In Search of Roots: A Trip Through Ireland and Great Britain Part 7: Dingle and the Dingle Peninsula

Dingle Loop Drive - Starting and Ending at Castlewood House

Castlewood House

Our trip on the Ring of Kerry ended on the Dingle Peninsula in the town of Dingle. After a little searching, we found Castlewood House, located outside of town overlooking Dingle Bay. Castlewood House is arguably the nicest B&B that we stayed in during the trip. After settling in we went for dinner at Out of the Blue Seafood, an outstanding restaurant on the harbor just outside of the main town. It was busy and we had some libation and listened to the music while we waited for our dinner.  This time, I had the almond sole, which was perfect and Pat had Dory, which was a little rubbery. I'm sure she wishes that she had Sole.

Out of the Blue - Excellent Seafood

Almond Sole at Out of the Blue

We really had quite a bit of good food on this trip, which gave the lie to our expectations of English/Irish cooking.

Eggs Benedict Supreme, with Smoked Salmon

The crowning touch came at breakfast the next morning when I had the Castlewood House's version of Eggs Benedict, called Eggs Benedict Supreme.  It really was. Instead of the usual ham, the meat was local organic smoked salmon.

Well fortified, we started out on the Dingle Loop. One of the first sights is directly across the Bay from Castlewood House. It's called Milltown House B&B. Robert Mitchum stayed there for a year while he was in Dingle, making the movie, Ryan's Daughter.  Staying in that area for a year could not be considered tough duty.

Miltown House, where Robert Mitchum stayed

Because of this trip, we recently rented Ryan's Daughter from Netflix. It's a long movie on two DVDs. We spent two hours on the first one and then the second one wouldn't play and Netflix has no more copies. The scenery is spectacular, but I wish we could have found out how the story ends.

Moving on, we came soon to Ventry Beach, an almost deserted strand as late June is still too early for beaching here.  On the whole beach, there was one family, a mother and two small children with plastic table and chairs having their own tea party.

Tea Party on the Beach

Kavanaugh Family Cottage, abandoned during the famine

Further on we come to a thatched cottage, typical of those inhabited by the Irish in the 1840's and then abandoned by them when they left Ireland for the United States and Canada during the Irish Potato Famine.

The Walls of Dunbeg Fort, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean

Next along the road is the Dunbeg Fort dating from roughly 500 CE. Forts like this are the most important relics left from Ireland's Iron Age (500 BCE - 500 CE).

As I spent some time exploring the fort, the sun came out and the skies turned blue. This became one of the better days, weatherwise, on the trip. Looking out to sea, I could see the Skelig Islands.

Skelig Islands from the Dunbeg Fort

This loop has many outstanding views and historic sites.  I am placing pictures of some of the more important ones below. And there are many more pictures at my SmugMug Gallery "Dingle and the Dingle Loop".  At the end of the day, we returned for another peaceful night and wonderful breakfast at Castlewood House and made ready to start our all day trip to Dun Laoghaire for our last three days in Ireland.

Blasket Islands

Ballyferiter

Gallus Oratory - About 1300 years old

Dingle Harbor

In Search of Roots - A Trip Through Ireland and Great Britain Part 6: Kinsale, Kenmare, and the Ring of Kerry

Map showing trip from Kinsale to Kenmare and then the Ring of Kerry to Dingle

The Ring of Kerry is one of Ireland's great tourist attractions, with great views of the Atlantic Ocean, historic forts, and quaint villages. Most bus tours include the Ring and that's how most tourists see it; from the window of a bus that usually doesn't have time to stop.  Since the ring road is a narrow lane in each direction, the wise tourist that wants to drive the Ring, gets started early; before the tour buses.
As a result, we stayed for two nights in Kinsale, and then moved only a short distance to spend a night in Kenmare, right at the beginning of the Ring.
We spent two nights in Kinsale at The Old Presbytery, a lodging in three adjoining buildings, a block from downtown. After getting directions from our host, I walked a couple of  blocks to the local bottle shop to buy some wine for in-room relaxation. We then went off to Hoby's Restaurant, which was packed for dinner.

Old fort on the road between Kinsale and Cobh

One of the attractions near Kinsale is the town of Cobh, which was the jumping off point for most Irish emigrants to the US and Canada during the early 19th century. It's likely that Pat's Case ancestors took passage for Canada from there.  This was one of the two sloppiest days of the trip as we left Kinsale for Cobh.  We stopped at an abandoned tower along the road, and then drove to Cobh.  From 1849 (Queen Victoria's visit) to 1922 (Irish Independence), Cobh was called Queenstown. The main attraction in Cobh is the Cobh Heritage Centre or "The Queenstown Experience." This  museum contains exhibits of life aboard the ships taking the emigrants and also artifacts relating to The Titantic, which made its last stop at Cobh before its sinking. More about the Cobh Heritage Centre is at http://bit.ly/tmP9DA . After visiting the Cobh Heritage Centre, we returned to Kinsale as it was raining too hard to be outside any more.

