This was a remarkable day. And with the sun setting as late as 9:30, it was an extended remarkable day...starting late morning around 11 when the clouds thinned out and the spitting rain stopped. (A good thing about rain is getting my work/grading completed for the week, though!).
After a huge 'full Irish breakfast' and a slow morning, I left the B&B in Dunquin and was headed really toward Limerick and Shannon. But as it turned out, the weather AND the ferry played a hand in changing my plans completely. I wanted to check out the ferry/island situation for 'next time' I guess - so since I was in Dunquin and the ferry was a stone's throw away - I went to check it out. Not a lot of people around, clouds were breaking up, ferry was coming in...I'm GOING! So glad I did - this was one of the highlights of the trip.
Full Irish breakfast. (These combined with Guiness are the culprits for my extra 5-10 pounds on this trip.) Wow, these breakfasts were so good. (Black pudding was left untouched though)
Access to the Blasket Island Ferry (taken from a distance the day before)
At the bottom of the ferry access hill - Perfect timing
Great Blasket Island
Boat dock (bottom right) - we had to switch over to a dinghy
Mostly sunny over there - how lucky!!! I snapped hundred of photos of this beautiful place
Beehive storage/drying structure
No permanent residents since the 1950's on Great Blasket Island
Holy cow...the view
Notice the tents here and there. You can camp out on Great Blasket. The weather
(and therefore ferries) might not be consistent, though. The ferries usually run every hour until 4.
My god - I snapped hundreds of pictures and could not for the life of me capture the actual beauty. Breathtaking.
Up up up
I just adored this weaver...and her house and her office view!
View of her from below at the boat dock
Sheep, a beach, and an island and the Dingle mainland in the background
The 'Blasket Way' - the trail around Blasket Island
The other side. The trail tops out on the ridge and over to this amazing view.
A bit windier on this side
Sitting. Chilling out and marveling.
You can see a bit of the trail as it goes around the Island. 2 hour hike.
There's a cone-shaped island wwaaaayyyy out there....
On the way back down to the boat, I caught sight of this lucky beach-goer
Sea lions
I started leaving the Dingle Peninsula around 5 p.m. and decided to forgo Limerick and Shannon and try my luck at getting to see the Cliffs of Moher. It'd be a long day involving a car ferry, a lot of time on farm roads before and the Burren roads after Moher, and I wouldn't reach my B&B until after 11 p.m. - but it was worth it.
Car ferry on the River Shannon
Heh heh heh
Farm roads. This one is actually a good one - usually they are only wide enough for ONE small car.
I came to love these though. Gorgeous countryside.
Cliffs of Moher. More developed of a park than I'd hoped (compared to Blasket).
Looking north-ish, by the tower
Beautiful. ~8:30 p.m.
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