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melbourne ramblings skip to main skip to sidebar melbourne ramblings life love food wine and fun in australia s cultural capital monday june 15 2009 moved to wordpress hi this blog has now moved permanently to a wordpress platform www maireaddoyle wordpress com hope you visit me there posted by mairead at 10 24 pm labels internet queen writer s block wednesday october 29 2008 dingle trip july 2008 it s not often that we get a chance to escape the australian winter and get back to a northern hemisphere summer but july saw orlando and me flying off to europe to the wedding in france of our friends ariane and igor to make the most of our time orlando headed back to his beloved hometown while i went to ireland to catch up with family the summer had been a changeable one so we were not expecting great weather after a hectic weekend trying to keep up with my alcoholic brother and sister on the red wine front mum and i jumped into the car with bernard s children ashling and connor for a road trip to dingle i had not been to dingle in ab out eleven years strangely for this summer as soon as i arrived in dublin the weather changed and we had nothing but sunshine most days this happens quite frequently mena went home a couple of years ago for annette s birthday in may and ended up in a heat wave and i have been pictured in these pages sunbathing on the antrim coast in april late departing dublin we headed out the limerick road which is motorway as far as portlaoise these days when i worked in cork twenty years ago the good road stopped in newbridge and it was country roads the rest of the way the original two hour drive to portlaoise was completed in just under an hour with my obsession with irish ham at its zenith the family had eaten half a pig the day before and we had the leftovers with us for a picnic mountrath maighean ratha the fort in the bog is almost exactly halfway to limerick from dublin and we found a lovely picnic area beside the river whitehorse and the imposing church of st fintan we ate and drank the kids played a game of football and checked out the playground while mum and i rambled across a little footbridge to see the old church they don t make them like this anymore high arches imposing altar plenty of god and gold on show peaceful though down through munster we went tripping past limerick on the ring road like lightning and stopping in tralee for an ice cream blennerville s windmill also warranted a stop it is the biggest working windmill in the british isles during the great famine the pier beside the blennerville windmill was a major point of emigration for thousands of kerry and munster people thousands of people were carried on coffin ships to the east cost of the usa and canada many did not survive the journey now the coast of tralee bay boasts only beautiful views and seafood restaurants to serve the twenty first tastes of sophisticated residents and tourists who d have thought by late afternoon we were approaching dingle via the connor pass well what other route do you take if connor is in the car this was the only patch of bad weather we encountered the mists and clouds descended in true kerry fashion and we could hardly see the amazing view back west across brandon bay we scrambled on rocks above a small waterfall saw a heart shaped kettle lake and a couple of text book corrie lakes almost hidden on the side of the valley through the thickening fog we saw some old ruins of which later we were told the legend apparently these had originally been the simple farm buildings of the o donnell brothers who had travelled south in 1601 like many ulstermen to join the siege of kinsale they somehow decided to farm rather than fight settled in the valley and led a quiet life until one of them killed the other with a shovel our b b was simple but welcoming tom the archaeologist who told us the above story was a little hesitant but a lovely man always ready with local information or help with our irish vocabulary i insisted that we all spoke as much irish as possible as soon as we passed the gaeltacht sign and we didn t do too badly we had dinner in john benny moriarty s a famous bar on the harbour front john benny is a well known local accordion player and his wife a renowned singer the bar food was simple but delicious and the live music when it started was excellent we wandered down to the pier after dinner taking photos at 10 30pm in broad daylight love it next morning i had a date with the local scuba diving shop so i was up and out by nine eric runs a friendly dive shop helped by two english girls i kitted myself out and chatted to the other divers padraig was a young local lad who had just qualified as a teacher and was off bungee jumping the following week may second from right was a cork woman about my own age who had learned to dive with her three children the previous year and they were all there for the dive matthew who was working as an intern in the shop caoimhe a chatty young teenage girl and ruairi the youngest at twelve what a great thing to do as a family two of eric s friends from belgium made up the boatload we hopped in the rubber dinghy and set off at alarming speed out of the harbour and into the bay i was sat up the bow hanging on for dear life like it was an episode of miami vice it was sensational we sped along the rugged coastline as if on a roller coaster for what seems like ages until we stopped at a small headland called parkmore point we broke up into smaller groups and backflipped into the water sadly visibility was not great but i had an enjoyable dive with padraig and sophie our dive master no great marine life to speak of but a good wall and lots of sea grasses and after all my worry about the cold i was a lot warmer in my double wetsuit than i had been in the dry suit in melbourne the second dive was back in dingle harbour itself an incredibly shallow dive but worth it nonetheless we anchored up and the first person to backflip in simply stood up to talk to us we were in about five feet of water then almost immediately fungie the local dolphin arched up out of the water not twenty feet away we all squealed with delight and those in the water tried snorkelling to catch a better glimpse i don t think i could have done a better dive in such shallow waters the official name for the area was the gravelly but it was better known locally as thornback alley i soon found out why i must have seen over fifty thornback ray on that