Sunday, October 19, 2008

2008 Ireland Trip -7 Sep 08, Part II



The Dingle Peninsula has a lot of interesting places to visit, including some bronze-age sites such as Dunbeg Fort. It's pretty easy to find since it's right on the main road that circumnavigates the peninsula.








The fort sits atop a cliff overlooking Dingle Bay and is surrounded by farms full of range maggots.












This friendly horse was in a pasture adjacent to the path that led to the site. Michael pulled some long grass along the path to feed to it and so it followed us for a while along the path.








The donkey wasn't quite as friendly.













Here's some info about the fort.










The site has a series of barriers ringing the fort, some of which have fallen into the ocean.









This is the major part of the fort that has been excavated.











A view of the barriers











It doesn't look very big, but we're only seeing part of what has been excavated here.










Barrier rings surrounding the fort.










Part of the cliff has eroded away and so the ring goes right to the edge.










Nice view, eh?











Storage and hiding spaces underground near the main hut.











The inhabitants must have been pretty short.










I'll not comment on the rest of these pics, just scroll along to see some of the site.



















































































This is a stone chat. They like to sit on top of fence posts and rocks where they can keep an eye on their territory.












Ok, I'm sorry I called you a range maggot.










Not far from Dunbeg Fort is one of the accessible bee hive hut sites. These are from the bronze age, also.










Life must have been pretty tough back in that age.












I don't have a lot of commentary, but I enjoyed exploring this place.


























































A view from the inside.












Ditto
































































Skellig Michael? This view is to the south of the Dingle Peninsula










































More range maggots









We proceeded west to the tip of the peninsula after visiting the bee hive huts. This image gives a sense of what the road is like there.










There is a series of islands off the tip of the western edge of the peninsula.











A memorial at the western tip of the peninsula.











The islands would be fun to explore for a birding trip.










More views of the farmland that covers the Dingle Peninsula.










This is just past the tip, looking north.












It's a beautiful landscape.







We stopped at a small town pub for a late lunch and were there just in time to catch some of the hurling match. It was the big match between Killarney and Wexford, I think.

Hurling is an interesting sport, but I can't begin to explain it, so please check out the link to learn more. It was fun to watch.







Here's a random shot of the pub where we were eating lunch and watching the match.

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