Ireland. Just thinking about it, my heart rate slows, and I find myself breathing more deeply, trying to smell the salty air and peat, and craving the Atlantic breezes on my face.
The Wild Atlantic Way, along the West coast of Ireland, calls to me, and I find myself planning a return next summer, wishing it could be this summer.
In 2018, I returned to Ireland for only the second time. The first time, a solo 10-day trip in 2010, I felt a connection to the people and the places along the West coast, from Dingle Bay to the Killary Fjord and Leenane. But, eight years later I returned with my parents for a very different kind of trip.
While 2010 was 10 days of only spending a night or two in each town, 2018 was 10 days
based out of Dingle in County Kerry. In 2010, I used the fantastic Irish bus system to get around whenever possible, with only a few days of driving a car; in 2018, all driving, all on the wrong side of the road, from the wrong side of the car, and my father constantly getting in on the wrong side of the car. (At least in 2018 I had an automatic instead of manual transmission.)
In 2010, I was in my 30s, content to wander villages, find a pub with live music, meet
new people along the way, and go with only the day ahead of me somewhat planned – no reservations, no itinerary. In 2018, I was escorting my parents in their 70s and some of their oldest friends who have a 2nd home in Dingle, never venturing far from our rental house, and driving almost everywhere. I wasn’t listening to music in the pubs until 11pm, instead having my parents home by 8pm, because they needed to rest. I would then head back out to drive the Slea Head of Dingle Peninsula and try to catch the sunset around 10pm.
My mother has always wanted to see puffins – those little sea birds that look like a toucan and a penguin mated. In June of 2018, we were able to take an afternoon “cruise” on a converted fishing trawler from Ventry Harbor on the Dingle Peninsula, out and around the Blasket Islands to see puffins all around. Check that off the bucket list, Karen.
No need to rehash the daily itineraries of the trip, because we really didn’t have any. We were just there. In Dingle. In Ireland. Becoming a part of it, or as much as one can in 10 days.
We didn’t stray far, only covering from Shannon (airport) to Dingle, then Dingle over to Killarney, then back to Shannon. It was relaxed. It was a chance to breathe. And my parents were able to take in one corner of a beautiful land, along the Wild Atlantic Way.
In 2010, while I stayed on the West coast, I was in Shannon, Limerick, Killarney, Dingle, Doolin, Galway, the Aran Islands – Inishmore, Leenane, Galway again, Connemara. It wasn’t a big slice of Ireland, but it was enough to lure me in.
The first trip was typical Irish weather for July and August – capris and a sweater most
mornings, followed by short sleeves in the afternoon, and jeans in the evening. It rained every morning, and the sun shone bright every afternoon (or at least that’s how I remember it). Temperatures were in the mid-50s to 70s. Two years ago, however, Ireland was in the midst of a drought and a heat wave. Everyday it was in the 80s and sunny. We never even took our jackets or umbrellas out of the suitcase – a very un-Irish June.
Dingle has grown in popularity since the 1980s, and has become a hot tourist spot in Ireland. In 2018, word was the dredgers we saw in the bay were opening it up for small
cruise ships. Dingle was also named the “Top Foodie Town of Ireland” in 2014, thanks to restaurants like Out Of the Blue. That’s why I am hesitant to praise the area – I don’t want it overcrowded and cheapened by tourism.
In 2010, as a solo traveler, I was able to wander in to OOTB on my first night in Dingle and get a table. A glass of wine and the fisherman’s soup with the day’s catch warmed me right up. In 2018, there were no reservations for 3-5 available on any of the evenings we tried. While I do feel like I missed out on another amazing meal, Dingle has numerous other restaurants and pubs with laudable food, including The Bay next door, John Benny’s (Moriarty’s) Pub, Benner’s Hotel, Lord Baker’s, and the Skellig Hotel, near the entrance of the bay.
One of the most relaxing, though at times white-knuckling, drives in the area is the Slea Head Drive around the Dingle Peninsula. Head west out of Dingle past Ventry – a cute
little village with artisans, a church under restoration, and Páidí Ó Sé’s Pub. Stop in for a bite of lunch or a pint before you continue west on Slea Head Drive. A little outside of Ventry is the Loic Fairy Fort (Culture Trip on Irish fairy forts). At this point, Slea Head is still 2-lane. Sort of. A big bus heading in your direction will fill you with doubt. There is an unwritten rule that Slea Head Drive, once it narrows, in one way, heading west from the south of the Dingle Peninsula (out of Ventry) wrapping around to the north towards Ballyferriter. Not everyone seems to have read that unwritten rule, though, causing some white knuckles where Slea Head narrows with a stone wall on the seaside, and rocky outcroppings on the hillside.
But, white knuckles are a small price to pay for the beauty that waits – views of the Blasket Islands, stone remnants, sheep grazing lazily on green hillsides with turquoise waters in the backdrop… Slea Head slays me.
Dingle is just one of the many beautiful areas of Ireland. It doesn’t matter where you go in Ireland, just go. Relax, smell the peat on the breeze, enjoy some live music and Kerry beef or fresh seafood.
As for me, while I do want to see more of the 10% of Ireland I have seen so far, I will be perfectly content in Dingle. As the tour guide says, it’s “Always Magical”.
All photographs personal and ©EC Shlepping Life, June 2018.
Schlepping Life 