The Glorious Dingle Peninsula, lots of laughs, movie locations

April 15, 2013

The Glorious Dingle Peninsula, lots of laughs, movie locations

County Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, March 30 and 31

Jim and Claudia advised us to take the ferry across the Shannon River estuary and cut off a bunch of driving on our way to the Dingle Peninsula (someone else had also suggested that as a good idea), so that is what we do, and it was indeed a good idea.

On the way to the Dingle Peninsula we stopped in Adert, site of yet another abbey ruin, this one dating from the 1000’s. For being so old, it’s in surprisingly good shape. On the north side of the Dingle Peninsula we venture out to Rough Point, a big wind surfing area with good views of the peninsula. Then another Lonely Planet moment when we head out to Brandon’s point, the last three km, which was a single land road with high hedges. At Brandon’s point we hiked up the cliff trail for a while – spectacular views here, and well worth the nail biting drive. On towards Dingle over the highest pass in Ireland, Connor’s Pass – to be honest, fairly ho-hum as mountain passes go, but of course we are from Colorado, highest elevation state in the US, and home to numerous rather spectacular mountain passes. There is a stretch of one-lane road on the pass approach, which does make this exciting though.

We arrived at Towerview B&B, our home base for the next two nights, and met Mary Fitzgerald Griffin, the proprietor. Mary is hilarious and we hit it off right away. She has a strong Irish accent, and has such a great sense of humor. She has three girls, aged 21, 19, and 13, and we swapped teenage year stories. One great story was about the time she had to ask one of her daughters to help in the morning, as her help was out sick, and her daughter proceeded to break most of her eggs (she just eked by that morning on what she had left), and she had to explain to the guests that she was sorry, but don’t mind the yelling, as she had a raging teenager in the house! There were many more fun stories from Mary! Mary lived in Boston from 1988-1999, where she met her husband, who was also from the Dingle area. She loved living in Boston, and had a framed commendation from the mayor of Boston thanking Mary and her husband for all of their support of the city. I could really see Mary coming to Colorado and hanging out with Donna’s friends – they would all have such a good time.

We ate at Murphy’s pub for dinner where Donna reported that she had the best hake (a type of fish); Irish stew for me and of course, a “Smidicks”. We toyed with going to John Benny’s Pub for music, but the music doesn’t start until 9:30, (and it really was more like 10:30, as that night Ireland went on daylight savings time, so we “lost” an hour), so we call it a night and relax back at Mary’s before bed.

Another top drawer breakfast at Towerview, before venturing into town for a bit of shopping (finally a wool hat for me – it’s been great, but it has been cold), a new wedding ring for me (mine is “squashed” on my finger, and I’ve been meaning to get it cut off (the ring, not the finger); so Donna picks out a lovely Celtic ring to replace my wedding ring – it will always be a great memory for me), and a few other items. Donna has a fun story of that shopping morning. Donna’s diary notes “A younger man invited me (Donna) into a shop that wasn’t really open (it was Easter morning), but then went to a back room to check something. Soon an elderly man came out of the back room and looked at a very tiny 2-wheel bike, standing in the middle of the shop. I (Donna) said, That bike looks quite small for you. He laughed heartily. I kept looking out the front door, watching for Don, who had gone looking for a bathroom. I told the older man I was keeping my eye out for my husband. The man said, “Oh he’s getting around town is he? I am sure I saw him with a young lassie on either arm. You won’t be seeing him again!””

This afternoon we drive the Slea Head Drive. This is a very spectacular piece of Ireland, and the location for many films. Ryan’s daughter was filmed at Dunmore, a peninsula with a pillar at the summit, looking across to the Basket Islands (other scenes were filmed at Inch Beach, as was the opening D-Day scenes for Saving Private Ryan – we go there tomorrow). At Clogher head, we followed a little narrow paved road down to the beach where “Far and Away” was filmed – a 1992 Ron Howard film starring Nichole Kidman and Tom Cruise. In other parts of Ireland we were at the site where “The Field” starring Richard Harris was filmed, and where “The Quiet Man” starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara was filmed, Mary Griffin was from a small village named Ballyferriter on the Slea Head Drive.

We had dinner at the Marina Inn, where they had an open trad session starting at 5:30. Of course next to us are Dave, Alison and their son from our B&B. Dave is a professor of classical studies including Greek, Latin (ah yes, the last Latin connection – Donna and I both took Latin in high school, and Donna’s great uncle taught Greek and Latin) at Depauw University in Indiana. We are eating, and who walks in, but none other than Jim and Claudia from our Doolin B&B. We visit for a while and exchange BLOG’s (Jim’s is Lest we forget – about his 6 year old son, Colin, who died in 1990 at age 6 (he had Trisomy 13). A touching end to our time with Jim and Claudia.

When we get back to Towerview, Mary is building a fire in her fireplace and encourages us to come and sit a while and she brings us each an Irish coffee. I joke that she is up to 6 stars on Traveladvisor and she admonishes me to absolutely never put that on Tripadvisor or everyone will be expecting an Irish coffee! A few more stories from Mary before she had to dash off to the aid of her 80-year old mother who lives in Dingle area.

A few more laughs with Mary that morning after breakfast (in spite of a busy morning, she finds time to cook up some black pudding for Donna (it reminded Donna of barley sausage growing up in the city of Chicago). We stop for an invigorating and very windy 45-minute walk on Inch Beach and then bid farewell to the Dingle Peninsula.

Adert Abbey ruins

Rough Point

Adert Abbey ruins

Dingle Peninsula from Rough Point

Rough Point

Dingle Peninsula from Rough Point

Heading to Brandon's Point

Brandon's Point

Heading back from Brandon's Point

Brandon's Point

Connor's Pass

Heading back from Brandon's Point

View from Towerview B&B

Dingle

At Towerview B&B

Dingle

Dingle (where I bought my new wedding band)

Slea Head Drive

Slea Head Drive (Beehive)

Slea Head Drive

A common scene on Irish roads- no worries, when you've got to pull over you've got to pull over, and since there aren't any shoulders, you've got to stop in the middle of the road