The Dingle Peninsula

(These two pictures were taken from the plane flying into Cork, Ireland. Just look at all those shades of green.)

Rick Steves, travel writer extraordinaire - and whose books we brought along on our trip - said that if you have 1-4 days to spend in Ireland, see Dublin. If you have 5 days in Ireland, see Dublin and the Dingle Peninsula. Well, Rick doesn't know how we like to go at full speed to pack everything in. So even though we only had two days in Ireland, we did Dublin and the Dingle Peninsula. Are we crazy?

Our second day in Ireland was a long field trip. We bused to the airport and flew 30 minutes (no luggage this time) from Dublin to Cork, a town on the southern coast of Ireland. From there we rented two cars and drove an hour to where the guys were golfing. Actually I should say Doug and Chris drove and this is significant because it marked Chris' first time driving on the left side of the road, which he did perfectly and loved... even the shifting with his left hand. (Most cars in the UK are standard.) When we arrived at the golf course the girls and guys parted.

(Note: No where did Rick Steves say to golf instead of seeing the amazing Dingle Peninsula but alas... boys will be boys... especially our boys.)

The girls ran into the little grocery store, grabbed some drinks, fruit and the makings for sandwiches and headed to the car for a little road trip. Missy drove. She lives in England and is used to the left side... and she's good. Even still it took the rest of us a little while to calm down as she sped around corners with big trucks coming to the right of us. The roads were so narrow. When we had to pass another vehicle, one rear view window brushed along the bushes and one nearly missed the other car. It was pretty exciting... only a couple gasps from us and a few expletives from Missy.

The countryside was amazing. Lines of trees, grey stone fences, sheep wandering on the lush grass, little wooden homes and barns speckled across green hills. Quite picturesque.

After an hour of driving through the countryside we were at the start of the Dingle Peninsula. With our Rick Steves book in hand we zeroed out our speedometer at the first stop and then read in detail about every building, old fort, and church as we came to it. Add to that a little geography lesson, some neat facts and a lot of history... the ultimate field trip.

(the Atlantic Ocean with The Kerry Peninsula in the background)

We stopped at this old fort and walked down to see it better. The peninsula is covered with old monuments, stone pillars, and circular remains of Stone Age ring forts. In 500 BC they were Celtic chieftain’s headquarters. (The ring forts have survived all these years because of superstitious beliefs that they were ‘fairy forts.’ )



The views were really breathtaking. The crashing waves, the craggy cliffs, the lush green grass, the ominous sky. It was a bit misty and gray but such is the weather here on this distant tip of Ireland. Locals say, "there is no bad weather... only inappropriate clothing."

On the picture above if you look closely you can see the road we drove on right past the houses and over the bend. The same for the entire 40 mile loop... rocky cliffs and ocean on one side and fields of sheep on the other. --The peninsula is home to more than 500,000 sheep.



Almost the whole loop was done in fast forward. We stopped, took pictures and hopped back in only to turn the corner and see more of the same. These pictures just don't do it justice... the view was 360 degrees. I wish we could have sat on the grass and soaked it all in.... but we had a plane to catch. We drove back through the windy road to pick up the boys at 5:00. They too had been rushing, and had to run their last four holes with clubs on their back so they would finish on time. Now that I wish I had a picture of. They loved the golf. It was a beautiful course nestled in green hills... they even explored some of the ruins after errant shots.


After a quick gas stop we were back on the road to the airport only to be stuck in stop and go traffic. Crap. Chris and Doug talked back and forth over the walkie talkies about missing our flight... half joking/half serious. Luckily the traffic lightened up and we sped back to Cork just in time. Doug and Chris checked in first, took the rental cars back, and made it the gate just before boarding. I think we cut it as close as you could. What a day.


Back in Dublin we took the bus back to the city. It was 11:00 but the group was hungry so they headed to TGIFridays for a late dinner. Chris dropped me off at the hotel so I could get a head start on some sleep... (the 16 hour travel day left me feeling a little carsick.)