An exhibit of an Irish emigrant ship at the Cobh Heritage Centre

The next morning, since we only had a short drive to Kenmare, I walked around downtown Kinsale taking pictures. Because of the weather,  I felt that it was best to take HDR exposures to be able to have some detail in the sky. Here are a few pictures of downtown Kinsale.

Post Office in downtown Kinsale

A small cafe' in Kinsale There are a lot of bright-colored buildings
 I think because of the long winters

Packie's side dishes with two dishes of Culcanon

After walking around and taking pictures we left for Kenmare, stopping at the Leap Inn (in Leap, naturally) along the way for lunch. We arrived in Kenmare in mid-afternoon and made reservations at Packie's for dinner. Packie's is probably the best restaurant in Kenmare. Pat had scallops and I had lamb chops. As a side dish we had an Irish dish called Cullcanon, which is mashed potatoes with diced scallions - delicious. We retired early to be able to get up and get a good start on the drive of the Ring of Kerry before the bus traffic.

Packie's in downtown Kenmare.

The next morning after one of those large Irish breakfasts we started on the drive on the Ring of Kerry. We would see the sights and then end in Dingle, where we would spend two nights before returning to Dublin for sightseeing and the ferry back.
Our first stop on the Ring of Kerry was the small town of Sneem. One of the high points of Sneem was the free public bathroom to use after the plentiful early morning coffee at The Abbey Court, our B&B in Kenmare. Sneem  is a quaint town with colorful houses and a river with rapids on the way into town as you can see in the next two photos.

Colorful houses in Sneem

Rapids of the Sneem River

After leaving Sneem, our next stop was the Staigue Fort.  This is one of three stone forts built between 500 B.C. and 300 A.D.  As you can see in the picture, they were built with no mortar or cement.

Pat and some other tourists at the Staigue Ring Fort

After visiting the fort we went on, stopping a turn offs on the road to take pictures when a vista presented itself. One example are the fields and islands near Derrymane, where we had a great sweeping panorama as you can see in the picture.

Fields and islands near Derrymane on the Ring of Kerry

Butler Arms in Waterville, Ireland

Around lunch time we stopped at the Butler Arms in Waterville. This is a favorite tour bus stop on the Ring as it's one of the few good places to eat. Another reason is that Charlie Chaplin, the movie star used to stay at the Butler Arms and one of its dining areas is called The Charlie Chaplin Room with a plaque.  We ate in the Charlie Chaplin Room, overlooking the ocean. While we were there a busload of Japanese tourists arrived and they were seated in another dining room.
We finished our tour of The Ring of Kerry in good time, never having to wait long for tour buses. We then headed for our next stop, the town of Dingle, where we take up this tale.

Charlie Chaplin Room in the Butler Arms

More pictures of this segment of our trip can be seen at http://smu.gs/oXhbxJ

In Search of Roots: A Trip Through Ireland and Great Britain Part 5 - A Near Miss in County Wicklow

Map of southern Ireland showing our route from Dun Laoghaire through Brittas Bay, Glendalough, Cashel to Kinsale

After we left the ferry,(A) it was a short, easy drive to Brittas Bay (B &E) and the Balinclea House, where we were met by Mrs. Doyle, the owner. I had informed her of our quest of find any Case relatives in County Wicklow. She immediately called up a Mr. Walshe, who spoke to my wife on the phone. He had known the Cases in Glen of Imaal. Mr. Benjamin Case had passed on, but Mrs. Case still lived near there. With this information, we thanked Mr. Walshe and Mrs. Doyle and left for Arklow (C) to obtain some Euros at the bank and and then on to Glen of Imaal (D). We had a beautiful ride through the Wicklow countryside and came to a crossroads which contained the Knocknarrigan Post Office and the Glen of Imaal Store.  There were some women parked outside waiting to pickup school children, and a truckload of soldiers drove up to buy some drinks at the store.

