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Travelling the Dingle Peninsular.
We stayed in Tralee overnight. The Castle Hostel, on Upper Castle street, owned and operated by a gent called Stephen, aka Clease from Fawlty Towers. He was so Irish, the hostel was so squeaky clean and very comfortable, very "Faulty". Stephen was very proud to tell us he has a 95% rating for his Hostel. He carried our bags upstairs and down and made sure we were very comfortable all for 35 Euro for a double room. The hostel felt more like a BnB than a hostel, tis a good place to stay.
The drive from Tralee to Dingle is picturesque.
We followed Tralee Bay coastline which was to our right and the views are spectacular despite the rain. From the road the green meadows 'slid' into the sea. To the left the hills were orange in colour and reminded me of Scotland again. Clusters of housed are along route and the roads are empty. We are driving along a valley which winds through the hills, the autumn colours provide an extra element, and the mist is floating over the mountains. As we rise up the mountains the air is colder and the views become more and more like central Scotland or South Island New Zealand although not so rocky. There are lots of water falls and lakes. The road is so narrow in parts that only one car can pass, from Connor Pass the sheep have 360 degree views. This trip is a must do for anyone coming to Ireland.
Dingle on the harbour has a good feel, nice shops and lots of art-tee stuff to buy, no tea cosies though. The streets are typically narrow and the locals are chatty. Had coffee in one of those cute coffee houses, and I sat watching this very 'large girthed family' eat a very large lunch. The guy was carefully positioning the food on his fork so as to not drop one morsel of it. Grose, I felt really sorry for their daughter.
Dingle iI imagine would be very popular with the local and tourist alike in the summer time, glad we came now.
We drove onto to Inch (Ryan's Daughter - the movie) hugging the coast and again the views are spectacular, our photos just can not make justice of the dramatic views. The hedges and stone fences are a challenge for any photographer. Surfing the waves is popular here, burr..rrr chilly. Watching some idiot who has bogged their car in the sand on the beach, (I think his name is Luke What Eye Dunne). the tide is coming in the locals are just watching no one is helping which we find rather odd. We spoke to a local guy with his 4x4 Toyota, he was in no mood to help and this local watching on just said that this just may change his idiot's life completely ..or it just ! Keith and I placed bets that he would get the car out. Real-life-soap-opera, better entertainment than the TV. This is the beach where Ryan's Daughter was filmed, needless to say today was equally entertaining.
Hooray ! The rescue squad has arrived in the form of a tractor complete with chains. Anyone for a cheap very washed car ? The car was a Nissan Murano 4x4, what a jerk. This is actually a great surfing beach. Has some great waves.
We did a couple of side-road trips, more narrow roads, the locals speed along and there is no room for the two cars, breath in and pray.
By-passed Killarney. It's a big city not really interesting in itself.
Cork and we are meeting Nicole and Robin tonight. They are training down and we have the BnB's organised. Looking forward to our weekend together. Entering Cork is like driving up the M4 in peek hour. (it's 4:30pm). Cork is even bigger and there's alot of traffic on the road. I guess it's because it's Friday night. Just announced on the radio, there is a flood alert for Cork city. It's not raining right now, but they must have got a lot over the past few days.
Cork has high rise! Christmas lights are up. Nice.
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