Trip to Ireland September – October 2006

 

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Friday 29 September
 



After a leisurely Irish breakfast (without the pudding) we walked through the beautiful gardens and took in the museum.  The best part was the walk through a medieval town although the entire exhibit was well done. The 275 bus to Dingle was again a talking bus, but this time we were treated to a duet of two monologues. The two women managed to continue talking, without pause, right through to Dingle. There are great banks of fuschia hedge which is not native to Ireland.  We left Tralee in sunshine, came through heavy rain and arrived at Dingle in the sun.




Lunch was at John Benny's pub:

Shepherds Pie/Roast beef
Irish coffee (Mary)
Guinness/Murphy's

Dingle obviously makes a great deal from the tourist and many of the attractions were closed down already although many of the really tacky stores were still open.

We took the bus back in wonderful weather.  The hills were very green indeed and the sheep looked like poppy seed had been sprinkled all over a green lawn.
Sean, our driver knew how to pace himself to keep time and there were a couple of long waits.A grumpy old man got off just outside of Dingle.  He had got on, on the way in and didn't have the right change.  It didn't look as if he paid on the way back either. Sean let us down in Bennerville and we visited the windmill. 

Blennerville is Irelandīs only commercially operated windmill. It is also the tallest of its kind in Europe: 21.3 metres high. This 18th century windmill is now open to the public. There are many fascinating workings to be seen as the giant sails turn. The adjoining building houses interesting exhibitions on emigration and The History of Milling.


 





The mill was interesting in itself but there was a bird viewing area over the mud flats where we could see curlews, oyster catchers, lapwings and many other wading birds. As we left to walk into Tralee along the canal a cloud covered the sun and the light gave some interesting effects. It was a pleasant sunny return to Tralee.  We passed several fields of cattle and some horses, one of which was a still as a statue.  There were a family of swans in the canal basin, male, female and four cygnets.



Go to next day, Saturday 30 September