Woah! Last night was a windy night! It had started a little breezy when I parked up, but come to about 9pm and the wind had changed direction and was wiping round. I could hear the flags on the flag poles in the car park, my bike cover was flapping around and the van was rocking. To be honest I wasn’t worried about the van, but mainly the bike cover. I had visions of it being torn off with the force of the wind. And it wasn’t a regular wind, at moments it would almost die down to nothing, but then it would start up again. I slept fairly well, but woke with the wind occasionally. At least it was mild, the first night I had my arms out from under the blankets.
I topped my water up at the visitor centre and had a quick look around the shop. They have an extensive range of woollen clothing, and some beautiful tweed items. I was very tempted by the tweed Mucros Flapper hats but thought better of spending the 45 Euros.
Today I was heading for Dingle, and there seemed to be some bike rides in the area, so thought I could get the bike out for its first run. The drive was about 2 hours, so I stopped off at a Lidl in Killarney for some food and a delicious cholate Brioche from their bakery (would definitely recommend with its gooey centre) where I also saw one of the protest convoys for the cost of fuel rising. As I’ve been listening to the radio of an evening and while on the road, it had become very apparent that Ireland is very proactive in campaigning for safer driving. They have standard adverts promoting safe driving, but they also report about it on the news. I’m not sure if their death rate is higher than in England, but it’s very commendable to have such a productive campaign, and it definitely does the job, as it has made road safety more at the forefront of my mind than it would have been. I would say I have also found that some of the Irish roads aren’t always obvious in their intention. I am constantly following my google satnav, and the road is sometimes depicted as being the main road with another road turning off from it, but when you come to it, your road is the secondary road, and you have to give way, BUT the road markings are almost nonexistent. The same when you think you are on a secondary road, the satnav depicts it as such, but it turns out you are the main road!
As I get nearer to Dingle I start to see high hills on my right, which slope gently upwards, like someone has got their hand and scooped the earth to one side to make way for the road. I’m so transfixed on these hills, which are starting to make an appearance as the cloud lifts off them, that I almost miss the coastline looking all magical and mysterious on my left. The sea looks calm and muted from a distance, with islands and outcrops adding interest as your eye pans the view. Its as I’m now looking to my left and climbing a hill on a turn that I see an amazing site and a turning left into a carpark. The car in front of me is taking the turn so I have chance to do the same.
What a find Inch beach is! A 5.5km long peninsula jutting out into Dingle Bay. The sky is heavy with many shades of grey clouds, and the sea is roaring, with galloping waves crashing into the vast beach, the sea mist creating a connection between sky and sea. I start to walk the length of the beach. I’m in my flip flops so easily take a paddle in the waves, its freezing, but obviously by feet get used to it soe I continue my walk bare foot the whole way. The waves are wild but they crash and create long mirrored baby waves that creep into shore over a good distance. Although there’s the roar of the waves it is a really peaceful setting, and I really enjoy the calm as I walk along the beach taking in the awesome sight of the mountains the other side of the water.
As I get back to the van its started to rain again, that light misty rain, so head back on my way to Dingle. Once there I park up and have a spot of lunch in the van, then head out to explore. By this point the rain is set in for the day and there’s a low heavy cloud as far as you can see. Dingle is a pleasant town and geared up for tourists with its many gift, craft, jewellery shops and pubs. The buildings are accentuated with odd colourful ones, and there’s frequent wall art, which adds a quirkiness to the place. They run boat trips from Dingle to the outer islands, but its too late in the day for me to book one, and I’m not sure the low cloud would provide a worthy trip.
I head on towards my next britstop, The Junction Bar, with a lovely view out to sea. I decide to trat myself to dinner here, as I’d missed out on one for my Easter Dinner, and have fish and chips followed by hot choc cake with ice cream. It was lovely and well appreciated.