Well… We woke up to rain coming down in sheets. I decided we were not going to alter our plans for the day and still try to go horseback riding. So we had a very nice breakfast at The Inch Beach House B&B and loaded up the minivan. I will also say the cell service in Ireland is generally pretty good. On the Dingle Peninsula, not so much. It was still raining fairly steadily when we pulled into the riding stables. J.P. had already emailed Melissa to let her know we were going to need to cancel for the day’s ride. Due to the aforementioned cell coverage we had not received the email. It was a bit of a disappointment, since riding Irish Cobbs on the beach sounded like a whole lot of fun. We just continued on with the day’s planned activity, driving the Slea Head Loop.
The second stop on the loop was for lunch at the Stonehouse Restaurant. This is a really cool building made completely of stacked stone, even the roof. Lunch was very tasty. I have also discovered the Irish serve their food quite a bit hotter than we do in the states. I am not talking spice hotter. I am talking temperature hotter. All of the food we have received has been just this side of the average surface temperature of the sun. I am good with that. But it adds some dining time while we wait for the food to cool to a temerature that won’t sear our mouths and warrant a trip to the hospital. It has also become apparent that one should not be in a hurry when sitting down to a meal in an Irish restaurant. The servers do not seem to check back with the same frequency as in the States. It has also been difficult to get a bill at the end of a meal. Another interesting practice is they bring the credit card machine to your table. As one gentleman put it ‘The Irish would never let someone walk away with their credit card, it just wouldn’t happen.’ Meal done, local chocolate purchased, and take out coffee ordered, we were back on the loop.
Since we had extra time (no riding horses on the beach) we stopped at what I would call a roadside Irish type attraction. It was a museum of prehistoric stuff in the home of a guy from Westport, CT. He is a musician who traveled extensively throughout Europe and happens to be a geek about old stuff. I am pretty sure he does a nice business buying old stuff from the local folks, or EBay, and selling it for a profit at auctions. The museum is full of interesting stuff he just decided to keep for himself. This includes the largest, fully intact Wooly Mammoth skull ever found. According to him, it was pulled up in a fisherman’s net and nearly gave the guy a heart attack. Elizabeth geeked out with him on the Roman and Latin stuff in his collection. He has a very large collection of Roman coins and let E rummage though the ones he kept in a drawer. She found a very cool one that has extremely clear line and marking on both sides. The only real defect is that someone had drilled a hole though it, presumable to use it as a pendant on a necklace. After an intense negotiation they agreed on a price and Elizabeth became the proud new owner of a very old coin. I think she is also planning on wearing it as a pendant. Transaction completed, back into the maelstrom we drove.
Along the road we saw Irish Igloos. Ok, they were beehive huts made of stone, but they looked like igloos. And we saw ring forts. Apparently the countryside of Ireland is littered with forts, beehive huts, and assorted ruins. It was all very cool to see. We made it back around to the starting point of the loop and charted our route to the evening’s accmodations, The Ballyseede Castle Hotel. Wanting to see as much as we can of the landscape and countryside we hooked north along a side road. I did grow a little concerned when I saw the sign declaring the road was impassable in severe weather. Having never been to Ireland before, I wasn’t sure what constituted ‘severe’. We guessed this minor torrential downpour was moderate and not severe and drove on. We had no idea the Conner Pass was actually the highest mountain pass in all of Ireland. According to the brochure it has spectacular views. All we were really able to see was fog and some pretty steep drop offs. It looked like it would be spectacular though. We made it over the pass without an issue. The minivan performed very well. I am not sure where the Seat brand of vehicle is manufactured but they make a nice little diesel motor for their minivans. Along the way we saw signs for Castle Gregory. That inspired a little diversion in the trip. The Castle Gregory village was neat but unfortunately the castle fell down and even the ruins were gone. Oh well, on the road again. We pulled in to Ballyseede Castle shortly after three and got all checked in.
We had dinner reservations at 8pm and decided to use the intermediate time to go and see Ardfert Cathedral and Friary Ruins. Although the museum portion of the ruins was closed, we were able to wander the ground and look at the very well preserved building walls.
Dinner was very nice. I have never taken a meal in the dining room of a castle before. We then retired to our rooms in preparation for the next day’s adventure.
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