Irish Stew

We woke early after an overnight stop on the shore of Kenmare River. The morning began with a lovely drive through Killarney National Park and our hopes were rising. The road to Dingle was definitely one less travelled. I was beginning to think how unfortunate all those tourist were not seeing this beautiful part of Ireland. I do wonder if the locals want to keep this place for themselves.

The town of Dingle is the most Westerly town in Europe and the largest Gaeltacht (Irish speaking) region. The town was cute with buildings painted in a rainbow of different colours. We parked near the docks where the fishing boats were tied up unloading their catch from somewhere out in the deep Atlantic. Opposite the docks, a long line of pubs welcomes fisherman and locals. It seems that Oierland is one long bar. I even heard that Dingle has more pubs per head of population than any other town in Ireland – but I guess they assume that you can get a Guinness even in the Doctors surgery.

We only had one choice and that was to make ourselves at home with a pint and order an Irish Stew for dinner. As the night rolled on, the Irish music and singing started up and I knew that finally we were experiencing true Ireland.

The next day we drove beyond Dingle along a road hacked out of the cliff side with green fields on one side and the sheer cliffs disappearing into the Atlantic on the other. Some say the locals drive at night with their hand out the window feeling the rocks so they don’t drive off the edge. We travelled past old beehive huts reputed to be 3000 years old and stared in awe at the dramatic mountains looming out of the slight drizzle. From here the drive took us back towards Dublin but we had one more stop to make. Clonmacnoise is an impressive monastic remains, and one of the most important religious sites of its time, balanced on the shore of the Shannon River. As the few travellers present left for the evening we set up camp and watched as the stillness of dusk lit up the stone ruins. A fitting finish to our journey before our last stop in Dublin.