2008 Ireland Trip -7 Sep 08, Part 1

One of the fun things to do on this trip to Ireland was to figure out the shower fixtures at the different B&Bs. This is the one at Coill An Roîs - a lovely shower, but a bit of a challenge to sort out initially. Those knob-looking things on the bottom aren't knobs at all, but are shower heads that shoot water at . . . ahem - this is a family blog, so let's just say it washes the lower portions of one's anatomy.

More about this B&B a bit later.




After a lovely breakfast Michael and I started our day's sight seeing at Dingle. The marina was bustling with activity as a group of young people were taking to the water in these small sail boats. There's a sailing school at the marina and these kids were really excited to be going out on the water.




The sky was pretty dreary looking, but the water was beautifully calm - a perfect sailing day.











Dingle is a fishing town and the marina is full of working boats as well as pleasure craft.










I really enjoyed seeing all the bright sails on these little dinghies.










Dingle is built up onto the first couple of hills, but you can see farmland beyond on the spine of the peninsula.










This would be a great place for paddling a kayak, too.












I lost track of the number of sail boats, but it was more than a couple dozen.







We toured the peninsula for the entire day, with our first stop at Ventry beach.












I don't remember the name of this ruined castle, but you have to pay to get in to see it up close. We opted for the roadside view instead of paying 5 euros each for a walk in a pasture.









The next stop was an impulse one - the Celtic prehistoric museum and art shop. That was too good a title to resist. It turned out to be one of my favorite stops, and I'll talk more about that on my post for Sept 8th.







A stone carver displays and sells work here.











When you walk into the main shop, this nest of fossilized dinosaur eggs is the first thing you see. I knew we were in for an interesting visit.








The museum takes up much of this place, but there's also a nice gallery shop and the proprietor is a very interesting chap by the name of Harris Moore - a hammer dulcimer player. As I said, more on this visit on a later post. For now, I'll just show a few images from the museum.














There's a nice selection of artifcats from neolithic and bronze age eras from around Europe and parts of the middle east.









Most of the displays have good information to explain what you are seeing.









Harris has been an avid collector of these types of artifacts for the past 30 years and I very much enjoyed looking at the collection.










I wish I had photographed the info card on these fertility symbols.










These are bronze age artifacts,












as are these, and . . .











these,










and ditto. I think the Star Trek Ferengi idea must have come from the middle figurine.

2008 Ireland Trip -6 Sep 08, Part II

From Dromberg Stone Circle we traveled west. I wanted to see the Beara Peninsula - just a relaxed driving tour of the Beara Way.

This is Bantry Bay. It was nice to see the blue sky reflected off the water with the contrasting sail boats.








Michael










We stopped in Glengarriff, which is at the foot of the Beara Peninsula.











The tide was out, which made for some great birding. Here's a life bird for me - a Curlew.











Mute swan













Herring Gull











Main route through town











The Beara Peninsula is beautiful.











The footprint of glaciation is evident everywhere you look.










Another look at Glengarriff











Low tide reveals a boat skeleton











Nice weather for a drive around the peninsula.











This was the sign at the tip of the Peninsula.











Across the channel is Dursey Island, which is accessible by a cable car. We didn't have time to do this, but it would be a great place to go birding.








Up the other side











Glacial grooves or just erosion?












Ooooh - aquaculture. I wonder what they're raising out there?









Our next destination was the Dingle Peninsula. We drove through Killarney National Park on the way over there, arriving just as the sun was setting.







This will have to be a destination for a future trip to Ireland.










Here are some view of the park from the highway:
























My Wood Central sightings pic from Killarney NP










It was well past supper time when we arrived in Dingle. We stopped on the main road and had fish and chips at one of the pubs in Dingle. The pubs there were full of tourists. More on that during the next post or two.

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2008 Ireland Trip -6 Sep 08, Part I

This is the Bayview B&B where we stayed in Clonakilty. I figured there would be some good birding locales at a place called "Bayview" and I wasn't wrong.

This B&B was very nice, but it was really frilly and it seemed so "not me," but I enjoyed the stay and the owners were very nice.




We started the day by doing some birding along the estuary. The big find of the morning was this black-tailed godwit. There were a couple of them out in the marshy field. I also saw purple sandpipers, grey herons, little egrets and black-headed gulls in Clonakilty.








The primary reason we stayed in Clonakilty was so that we would be near Dromberg Stone Circle. I wanted to get there early in the morning just in case this was a tourist hotspot.






It was pretty easy to find, but it wasn't really a hotspot for visitors, although there were plenty that came through while we were there.

We saw signs such as this one all over Ireland, especially near ruins and other attractions. I wonder if litigation lawyers are as bad over there as they are here in the states.






This is the entrance to the site.











The sign boards are all fading in the weather - I'm not sure there's much sunshine in Ireland to fade these, but I guess UV irradiation passes through cloud cover as well as in clear skies.








The stone circle isn't a large one - maybe 30 feet across. The stones are not all that tall, either, which you can see in the pictures posted below where there are people in the image for size comparisons.







The lighting changed dramatically during the time we were there. You can see the ocean there in the background.










There was an interesting assortment of coins and trinkets left as offerings in the circle.










The ground was pretty soggy from all the rain that had been occurring all month and last.










Blue sky started to appear while we were there.











Another angle. The farmland in the background is lovely in the morning light.










This looks like an alter stone, but I wonder if it has fallen on its side. The site was discovered and excavated by a farmer many years ago.









Another view,












and another.










There's Michael, getting in tune with his inner Druid.










Up the hill from the stone circle was an excavation of a couple of other buildings.









These were probably similar to the beehive huts seen on the Dingle Peninsula.











This and the following two signs can be clicked on for a larger image. You can read all about them.


































This is the view from the huts back to the stone circle.










A view of the surrounding countryside.











More tourists arrived as the morning progressed.











I particularly enjoyed meeting this guy and his dog. The dog breed is a Deer Hound Lurcher, which I learned is a Scottish breed. The parental breeds were grey hound and terrier. The fur was very soft and silky. This is obviously a working dog that needs a lot of exercise.














Last view of the circle with sun coming out from behind the clouds. Next post will be on our tour of the Beare Peninsula later in the day.