Ballinclea House in Brittas Bay, County Wicklow

Glen of Imaal Store where we received some information

Stone wall on a County Wicklow back road

After awhile, Pat spoke to the store proprietress and a mother who had picked up her children. Yes, they knew Mrs. Benjamin Case. All we needed to do was to go back up one of the roads until we came to a bridge on the right, turn across the bridge and follow the road past some new housing and we would reach Mrs. Case's house. That seemed simple enough, and we took off up the road. We found the bridge and turned across it, so far so good. However, there were a few intersections that we hadn't counted on and we tried to pick the obvious road leading out. We did pass some new houses and kept going. Finally, we decided to ask directions from there. We stopped at a house and had the misfortune to encounter a lady who had just had some problem with her teen-age son. When we asked about Mrs. Case, she said that she was new in the area and didn't know her. We could go down the road and ask directions at a house with a yellow car out front.  We arrived at that house. It had a "killer" dog in the yard, and nobody around to answer the gate and hold off the dog.  At that point we called it a day and headed back to Brittas Bay.

The GPS program wanted to take us back by the most direct route. This meant straight across country.  We ended up on at least one road which was just two tire tracks with greenery on both side. Finally, between the GPS and a little knowledge of the area, we ended up on N11 north of Brittas Bay.  We turned south and got off at the Birttas Bay exit.  Right at the exit is Jack White's Restaurant, the only eating establishment in the area.

Brittas Bay Beach on the Irish Sea

After a long and somewhat harrowing day, we stopped right there for dinner and a couple of beers.  We then drove the two miles back to Ballinclea House and tucked ourselves in for the night.  We had come very close to meeting one of Pat's relatives, but had not made the final connection. We both felt (later) that with a little more effort we might have been successful. Pat thought that she probably could have paid one of the ladies at the store to lead us there.  Of course, Mrs. Case may not have been home or may not have wanted to see us. Pat later wrote a letter to Mrs. Case which remains unanswered to this day.

Because the information about Knocknarrigan/Glen of Imaal hadn't surfaced until shortly before the trip, and I thought that the relatives, if any, would be in the immediate Brittas Bay area, I had allowed only one day for that visit. Actually, the early ferry had given us the time for the expedition described above.  

County Wicklow Landscape Panorama

The next day we decided to move on with our schedule. For breakfast, Mrs. Doyle gave us a choice and I selected pancakes. They were the best pancakes we had on the trip, freshly made and hot off the griddle. We then left to start the day. Our first stop was the Brittas Bay beach on the Irish Sea. There was a nice beach park with restrooms which were available, but no one else there, as it was too early for the lifeguards and swimming.  We looked around, took a few pictures of the beach and dunes and moved on to our plan for the day.

Inside the Cathedral at Glendalough

St. Kevin's Church and Tower at Glendalough

Our next overnight stop was to be the town of Kinsale. On the way we wanted to visit the sites of Glendalough  (F) and the Rock of Cashel (H) . Glendalogh is in western County Wicklow.  It's an old monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St. Kevin and destroyed by the British in 1398.  Complete information about Glendalough can be found in the Wikipedia at http://bit.ly/9adBJS .  It was cloudy and showery while we were there, so I took most of my pictures in HDR mode.

Cathedral at the Rock of Cashel

After visiting Glendalough, we crossed through the Wicklow Gap to the county of South Tipperary to visit The Rock of Cashel in the town of Cashel, is one of the most spectacular and most visited tourist attractions in Ireland. A short discription of the Rock of Cashel from Wikipedia follows: The Rock of Cashel was the traditional seat of the kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion. Few remnants of the early structures survive; the majority of buildings on the current site date from the 12th and 13th centuries. Cashel is reputed to be the site of the conversion of the King of Munster by St. Patrick in the 5th century. The picturesque complex has a character of its own and is one of the most remarkable collections of Celtic art and medieval architecture to be found anywhere in Europe.  The full description is at http://bit.ly/Pl1Lu.  There is a lot of climbing to get to the level of the buildings and so Pat stayed in the car and I went up and took the pictures.

Tower at Rock of Cahel

After leaving the Rock of Cashel we went on to the town of Kinsale (H)  to spend two nights before proceeding on to Kenmare and The Ring of Kerry.  More pictures of our visit to County Wicklow and the Rock of Cashel are at http://smu.gs/pR0WGE.

In Search of Roots - A Trip Through Great Britian and Ireland Part 4 - Wales: On The Way To Ireland

Having decided to take our car with us on the ferry to Ireland, the next decision was where to stay the night before we boarded the ferry. The ferry route is shown on the map above from Holyhead in Wales to Dun Laoghaire (south of Dublin) in Ireland. We chose Dun Laoghaire to be able to avoid Dublin traffic and get right on our way to our first stop at Brittas Bay in County Wicklow. When we returned, Dun Laoghaire made a convenient locale to see the sights of Dublin, using the DART transit with a station across the street from our hotel.  We found that Conwy in Wales had a better selection of hotels, restaurants, etc. than Holyhead and is only about three-quarters of an hour drive via a high speed motorway. Our visit to Conwy opened our eyes to the uniqueness of Wales.

