who deemed to look up from his morning paper, take our money, thrust tickets in our hands, and return to more important matters. Next up was Cathair na gConchuireach, a cashel or enclosed farmstead (pretty enclosed now as you have to pass through the owner’s tourist trap shed and pay your money). These beehive huts would have been inhabited from ancient times to 1200AD and were totally made of stone. Obviously stone was plentiful and (unless they cut them all down) there is a lack of decent trees in this area. The houses were erected in the form of a circle of successive strata of stone, each stratum lying a little closer to the centre than the one beneath and so on upwards until the final small aperture at the top can be closed with a single flagstone or capstone. Quite ingenious and awe inspiring – I hate to think what sort of mess I would make trying something like this. The road then took us around Slea Head with its great coastal views sights and views across to Blasket Islands, past the Three Sisters and on to Gallarus where we visited the Oratory, a tiny dry stone church (similar to the beehive huts) dating from early Christian times (c700AD). It is still remarkably intact and weather proof after more than 1300 years. Our final stop was Kilmalkedar where there is the ruin of a Romanesque church founded in 636AD. This proved to be quite difficult to find as, although it is mentioned in all the brochures etc, the locals haven’t gone so far as to put any signage up – the only sign we found was outside the church itself! We had rain, fog and sunshine. What more could you ask for? Tonight we hitting the town for some more Irish music – a couple of pubs have advertised traditional music so its Guiness and whiskey and hi-de-hi-ho for us. ||
 * [[image:IMG_1067.jpg width="300" height="201"]] || [[image:IMG_1068.jpg width="301" height="202"]] || [[image:IMG_1186.jpg width="300" height="201"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1043.jpg caption="The road. that's exactly what we could see!"]] || [[image:IMG_1038.jpg caption="Waterfall as a result of the downpour (taken from car window)"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1048.jpg caption="Dingle pubs (of course)"]] || [[image:IMG_1059.jpg caption="Dingle harbour with town in background"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1078.jpg caption="Dunbeg promontory fort"]] || [[image:IMG_1084.jpg caption="Gail pointing out the finer features of the fort"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1092.jpg caption="Beehive hut"]] || [[image:IMG_1094.jpg caption="not a bad setting for a home eh?"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1132.jpg]] || [[image:IMG_1120.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1119.jpg]] || [[image:IMG_1107.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1104.jpg]] || [[image:IMG_1083.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1153.jpg caption="The Oratory at Gallerus"]] || [[image:IMG_1147.jpg caption="What light through yonder window breaks?"]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1160.jpg]] || [[image:IMG_1176.jpg]] ||
 * [[image:IMG_1179.jpg]] || All in all a really great day out!