Dingle

A river flows through it...





Arrived in Dingle on Friday. I leave tomorrow, Monday, for Shannon. Tuesday, I fly home from Shannon airport.

Friday I walked along the harbor. The weather and views were lovely. Saw the little tour boats out looking for Fungie, the local celebrity (a friendly wild bottlenose dolphin). Then I saw Fungie, too! No high jumps, but definitely his fin.

Saturday I biked the Dingle Peninsula, on the Slea Head Drive. Approximately 47 km--that's 30 miles! I was actually hobbling when I got back to Dingle; a muscle in my right leg kept spasming. After stretching, a hot shower, and a nap, I felt much better.

I met some great people; I will write more and upload more pictures when I get home.

A river flowed over the road. See my bike parked on the side?

The cuteness of this picture is self-evident.

I took shelter in this beehive hut (clochan, in Irish) while it rained.
As I sat there, hunkered over my sandwich, I had time to contemplate what it would have been like to live in one. First thing I would do it get some small stones to plug up the holes in the roof. I'm sure these holes didn't exist when people lived there, though--they were obviously great builders. The stones were placed, without mortar, at an angle to funnel the rain off the building. The structure narrowed at the top (like a beehive), and across the top they placed large slabs to complete the roof. I found myself wondering, though, if they had fires inside the hut and how they dealt with the smoke.