We slept well. It was not due to the craft beer or the red wine, but more the fresh sea or mountain air and a very soft comfortable bed. Good choice, yay, a hotel between a mountain and the big blue sea *chuckle*. We ate almost everything at breakfast (full Irish with lots of added extras) as we had a long day of intense coastal exploring ahead of us. Our first stop was for alcohol. Noooo, not because we were thirsty, but because one of us is a connoisseur. A whisk(e)y one at that!

The Dingle Distillery

This distillery was just around the corner (long and winding road more like it) from where we were, but we were way too early to join in on one of their distillery tours. As we were not so sure how long our day would be, we decided not to book one for later, hoping that one day soon we would return to Dingle…The distillery does not only make whisk(e)y, but gin and vodka too!! The interesting frog-looking car was one of many belonging to a group of tourists who also wanted to tour the distillery.

Slea Head Drive

Slea Head Drive, which starts and ends in the town of Dingle, is part of the Wild Atlantic Way and sort of loops around the peninsula. It is a very popular route for tourists and such, but we were lucky as there were not so many big busses and small bicycles on the road. We travelled clockwise and our next stop was the seaside village of Ventry, where we visited the Celtic and Prehistoric Museum.

The interesting part of this museum is that it is small, yet it boasts items dating back to the Jurassic age. There’s a complete skeleton of a baby dinosaur, a nest of dinosaur eggs, a mammoth skull and an impressive collection of Celtic jewellery. There are many other interesting tools, weapons and artefacts on display, including this smoking hog 🐗

Splashing waves, grazing sheep and piled up stones. We were at Dunbeg Fort, which is a 500BC ruin precariously sitting on a cliff. In a few years time it might not be there, as the sea seems to be eroding it very fast, so please visit if you can. It is not spectacular as in WOW, and it also costs a small fee to walk down the hill, but it has a great historical value. The other side of the road, however, was much more interesting for us. There on the hill were many beehive huts that we simply just had to see. A very charming and friendly old lady greeted and chatted to us for a bit, advising us on which of the Fahan Beehive Huts to see first. The area is not big, but the walk is better, steep, but better, the huts are mostly intact and the view of the sea is amazing from up there. Here too is an entrance fee, but much more worth it!

There are a lot of interesting stops en route, even if it is just to see the cliffs, or a posing seagull that was definitely not camera shy!  😁

Oh, just ignore the one with the fat bum believing that she can soar over the cliffs 😆 and look at the amazing views of the Three Sisters mountains peaks instead. These wonderful photos were taken mostly from the Wine Strand, a quiet and peaceful beach a bit off the main route. Further along we also left the Slea Head Drive and motored a bit northwards to Ballydavid where we found a small pier, which is probably not in use anymore. From here the Three Sisters can be seen too. Take these little detours, you won’t regret it…

These lovely pink sea thrift (Ameria Maritima) flowering plants were growing everywhere near the pier.

So that includes our Irish Road trip for 2015. The next day we left quite early for Shannon, where we stayed for one night at the airport hotel. Yep, the airline we used changed the flight times after we booked everything, so we had to shorten our stay in Dingle because we were flying out at the crack of dawn 😠 grrrr…