Singing in the Rain

When we woke up on Monday morning, the rain had virtually stopped, but the clouds were still low and threatening. It was time to conquer the weather and start doing what we came to do. We started with a short walk on a poorly described trail up the hill behind our B&B. I decided to do the walk in the opposite direction to that which was described, and we are still not sure whether or not we were successful. We were in search of a standing stone and stone circle, ancient stone monuments created by early inhabitants of the area. We did find some stones which just might have been intentionally placed in sort of a circle, but really weren't sure. At the top of the hill, the view of the harbour and its islands was somewhat obscured by the low clouds (which were responsible for the drizzle, low temperatures and literally howling wind). We climbed back down and hopped into the car in search of more promising locations. We went further out the Beara Peninsula to a town that was holding a two week long "Festival of the Sea". From there, we decided to cross to Bere Island and walk there for the afternoon. The weather was not a lot better, but the island was virtually deserted other than about 4 cars managing to cause nearly constant traffic. We walked a loop of the island, climbing up to a cross on top of the highest peak and going a little off-road on the return trip to the ferry dock. We returned to the mainland, and drove the "Ring of Beara". The tip of the peninsula faces Dursey Island, connected to the mainland by Irelands only operating cable car. Our day's adventures culminated with a drive through Healy Pass, one of the most magnificent views of the whole trip. After dinner we almost got lost in a small wooded park and had a curious encounter with a local, but that is another story.

On Tuesday, we were determined to do our first walk from the book, rain or shine. Purple mountain is the east wall of the Gap of Dunloe, an impressive passage through the mountains of Kerry. The walk was to be 4 km up over the mountain and 1 ¹/₂ back along the road through the Gap, but alas, we didn't make it. About 1 km before we got to the start of the walk, we passed a small house with signs for horseback treks in the area. We made the executive decision, and pulled into the Black Valley Equestrian centre. Our well-travelled and interesting guide took us on a 2 hour tour of the Black valley, arguably Ireland's most remote. As it was late and we had to be on our way, we drove through the Gap of Dunloe, much to the chagrin of other visitors (in fact, I felt rather guilty as we disturbed hundreds of walkers and cyclists on the narrow road). But with a long drive to Dingle ahead of us, we had to take the car.

On Wednesday morning, the weather still hadn't cleared, and any hope of climbing the walks recommended in our book seamed slim. We drove to Slea Head at the end of the Dingle peninsula in search of Mt. Eagle, recommended by Gene, our equestrian guide. We found it encased in cloud so spent some time in an interesting museum at its base. The museum was built to celebrate the people of the Blasket Islands, situated at the end of the Dingle peninsula. This island population had regular contact with the mainland, but existed as a very close- knit and autonomous community until its population dwindled and it was evacuated in 1953. When we were finished there, the top of Mt. Eagle was visible, so we wasted no time in buying an Ordinance Survey map and headed for the base of the hill. We climbed along a creek for a couple of hours going up gradually to a ridge at about 450 m. On the other side of the ridge, it dropped off steeply to the centre of the peninsula with a small lake in the bowl at the bottom. Laurie decided not to finish the ascent to 515 m, but I couldn't resist and scurried up to the top, chasing some of the eagles which give this mountain its name. The clouds came in quickly and I became quite disoriented at the peak, but eventually found my way back to Laurie and we returned to the car. After finishing our scenic loop around the end of the Dingle Peninsula, we had a long drive up to our next destination.

When we arrived in Kilfenora, very overdue at 9:30 PM, we were both ready for bed. Our cheerful hostess, however, informed us that the Kilfenora Ceili Band was releasing its new album that night with an infrequent free ceili in the Kilfenora village hall. The Kilfenora Ceili Band has won the All-Ireland Ceili Band Championships for the last 3 years running and is normally far too busy travelling the world to return to Kilfenora. We couldn't miss this and were treated to some marvellous set dancing from the locals,