With just the gentle breaking of waves on the sea shore we passed a quiet night and awoke, regretfully, to more grey despite the forecasters saying it should be sunny. But at least it was dry and not at all cold. Colin thought he needed to top up his gas tank, not yet having had an opportunity to properly check the gauge, which are generally not very accurate. However it seemed that gas refilling points are a bit rare in this corner of Ireland although there was one in Tralee, which we'd passed through yesterday. So after breakfast a little backtracking and we topped up both vans before returning to the Wild Atlantic Way.
We had to backtrack anyway because the route crossed the Connor Pass which, due to size and weight restrictions, we had to avoid and take another road over the mountains to Dingle where we again picked up the WAW. Dingle is very much a tourist town and was very busy so we didn't stop but instead joined the Slea Head Drive, part of the Way, which took us on a very scenic route on even narrower roads around the headland. Fortunately almost everybody was going the same way in accordance with local advice (i.e. the roadsigns!) so we encountered no problems.
Not so helpful was the lack of anywhere large enough to safely park our motorhome although Colin and Tina could have managed. But we noticed a visitor centre for the Blaskett Isles so tried there and found plenty of room so we stopped for lunch. This centre is dedicated to the history and lives of the inhabitants of the off-shore Blaskett islands – we didn't call in although it was open.
Whilst lunching we started to make plans for the next few days which included booking a campsite for a couple of nights over the weekend, mainly to avoid a repeat of the bedlam of last weekend but also as a break from daily driving. We also identified a likely spot for overnighting tonight which was said to have toilets and water, which would be very useful. So off we went to complete the circuit of the “Dingle Ringle” as we called it, passing back through Dingle town then Castlemain (I thought that was a beer?) which was also very busy and then back onto the WAW.
On the way we passed Inch Peninsula, a large permanent sand bar that stretched almost all the way across the bay and appeared to be popular. It is quite possible to drive along the beach for quite a way – and then pay a local farmer €50 to be towed off again! We did spot a few cars driving along the beach, but we'll forego that pleasure thankyou. I mention it because if it had extended around 100 metres it would have touched shore right next to our evening destination at Cromane beach, avoiding the drive right around the bay to cross a bridge at Castlemaine.
We found the carpark okay without the help of TomTom this time and parked in a reasonably level space more or less into the wind but with a nice view. The toilets were still open so we took the opportunity of emptying our cassettes but couldn't find a water supply other than the tap on the washbasin – we thought running a hosepipe to that was perhaps pushing it a bit but we'll manage.
A cuppa then we thought we'd investigate the pub/restaurant a few yards away which had been mentioned in the reviews left on our camping apps, with a view to eating “out” again. The menu looked very inviting but the prices!!! As an example basic roast chicken with chips, and absolutely nothing else, was €26.00 and that was the cheapest item! We've got some very nice boneless leg of lamb in the fridge so we put the oven on!
We are now at one end of the Ring of Kerry, perhaps the most well known tourist area in all of Ireland and of course we have to “do” it which is our plan over the next few days – it doesn't take that long but our booked campsite is partway round it and next to an offshoot which we'll tackle first.
No comments:
Post a Comment