Cloghane (6km / 4mi)
We chickened out and skipped our walk across Brandon Mt. from Cloghane to Annascaul. Instead we explored the tiny hamlet of Cloghane. On our way down to the beach, we stopped in at a local store/bakery on main street to get picnic fixings. Cloghane was very small, but it was worth an hour or two simply for the old church cemetery and beach. That and the fact that there were very few tourists. Our B&B hostess, Sherry, drove us to Annascaul in the early afternoon and THAT was an adventure. I rode in the backseat of Sherry’s car right beside her cat, who was in a cage and had a cone around his head. Sherry was dropping the cat off at the vet in Dingle because he had an eye injury. That cat was NOT a happy camper on the drive, especially when Sherry whipped around steep cliffs at the speed of lightning.
When the cat wasn’t caterwauling, I was able to hear Sherry telling Eric all about how her father told her never to marry a man she met in a bar. Imagine her father’s surprise when she did just that AND he took her away to the Emerald Isle.
We walked around Annascaul before dinner. This being our second time in Annascaul, we knew to eat dinner early before they stopped serving food. We dined at the South Pole Inn, the historic home of the Arctic explorer Tom Crean. We drank Crean beer (a very good pale lager) and had fun watching kids open a fake window that made blizzard sounds when you opened it. We ate lamb cutlets, fish & chips, sticky toffee pudding, and a brownie with pink & white marshmallows. If you ever visit Dingle Peninsula, Annascaul is a must stop if you want excellent food in a small town without tourists. Eat at the South Pole Inn, drink at Hannafin’s Pub, walk along the river trails, and stay either at Teac Seain B&B or the Old Anchor Inn. You won’t regret it.
