Dingle to Dunquin (17km / 11.5mi)
This coastal walk to Dunquin was our favorite day of the trip! Surprise surprise, the day began with rain but it also began with a taxi ride with Sean Moran, the 79 yr old owner of Moran Transportation and expert of all things Irish. I LOVED this man and if I ever write a book he will be the inspiration for one of my favorite characters. Mr. Moran felt sorry for us & dropped us off at Ventry beach (closer to our destination) and told us he’d be waiting for us at the end of our walk that day.
The rain and wind along the beach made it difficult to take pictures or see very far, but it was so quiet and wildly beautiful. Along the way we met fellow Dingle Way hikers from Ottawa Canada who were 1st time “inn-to-inn walkers” like us. The poor guy had plantar fascia, so I stopped complaining about my shin splints when I saw he was determined to trek on. We had lunch at a cafe near Dunbeg Fort and continued winding around the western coast of Ireland. We saw the “Sleeping Giant” (Ceann Sibeal), an island that looks like a giant man in repose.
Our walk ended at the Blasket Interpretive Center where Sean picked us up, taking us along a special route and giving us an Irish lesson we couldn’t replicate if we tried. During our ride, we learned:
- Where the Star Wars locations were
- In his youth, Sean used to drive Robert Mitchum around when he lived there for Ryan’s Daughter
- Where the lookout spots for German u-boats during WWII were
- About the 93 yr old legend walking on the side of the road
- About the “bloody Irish government” selling coastal fishing rights to Spain and that over the years he had seen 24 local family Dingle boats dwindle to 3 boats, losing the 4th generation of fishing families
- Sean’s business also transports the 13 to 17 yr olds to school in Dingle and therefore we received a thorough schooling on Irish education
- Sean was a much better driver than Peter “the mechanic,” who had the voice of a leprechaun and drove us the remaining way to Cloghane while rubbing his tired eyes and defogging the windshield over the treacherous one lane, no shoulder, cliff side Conner Pass.
Our day ended with lodging and dinner at the very eclectic O’Connor’s B&B. It was the only place to eat in town, so good thing the food and atmosphere was great! At dinner we visited with a couple from Pittsburgh who were around our age and with similar hiking experience (aka, not very much). So when a Swiss backpacker chick half our age and in obviously excellent health said the Brandon Mt hike was “challenging,” we decided to skip it — it would have been our last walk in the itinerary.
Our O’Connor hosts Michael & Sherry O’Dowd were 4th generation owners — Michael’s family had owned it for 150 years and met his Boston wife at a bar in New York City.
Michael regaled guests that night with stories about German plane crashes in their village and the German survivors who married local girls & stayed. He used plane debris as decorations in the pub. Our room had the feel of an old man’s fishing camp, but it was clean and comfortable. Breakfast was very good and [THANK YOU JESUS] offered options BESIDES traditional Irish breakfast.
Perhaps my favorite quirk (and there were a LOT of quirks) was the O’Connor wifi password, Feed the damn cat!, which is forever etched in my memory as that cat and I became closely acquainted the next day (more to come in the next post).
