8/14 -- Driving to Dingle

Dingle is not that far from Killarney, so we made a couple of stops on the way. We baked scones and talked to a retired farmer, walked on Inch Beach, had lunch at a pub originally run by a key member of Ernest Shackelton's Antarctic crew, and arrived in Dingle mid-afternoon.

Just about 15  minutes from Killarney, Dennis and Margaret welcomed us into their home. She had scones ready to mix up and we watched as she went to work. We were pressed into service for the easy steps: cutting out the scones and doing the egg wash on top. Margaret also showed us how to use the old-looking stove, which is used for frying on the top, has an oven and warming oven and also helps heat the house.

Tom (left) took charge of the egg wash while Dan cut out
the scones and Candy (far right) documents it.

Margaret shows how to use the stove. The small left side
doors are all for operating the stove and the object in her
hand turns the flame (top left drawer) up and down.

The bungalow has a sweeping view of the valley from the
kitchen window.

Then we went outside and learned more about the family from Dennis. The stone cottage next to the house they share has been in the family for 5 generations and was built in the 1700s. Dennis was born there and built the bungalow where they now live when he married Margaret. After his parents died, it had to be used to be kept in good shape. He renovated it and it is now shared by his two sons. He and his father had had 50 acres to farm . In 2005, the government was trying to give younger farmers a chance and offered Dennis a chance to retire with a guaranteed income if he would lease his land for farming to someone else. Since he had been supplementing his farming income with tour guiding to keep the family afloat, this seemed like a good deal.

When they renovated, they found the green stone on the
front under the stucco. Unfortunately, removing the stucco
is time consuming and expensive, and the rest of the house
is probably green stone underneath too.

He also showed us how people harvested peat. The Irish government granted each family in the country an acre of peat to allow them to heat their homes. Harvesting peat was a cooperative affair -- your neighbors helped you and you helped them. He showed us the tools used. People were careful not to overharvest, because peat only grows and inch deeper each year. Now there are machines and big companies doing the harvesting and depleting the peat faster than it can replenish itself. At the same time, stoves have gotten more efficient and more families are heating with natural gas.

This peat pile would fill the shed if it were the primary fuel.
The pile on the left half is new and needs a year to dry, just
like you have to cure fire wood.

Dan (our bus driver) holds the tool that cuts
the peat in the bog. There is a place for a foot
on the right and an extra side slicer to help
create the log-like shape. Another man would
spear the peat with a fork and toss it on the bank
to start it drying.

We also got to watch him dig out potatoes. He said that his family survived the famine because their land was good enough to grow turnips instead. They still use a copper sulfate compound to coat the leaves and stave off the blight fungus which is still a potential problem there. The organic product needs to be resprayed every 10 days, so potato farming is still pretty labor intensive.

Then we went back inside to enjoy the scones with jam and clotted cream and some coffee and ended our visit with a small shot of something fire-y.

Next, we were off to Inch Beach. It was VERY windy and cold, but we could soon see how the beach got its name: there is a very wide stretch of the strand that has water on in that is extremely shallow. Jim talked to a couple surfers there -- he said the water was too mushy for decent surfing, but the surfers (now from Florida but formerly from the Sunset district of San Francisco) said it was pretty good two hours earlier.

Inch Beach is huge and very flat.

Surfing instruction is a big deal  here. We saw places in
Dingle that advertised surfing lessons too.

People park and drive on the beach. There are tire tracks
where those folks are walking.

The first 50 or more yards of the beach are REALLY shallow!

Back on the bus, we headed for lunch in Annascaul, at the South Pole Inn, started by Tom Crean, a former adventurer who visited Antarctica three times: twice with Sir Robert Scott, and once as a key player on Ernest Shackelton's star-crossed expedition. He was born in this town and came back and opened a pub when he stopped adventuring. He is gone, but the current owner keeps up the history, sharing Tom's adventures in a 10-minute spiel a couple times a day.

All the menus here have extensive lists of
possible allergens....

Above and Below: Tom Crean statue and
monument in Tom Crean Park by the pub.

 

As we headed to Dingle, we stopped for a photo op at a lovely sweep of a valley that is due to disappear in the near future. There is a plan to replace the curving road with a straight one that will cut across the view.

In Dingle, we got settled into our hotel, and took a short tour of the town. Lunch was so big again today that we opted to snack for dinner, giving me time to start to catch up with the blog!