dive they were simply everywhere floating past one minute rising suddenly out of the sand below you the next they were all sizes up to about a metre wingspan with the long thorny tail that gives them their name between that and the forest of seagrass we found ourselves in it was one of the most fun dives i have ever done turns out that despite the overcast day i got seriously sunburnt on my face so much for australian education on the dangers of the sun back at shore i was so uplifted and excited by my dives the rest of the family was at the harbour to welcome us home and as soon as the paperwork and chores were done we headed off to explore the rest of the peninsula by this time the sun was out and it was a really lovely day we meandered along down to ventry harbour where a small caravan park seemed an idyllic place for summer holiday as long as the weather was good out further along the coast road every turn in the road gave us another spectacular view slea head one of the most western points in ireland presented a panoramic view of the blasket islands with a glimpse of the craggy skelligs away on the horizon further along towards dunquin the dry stone walls and tiny houses spoke of earlier poorer simpler days and still the sun shone a pilgrimage to louis mulcahy s pottery shop was a must years ago as a young engineer i visited louis with a colleague his kilns used a lot of our gas i was struck by his unique style even then and bought myself a small vase we wandered around the shop twenty years later mum and i trying in vain not to buy any jugs i gave in buying a beautiful little white jug in louis new japanese influenced style and mum bought me a lovely little bowl to match i was happy later in town i bought a beautiful orange red shawl from his weaver wife lisbeth stopping off in tig áine a quaint café near ballyferriter on the atlantic coast we watched as the sea mists rolled in and just as quickly disappeared it seemed the weather was going to last back across the peninsula on the bothar fada the rear view mirror now offering spectacular atlantic views it was hard not to stop every few hundred yards to take another look truly this country and i know i am biased is one of the most beautiful in the world and even more so when the sun shines dinner this evening was further along the harbour side in paudie s bar again the place was thronged with locals and visitors alike again the food was fresh simple and delicious my mackerel was to die for i ate slowly again the live music when it started was skilled casual and entertaining makes you proud to be irish next morning the day was even more sunny and warm than before we took another trip around the peninsula anti clockwise this time to pick up ashling s sweater she d left in the café if it were possible the views were even more spectacular the waters bluer the countryside more rugged we drove slowly savouring our last hours in kerry back through anascaul along the coast of dingle bay this time we could not help but stop at the spectacular inch strand what is the difference between a strand and a beach the irish would tend to use the former three miles long this beach was used for the filming of ryan s daughter years ago now in summer it is a holiday place with surfing lessons cars on the beach lifeguards perched ridiculously far from the water s edge kids in wetsuits and a little café you can sit outside and watch it all happen ashling and connor had to go in for a swim mum and i ate lunch and watched them from afar it was after three o clock it was a sunny 26c a rarity in ireland it would take seven hours to get home i needed to be up at four in the morning for my flight to paris do i leave them in the water on the one tropical summer s day of the year or do i cut the day short and get us back on the road again no contest we sat back relaxed and didn t leave till after four almost back in limerick i was flagging we had just spent half an hour trying to find matrix castle connor reckoned it was an interesting name to no avail i spied a sign for adare and turned into adare castle instead at least we could see inside this castle the gateman let us in and we parked outside one of the most spectacular buildings in ireland built in the 1830s adare manor has 53 chimneys 75 fireplaces a minstrel s gallery inspired by the hall of mirrors in versailles 850 acres of garden one 350 year old cedar of lebanon and a championship golf course on the other side of the river we sat in the lounge overlooking the manicured gardens drinking coffee while ashling and connor explored the bar menu was pretty good value actually not much more expensive than the little beach café we d eaten at on inch strand we will definitely come back another day for high tea which looks particularly appetising stopping off in portlaoise for a late dinner it was almost midnight when we finally got back to dublin a pit stop for me the children helped me unpack and re pack for the trip to france next morning before i fell into bed for the three hours sleep i hoped would revive me for a few more hectic days ahead posted by mairead at 9 50 pm labels family ireland monday february 05 2007 follow this link this blog is no longer being updated regularly follow these links to my website and food blog cheers posted by mairead at 1 28 pm labels internet queen random thoughts thursday november 23 2006 forty amazing things my sister annette wrote on her birthday card to me that i should do forty amazing things this year i have taken her advice and this year before i turn 41 i plan to fulfill that dream i have gotten off to a great start too in the three weeks since my birthday i have managed to experience four amazing things so i am well on the way to success follow this link for the chronicles of my adventures posted by mairead at 10 06 pm labels forty amazing things older posts home subscribe to posts atom about me mairead view my complete profile tags australia orlando friends uk ireland family food and wine china ramblings melbourne london things to do music internet queen awards body and soul debates forty amazing things wineries writer s block birthdays famous people random thoughts archive of ramblings june 2009 1 october 2008 1 february 2007 1 november 2006 9 september 2006 6 august 2006 6 july 2006 2 june 2006 5 may 2006 6 april 2006 3 february 2006 2 january 2006 1 december 2005 2 november 2005 4 october 2005 8 september 2005 1 august 2005 1 july 2005 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