Sixth stop...Dingle

Ross drove through the worst possible driving conditions imaginable: pouring rain, poor visibility, and worst of all, strong winds buffeting the van every which way. I don’t know how he managed to keep it on the road.

At daylight, we reached the Kerry Bog Village, where we had French toast and fresh coffee for breakfast. Ross had bought the coffee at a garage in Killorglin where we had stopped to ask for directions to the Bog Village. Google maps were wrong again! He also bought some delicious pastries to eat with breakfast. We couldn’t manage to get through all of them, but the apple slice was delicious.

It was still bucketing down and the wind gusts of up to 100km/hour were buffeting the van from side to side. No one was around so we drove up to the gate and took some photos. I love this place, but even I wasn’t keen to exit the relative safety of the van to traipse around in the mud. We wisely decided to skip the Ring of Kerry; in this weather, we’d very likely be blown off the cliffs, and wouldn’t be able to see anything anyway!

On to Dingle along the Wild Atlantic Way and what an apt description! Neither Ross nor I had ever seen an ocean so wild, nor waves so huge! I videoed as best I could, but kept telling Ross to keep his eyes on the road. We pulled over to witness this spectacle of Mother Nature. This must be what is described as an angry sea; and this ocean was ferocious. Any boat caught out there wouldn’t stand a chance.

Finally, we entered the little fishing village of Dingle, and were greeted by gale-force winds and sheets of horizontal rain. We parked in the harbour car park, and went in search of lunch. Ross had a hankering for an Irish stew, which he located at Murphy’s Pub. I ordered the scrumptious seafood chowder washed down with a pint of Bulmers cider.

On the way back to the van, we called in to the tourist bureau just as she was shutting up for the day. No one in his right mind would be visiting Dingle on a day like today (except us!) Actually, there was another Australian family from Tasmania having lunch in the pub. The lady in the information centre was extremely helpful as people have been all over Ireland and told us not only was the Half Door Restaurant open tonight, but gave us the phone number, as well as several other recommendations in case the Half Door was booked out. She told us there was a music festival in town tonight, so the restaurants would all be busy.

I rang and booked an earlybird sitting as I knew this was a half-price deal. We drove around the village looking for a spot to spend the night. We spotted a couple of likely spots only to see signs that read ”no overnight parking” so figured we weren’t the only ones who thought they were good spots! Eventually we found a spot with a lovely view overlooking Dingle Bay and settled down for an afternoon siesta. (We’d been on the go since 3am!)

The van was a-rockin’ and a-rollin’ and I was secretly being nervous Nellie and paranoid Pete, wondering if the van could stand up to such a beating. Ross was watching a steel pole bend in the wind, so decided to look for a more protected spot. I breathed a huge sigh of relief! I wouldn’t have slept a wink here.

I showed him where the Half-Door Restaurant was and he found a place to park in a large carpark just behind it, right next to another motorhome. We lay down for a siesta, but set our alarm for 4.45pm in case we fell asleep. And you guessed it- we both fell into a deep sleep to be rudely awakened by the alarm. Ross would have happily slept on, but that dinner was calling me.

30.95 for a three-course banquet! The price has increased by 1 euro in 4 years! I swear the menu is identical though! If you do something well, don’t change it, I suppose, and they do dinner extremely well.

I ordered the gratinated mushrooms in brandy sauce for entrée while Ross had the lobster bisque. For mains, I couldn’t go past the salmon while Ross ordered a pork belly dish. Dessert was the most difficult choice.  I loved everything! Tiramisu, pannacotta, bread and butter pudding, pavlova with berries, baileys cheesecake, or Irish coffee to name a few of my favourites. I chose pannacotta with an orange sauce. Good choice! Ross had tiramisu, which was homemade and very tasty too. We decided to make this a celebratory dinner (celebrating us just getting here!) and ordered a bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio. Ross had one glass and I enjoyed the rest. I did not leave one precious drop!

Back in our cosy camper, I showered only to find I had used the last of the water – it lasted a day and a half- we’ll have to fill up tomorrow. We were in bed and asleep by 8pm. Of course we were up at 2am, but we are gradually getting back to normal. The wind has died down but it’s still raining cats and dogs!