One of the draws is a walking route called the Dingle way, which is a totally silly name. It sounds like the way of life for a gnome-like race of beings called the dingles. And where do they live? In Dingle town of course. Usually people take about 2 weeks to do the whole thing, but I just wanted a sample for 1 or 2 days. Since I got the bus to the town of Dingle, I walked from there to Dun Cuoinn, about 20 km away. Also Brenda had recommended this stretch. Her and Kathryn had done the hike years ago, forgot tent poles, but went anyway. Don't let minor inconveniences like a lack of adequate shelter stop you!
The walk turned out to be my best day. The route is constantly changing and impressive for different reasons. Walking over to the town of Ventry takes paved country roads, and extraordinarily muddy cattle runs over a minor pass, then you walk about 2km on a really nice beach. The sun had come out here, so it was hard to remember this sunny beach was in Ireland. I managed to waste a couple hours having a coffee, laying on the beach, buying stuff for dinner, and totally misunderstanding where the route was supposed to go. I was unconcerned because I thought I was traveling 14 km , not 20. After the beach you make your way through some some roads and mud, and emerge pretty unexpectedly at some stunning rocky cliffs along the coast. I stopped to see a prehistoric hill fort only to learn that that town over yonder was not my destination, and I still had 8 km to go, and it was already 5:00 with fog settling in on the mountains. So I was hurrying... the route goes over the top of the uppermost pastures on the hillslopes, just below the fog. I passed numerous other hillforts and beehive huts but didn't have time to stop. I just remember the sheep had done a fine job of mowing everything down to a homogenous golf course like turf. The hillslopes were covered with mazes of gray stone walls. Basically this was the Ireland you see in movies, on postcards, and advertisements from the board of tourism. I think the first photograph I ever saw of Ireland may have looked just like this, and consequently I've had a life-long interest in Ireland. Nice to finally see it. I made my way finally to the town which also featured my hostel and the westernmost pub in Europe (this claim seems dubious, but it was a decent pub). The rain came in shortly after I arrived. The hostel owner thought I was nuts to have walked all that way in sandals...but why not, it doesn't matter if sandals get soaked right?
Turns out the next day was pretty rough weather. The rain wasn't so bad, it was the body flattening wind. Since my only opportunity for a bus back to Dingle was that day, I took it, otherwise it was hitching out in the wind and rain, or a sand-blasting while walking on the beach. Dick Mack's is in Dingle, and it is probably the perfect example of an Irish pub, a fine place to read a book and have a beer while the wind rips off peoples heads.
The next day I was going to bus back to Cork to visit another friend, but since the weather had calmed down I took the opportunity to stop in Killarney and tour the National Park and the lakes frenetically on the shittiest rental bike ever. Usually when you rent a bike, it has actually been tuned...but I had to do that myself. It really felt good to get back on a bike, I have been wondering about Ireland as a touring destination...but people have widely differing opinions on this proposition. European national parks are decidedly more tame, but the history gives them alot of character that most of our parks lack. For example, In addition to lakes, mountains and waterfalls, this park has an old abbey, a castle, and some sort of mansion I didn't have time to see.
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