The Day we Returned to Dingle

 Unlike the pub in Ballyferriter that kicked on ‘til the wee, small hours, and on a school night too, our accommodation in Cuas was dead quiet by 10, allowing weary walkers to catch a good night’s sleep. We did hear that there would normally have been more dancers there on a Thursday night, but they didn’t turn up because of the heat!  

Breakfast was at 8am, so we were all packed and ready to go by the time Sean our taxi driver arrived at 9:30. The 15 minute trip across the peninsula was entertaining, with Sean firstly telling us all about the local lads who had made good and moved to play AFL in Australia, for example Cat’s player Mark O’Connor - we even saw the house where he grew up, and his uncle’s house over the road to boot. He also told us to keep an eye on Kobe McDonald from county Mayo who has just signed up with St Kilda.

Then he entertained us with tales about the legal machinations of the town, today being Court day; and the one local Garda who has let power go to his head, doing crazy things like breathalysing  traffic at 8:30 in the morning on the main roundabout in and out of town. Everyone was late for school and work that day!  

We were dropped at the Alpine Guesthouse in Dingle, our lodgings for tonight, designed to give us a little more time to explore this popular port town, and main hub for the Dingle Peninsula. As it was too early to check-in, we left our luggage and wandered into town to explore the shops, find some lunch, and for Julie and Mark, an out of town adventure to find some standing stones. Wallsy’s feet declined this opportunity; we instead, did some gift shopping, tried a famous Murphy’s icecream, walked along the port and came back to our room for a rest, the weather threatening to rain, but not succeeding. 

When Mark and Julie returned from the Ogham stones (they are the standing stones that have been inscribed) we regrouped and walked down to The Dingle Pub, one of only 50 pubs in this town of 2,000 residents! They have live music 8 nights a week according to their sign, but you have to get in early if you want a table and a meal. We were there before 5:30 and managed to get one of only two remaining tables for four. Then we began the game of stretching our meal out for as long as possible, so we would still be there for the live music. A round of drinks, four main courses, three desserts, a coffee and a pot of tea later, there were still people waiting for tables to become available, so, as we had been there for 90 minutes and heard the first half hour of the Irish duet, we decided to move on, and wander back to our guesthouse.