Day Six in Kerry Tues Sep 12

Another grey sky greeted us in the morning so there was no rush to get out. Besides, we wanted to talk to Beatrice, our B&B hostess. This was the only traditional B&B, with the full Irish breakfast, that we would do on the trip and we had stayed with her before. So we lingered awhile. Plus we met an interesting couple from South Wales, just across the Bristol Channel from our friends the Humphries in Bath, England. This is part of the fun of a traditional B&B but many of them have converted to “guest houses” or something like that. This is one of the consequences of covid.

As we were finishing breakfast I could see the clouds thinning out to the east so we headed back through Dingle Town to find something on that side of the peninsula. Minard Castle wasn’t too far so we decided to try it again. This time the light would be completely different.

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Above we have more Irish who can't wait to dive into the freezing sea.    _8505543 _8505569

A cold swim every morning hasn't seemed to hurt this guy. _8505572

After that little shoot we headed back around Slea Head to the Blasket Island Center. I had to stop for just one picture of my little friend, pictured below. And that is Great Blasket Island in the background. If you zoom in you may be able to see the remnants of the village. It was inhabited until 1953 and the Blasket Center is basically telling these people’s story. We found it a very interesting place to learn some Irish heritage.

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Just a short stretch of the legs up the seashore is a ruin of a cottage that I wanted to scout for a possible sunset shot.

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Okay, full disclosure: This is not an authentic Irish cottage. It was built in 1970 by director David Lean for the film Ryan’s Daughter. This was the home/schoolhouse of the Robert Mitchum and Sarah Miles characters. In fact most of the filming was right on this stretch of Dingle. But it’s close enough to a real one. He didn’t cut any corners on building it. Everything was authentic including the stone wall around it. And its easy to see why he wanted it here. No other building is in sight and the feeling of being at the end of the world haunts the place. 

It looked suitable for sunset so we planned to come back.

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We've been to Dingle on every one of our trips and she has always given us one of her grand and glorious days. This would be another one. Clear and calm. I've stood very close to this same spot on six different trips and looking out at this panorama I always wonder if the people living in these ringforts and beehive huts 3000 years ago appreciated the beauty around them. Or did they just get up and trudge off to work worrying about the price of wool?  

  _8505765 _8505799  Slea Head has lots of these antiquities which I can't resist. The one above must have been pretty nice because it apparently had electricity. Might it be the Flintstone residence? On the horizon are the Skelig Islands. 

The shadows are getting longer so time to get back around Slea Head for sunset, with a few stops on the way.

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 And a grand day that it was indeed!