MIKE AND JESS' TRAVEL DIARY
Ireland Trip
Day 8 - September 23 2018
Mike, the ‘rents, and I woke up early to take the Slea Head drive along the Dingle Peninsula, which we read was more scenic, and shorter, than the Ring of Kerry. We took the advice from the folks at the tourist office to start before 9AM to beat the tourist busses and to drive clockwise and it paid off, since we were often alone on the narrow coastal road.
As we were driving, we had views of the rolling hills dotted with farm houses and even some preserved beehive huts built in the 12th century on one side, and craggy coastline on the other. We agreed with some other travel blogs, that this was a better experience than the Ring of Kerry. Partially because we had it to ourselves, but it’s a much shorter drive to see arguably more beautiful scenes.
After getting back into town, we dropped off the parents and headed to Mount Brandon for a hike. The land is owned by various landowners and farmers, and they’ve agreed to making the path open for hikers. There’s a small car park at the trail head and there are small ladders to climb over the stone fences that border their land.
The views from up high are not suitable for words. The hike was worth the work and it felt good to burn some serious calories after eating and drinking our hearts away for a week! Also, you get to hike with the sheep owned by the farmers. So cool!
After a quick shower once we returned to Dingle, we hit Murphy’s Pub to fill our empty bellies.
After dinner we drank some more beers and stayed out long enough to want a little more food. So we grabbed some fish and chips from Reel Dingle Fish, a counter-serve, take-away joint, and shared it with our group back at the Airbnb. It wasn’t long after that we packed it in for the night, because we were moving on the next morning.