Goat Path

 This morning we went for a drive around, up, down, up again and down again the Dingle Peninsula. What a treat!

As we were leaving, it started to rain.  It does that a lot in the west of this country.  The direction of Connor Pass looked like it would once again be shrouded in fog so we decided to  take the Slea Head Drive.  This is the coastal route out to the tip of Dingle Peninsula.  The scenery was amazing and I continue to marvel at how rugged Ireland really is.  And to think that they continue to farm most of the area.  Amazing!

Upon returning to Dingle we decided to take another shot at Connor Pass.  Of course it was raining but the cloud cover remained high enough that the views were spectacular.  Now I have to correct something that I said yesterday.  Connor Pass is spectacular but it is not even close to the experience of driving the 'Going to the Sun Road'.   It is narrow and single lane at times but not a match.  But just the same, it is an amazing drive.  The views both north and south at the pass are really something.

Then the real fun began.  Sue said that she thought that there was another route back and over the peninsula that we could take.  The first clue that the road might be a little primitive was that it did not even warrant a number.  All roads we have been on have been numbered.  Not this one.  Google directed us up this paved lane.  Up, up, and up even more.  We passed a farmer and his dog who was trying to put his sheep back onto the right side of the fence.  We did not do him any favours as 3 of them decided that they would lead us up the road until there was a place for them to get out of our way.  I am sure the farmer was lamenting about 'stupid tourists' by then.  Then the grass started to appear in the middle of the road.  In my experience that is never a good sign.  The road became at best 'a goat path'.  But the pavement appeared to continue.  Cindy, we think this may be the road that you guys did your 15 point turn on only you would have been coming up the other way.  I decided to see what our Volkswagen Pollo could do.  We crested our very own pass.  This one has no name as no tourist should be stupid enough to even think about being up there.  But in the end we prevailed.  The 'Goat Path' turned back into a single lane track and then popped us back onto the highway into Dingle.

We had been told by numerous people that we needed to stop at Inch Beach.  This is a beach that is kilometers long and cars are allowed to drive on.  So of course we did.  It is also a surfers paradise so it appeared.  

What a day!!!

Morning sun over Dingle harbor

Slea Head rainbow

Slea Head

Connor Pass - South View

Connor Pass - North View

Goat Path

Goat Path View

Inch Beach

Inch Beach

Murphy's Pub 

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