Dingle to Doolin

Dingle to Doolin.

Today was a fairly easy day; we left Dingle and went up and over the Connor Pass, once again a peak that left us on top of the world overlooking Ireland. The drive was uneventful and we realized in this segment that one of the things that makes the Irish countryside so different from ours is that there is no siding, all the houses are plaster and/or stone. Pascal, the wonderful host we had at the b&b in Doolin explained to us that to us that before the  economy tanked and Ireland was doing so very well the law was You couldn't build out in the Irish country without putting some kind of stone on the face of the house seen from the road and it sure shows.

Speaking of Pascal...wow, what a find! He and his wife who we didn't meet because she works in Galway took over the family b&b upon a death and Pascal now basically runs it.  First impression might be here's a fellow filling in but almost immediately one realizes he's a natural!  Pascal was friendly, helpful, knowledgable about his little piece of Ireland and loved to talk...not to mention the fact He did all sorts of little extras...phoning about the boats to see if they were running and building up the fire in the sitting room when He realized how much Norm was enjoying it.

We had our first weather failure here...the waters were too rough to take the boat tour beneath the cliffs  but then we also had a streak of luck. The Cliffs of Moher were our next day's plan and we arrived under a sky of mixed blue and cloud. They really are impressive, rising from the ocean in sheer rock face with the waters beneath crashing into huge explosions of splashing surf. Paying an extra 2 euros we climbed up O'Briens tower to take in the view and just as we were coming down the fogs rolled in and the cliffs were obscured. Lucky us...we'd already taken our photos and so headed into the interpretive center to learn a bit more. Once again fortune was on our side, just as we were leaving the power failed and everyone else had to evacuate as well.

On the drive back we went to Ennistymon, a small town we'd passed on our way in and though we managed to end up in a seedier section  we did find a rather interesting little pub so stopped for a pintOn our way back to Pascal's we looped around to Lahinch, basically just a circular beach that has what many figure is the best surf in Ireland but unfortunately saw no surfers.

That night and the following morning over breakfast we surrendered to the thought we'd both been having...let's go back to Dingle for more music!  The change in plans meant a backtrack but we decided to take some time and go up to Ashford Castle...basically just to be impressed.  It did mean missing the Kylemore Abbey, one of the sites I'd really wanted to see but it seemed more likely Ashford would have more to see and do. 

The castle was amazing, ranging back over centuries of history to being owned for a time by the Guinness family , it's hard to imagine one family using all this space! Norm and I walked around the grounds for a while and were quite disappointed to find the castle itself was restricted to 'residents'...we even had to park down below in the non resident parking!

Well, after a bite to eat in the town of Cong which is where parts of  the John Wayne movie " The Quiet Man " were filmed (another movie I'll have to look up once home ) Norm decided to go talk to them, much to my horror as I'm not the type to go looking for deals and lo and behold...the price quoted convinced him to treat ..."Mrs. Norm S---- to a night in the castle!

More on that tomorrow...it was an experience that deserves it's own page.