SLEA HEAD & BEEHIVE HUTS
Saturday 9.22 ~ 52 km to Slea Head
Another sunny day in Ireland and no hangover! I say good-bye to Ann, pick up groceries for lunch and head straight north out of town to cycle the Slea Head Peninsula.
This stretch is probably the bumpiest yet. I really feel it on the downhill and can tell my day bag is getting all discombobulated. I stop to pull it all back together under the bungees and a car pulls up next to me: it is the Australian couple from last night. They have already driven the entire peninsula and are off to another - but first they share their favorite places with me.
The road curves around and I see a vista of steep high cliffs meeting the ocean with crashing waves. Around every curve there is another spectacular view! I stop at a ceramic studio to eat my lunch and the grass is so soft and the sun is so soothing I end up taking a nap. I check out the gallery where the artists have made very cool large pieces depicting an abstract human form and smaller more affordable pieces for tourists.
I stop at a beach that is covered with endless shells. Farther down is a smooth sand beach surrounded by high cliffs that offer a great overview of the many messages visitors have scratched in the sand in-between high tides. This is also the beach where the movie Ryan’s Daughter was filmed.
I recognize a young woman who is selling at one of the food trucks from the farmers’ market. She selling vegan desserts. I’m eating one of her desserts, we chat and I discover she did her master’s thesis in theology on the issue of the Catholic Church’s relationship to animals. I don’t remember the relationship from her thesis but I imagine it may have influenced her decision to be a vegan.
It’s too late by the time I get to the Beehive Huts to explore. They look intriguing and I decide to come back tomorrow.
In order to squeeze another day into my stay here, I’ve decided to forgo bicycling to Tralee and just take the bus and train on Monday straight to Dublin. I’m happy to end my bicycling here to gain another day in Dingle!
Sunday 9.23 ~ Hitch to Beehive Huts
Another sunny day in Ireland! Over breakfast at the hostel I ask if anyone is going past the Beehive Huts and quickly get offered a ride.
The Beehive Huts are over 2,000 years old and are made from stones stacked in the shape of a beehive. Each layer is stacked closer in until there is a small opening at the top covered with a capstone. It can be very windy outside, but inside these small huts it is warm. The huts are surrounded by rock walls with smaller internal rock wall pens where they kept their animals inside at night.
Hitching back from the huts is slow going since most of the traffic is headed the opposite direction. I see a guy on a four-wheeler and jokingly stick out my thumb. We both laugh and I continue walking. The four-wheeler guy shows up again though and this time he stops. He tells he’s not supposed to take passengers but offers me a ride. I’m thrilled and it’s a fun ride as he beeps and waves at his friends along the way.
I get off at the Celtic and Prehistoric Museum where they have artifacts from all over Europe. I get a couple of rides back to Dingle in time to go to the city park where they are having a bicycle festival for kids.
Desmond (who I met Saturday night dancing) is displaying his “bicycle camper”. It is actually a three-wheeler with a fold-out covered sleeping platform for two. It’s designed as a period piece from the 1940’s. He is writing a script for a movie about wartime in Germany and his bike camper has a role in it.
I meet Boris who was the percussionist from the Avant Garde event. He has a house in Spain and invites me to stay there whenever I’m in the area.
I also see Sophia Murphy - we really connect as she is also German immigrant who came to the United States as a child. She shares with me that during her many years in the US, working with the Anthroposophical Society and Weleda, she had many friendships, but until she moved to Dingle she had not experienced “soul feeling” friendships. Just from the little time I’ve been here, I have experienced the sense of connection that is possible in a place like this.
So, I’m sad this is my last day in Dingle. I take myself to dinner at An Canteen, next to the hostel. I have salad, vegetable soup and chocolate mousse cake. Everything is so expertly prepared. I understand why after the chef comes out to the dining room and shares his passion for local sourcing. He invites me to the Dingle Food and Wine Festival that is held the first weekend in October and I think I need to come back and schedule my next visit around the festival!
I want to always carry the Dingle energy with me…