Tue, 24 Jun 2003

author Tim	location Doolin, Claire, Ireland
posted 10:17 BST 26/06/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Ireland/Ireland 1 ( all photos )

Kerry and Claire - Killarney, Dingle ( 17 photos )
Our attempts on Tuesday to find out just what a Bog Village is were thwarted on two counts - the huge numbers of tourist buses there and also our lack of cash. No great loss.
Driving into Killarney a happy service station attendant fueled up the bus and chatted about the weather and the like, all with a smile before running off to do the same elsewhere. A bit further on we went in to a big Tesco in Tralee to stock up on essentials to make dinner for the next few days. We ducked as we cleared a 2.6m maxiumum height bar - just.
Next diversion was down the Dingle Peninsula. This had been recommended by several different parties, so we were keen to see what the fuss was about. The most interesting part there was driving over the Conor Pass, a high, winding road over the mountains which form the central part of the peninsula and make it the highest mountain pass in Ireland. It has to be said, it wasn't as difficult driving as when we drove up Hardknott Pass in England, but that was in a small car!
We were by far the biggest vehicle in the car park at the top, which the funny looks from other tourists confirmed. Or perhaps we were just really ugly.
Back down the otherside to the town of Dingle, nestled in between the hills. This place is famous for the resident Dolphin, Funghi. They do boat trips where you get your money back if he doesn't come and dance around the boat like it some kind of a game, but we were not in the mood to part with such lumps of cash. Instead, after a quick walk around the town, we drove down a one-track four-wheel-drive-only kind of road which dumped us at a tiny carpark on the beach. From there, we had a great view across the bay, including Funghi rolling around in the limelight.
Driving back inland along a slightly easier road, we headed towards Tralee, the onwards to Castleisland for a rest after our large amount of driving. We had a quick look around the town, stretching our legs before picking a place to aim for the night.
We considered finding a place off the beaten track, and as such drove generally towards the town of Adare, but zig-zagging of the main road looking in a few little back-water towns. It turns our they were just a bit un-lively for our liking, so in the end we made it to probably our favourite caravan park so far, a couple of kilometres out of Adare.
We ate dinner in the blazing sun, sitting by the van and soaking up the rays in a way you still have to enjoy when it happens here.
The town had been mentioned as particularly beautiful, so we headed in after dinner to check it out. We found a nice little pub with a friendly guy running it who had lived in Sydney for quite some time, and he actually had an Ettamogah Pub poster on the wall, although he didn't think it was real! We quickly let him know just how real it was, and that, infact we used to play band gigs sitting there, and gossiped about so-and-so while standing there. Not at all what we had expected in a small town like that!

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