A bit of the ride description: “This is a wonderful bicycle ride with superb scenery, a plethora of sites of interest, and quiet roads. For most of the ride you are simply following the signs for the Slea Head Drive which routes along the R559 in a clockwise circuit from Dingle. The area west of Dingle has the greatest concentration of ancient sites in Ireland. The landscape is dramatic, and there are wonderful views of the Blasket Islands from Slea Head. “
Indeed there was lots to see. At 3 hours into the cycle we realized we had only covered 18km! Some of us stopped at the Slea Head Famine Cottages. It is “intended as a memorial to remind us of the tragedy of famine....”. The Great Famine of the mid 1800s saw the population of Ireland fall by over 2 million as a result of death and emigration. The buildings served as a stark reminder of what a charmed life we lead in this day and age! This particular cottage had been expanded numerous times over the years and was inhabited by descendants of the original family up until the 1960s. Beautiful views from up there....
West Kerry County was apparently one of the regions hardest hit by the 1845-1850 Irish Potato Famine.
Just across the highway from the Famine Cottages were the remnants of an old fort. Unfortunately much of those remains recently crumbled into the ocean during a storm, so the site is closed for now.
There were many more sites we were tempted to stop at, but in the interests of finishing before dark we pressed on. Amazing views continued......
Off in the distance we could just barely see the outlines of the Skellig Islands, which are off the coast of the Iveragh Peninsula (Ring of Kerry).
We did take one very short wrong turn today, but it led us to this lovely house, so that was ok.
As we returned to Dingle on an inland route, we lost our coastal views but enjoyed the rolling green farm and pasture lands. No time to stop for pictures, though. The boys pushed on for a 4pm Dingle Distillery tour, and the rest of us weren’t far behind. Here’s a little sculpture we found on the walk into town.
I had been unsuccessful at making a dinner reservation online the night before, but apparently Dave had been looking out for us and made the 5:30 reservation for us. When I got on to the restaurant’s wifi, I saw there was an urgent message there from Dave. We had parked the bike trailer for the day at the distillery. Dave had somehow discovered that the distillery folks normally close & lock the gate at 5:30. Dave wasn’t due back in Dingle with the van until 7. Oh dear; a bit of panic in his voice! Ron & Gary ran back to the distillery, which was about a km away. I lagged way behind as I walked/jogged and tried to keep my flip flops on my feet. The distillery manager was in the process of moving the trailer outside the gates single-handedly just as the boys arrived. He may have been heard spewing forth a stream of bad words as he did so, but the boys helped him finish the job and then he gave us all a ride back to town. Just one more example of the fine hospitality we have encountered. We returned to our fine seafood meal at Out Of The Blue restaurant before being shuttled home. Along the way we passed Inch Strand (Irish for “beach”) and noticed there were cars driving along the beach while the tide was out. Dave needed no encouragement to take the whole rig down to join in the fun!
Stats for the day:
54.46 km
1745 feet of climbing
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