The Castlebank Hotel

Monday morning, after getting cash to pay our hotel bill at the one local ATM, we left for Conwy on a bright sunny day. The trip is nominally about three and a half hours as most of it is on the M6 and other motorways. In Britain, the standard speed on motorways (four+ lane divided limted access highways) is 70 mph and traffic mainly flows at that speed. Speed cameras, common in Great Britain and Ireland, kept my eye on the speedometer, particularly in the areas posted for cameras. We arrived in Conwy in good time. As our hotel, the Castlebank, was a little off the road that we were directed to by the GPS, we made one circle around the area before we settled in at about 3:30.   The Castlebank, as its name implies is just outside the city walls, near the Castle and only a short walk to town.

As Conwy was one of our three scheduled locations to do laundry, I spoke to the owner and he mentioned the Junction Laundry in LLandudno across the River Conwy. I plugged laundry into my CoPilot GPS app and it suggested the Junction and I was able to use the GPS to take me to the laundry, while Pat rested up from the drive. I reached the Junction about an hour and a half before the 5:30 closing and started the laundry in two machines. A wash and two dry cycles took me slightly past 5:30; the manager on duty was pleasant about letting me finish the second dry cycle, and I packed the clothes, still slightly damp, in a large plastic bag she provided for the purpose.  We were looking for Italian food for dinner and again consulted the GPS, which led us to Alfredo's in Lancaster Square, Conwy.  We each had Minestrone and Spaghetti Bolognese, which arrived hot and delicious. We returned to the hotel to look forward to a day of sightseeing in Conwy, as the laundry was completed.

Plas Mawr Exterior

The Great Room in Plas Mawr 

We started out in the morning to see Plas Mawr, an historic house, built between 1575 and 1586 for the Wynn (or Wynne) family. It has been restored and is managed by Cadw, the Welsh Heritage organization.  The inside has been restored to provide a good idea of the life of a Welsh merchant during the 16th and 17th centuries. While we were there, several groups of school children  came through to receive lessons in Welsh History and Welsh Language.

High Street, Conwy's "Main Street"

Rose Hill Street Goes One Way Through The Old City Wall

After visiting Plas Mawr we walked around Conwy and then returned to the hotel. Pat was setting up the clothes for the next phase of the trip and I went to town to tour Conwy Castle.

Conwy Castle

 Conwy Castle was built between 1283 and 1289 by King Edward I  of England.  More information about Conwy Castle can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conwy_Castle.

Conwy  Castle Tower and Keep

Conwy From Conwy Castle

Boats in the Conwy River Below the Castle

After visiting the Castle, I went for dinner as Pat was not hungry. A restaurant called Bistro Bach had high recommendations; However I found that Bistro Bach had been replaced by a new restaurant called Watson's Bistro. This was just a two block walk from the hotel, so I decided to give it a try. I had a crab soup and a sea bass plate that was on special that night and recommended by the waitress. They were both delicious. It had only been open as Watson's for nine weeks and as it was Tuesday night, it was not very busy. I wrote a favorable review for TripAdvisor, and checking back I see that the preponderance of reviews are very favorable. It's a good choice in Conwy.

Watson's Bistro

Watson's Sea Bass Plate

Days of the Week and Numbers in English and Welsh

The Welsh language is  a co-equal official language with English in Wales. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_language . All the official road and street signs have both languages on them. On my way home from the resturant, I saw a sign which gave English and Welsh equivalents of some common words. I took a picture with my iPhone and it's reproduced below.

Stena Explorer at the Dock in Holyhead

Just before we left Santa Barbara, we were informed that our ferry was leaving at 0855 instead of the 0955 that we had expected. Passengers are required to be at the dock in Holyhead an hour before the scheduled departure. With a forty-five minute drive to go and allowance for problems along the way, we decided to leave around 6:30. The hotel said we could have an early light breakfast, but we decided to eat at the ferry, so we were off at shortly after 6:30, and with one short detour along the way, made it to the ferry well before the appointed time. It's good that we were early as there were a large number of cars already in line. There was a small cafe on the dock, so I bought some coffee,while we waited. The loading was directed by an efficient crew and went smoothly. I had paid a little extra for seats in the Stena Plus Lounge, which was a good idea. Continental breakfast items were included and the seats were comfortable. A more elaborate breakfast could have been purchased from one of the hostesses. The ferries have free wi-fi, and there are desks in the StenaPlus for the commuting business people to take their laptops out a get some work accomplished during the two hour trip. It's a large vessel and the trip was comfortable. We arrived in Dun Laoghaire on time and guided by the efficient crew drove off to adventures in Ireland.
More pictures from Conwy are at http://smu.gs/qUutVQ