Day

Wind. Rain and Fog. SUN! Today we circled the Ring of Dingle. At the start of the day it was rather overcast, but the day quickly cleared up except for some clouds hanging over the mountain tops. Our first stop was another ring fort. Cashel Murphy. This one not only had an exterior ring, but several interior "rooms" that were connected. Almost hotel like. Randy thinks it would be interesting living in such a structure. Heather prefers her condo.

We then stopped at three different overlooks: Slea Head, Dun Chaoin, and Clogher Head. Each was different from the other but all spectacular views of the cliifs and ocean. At Clogher we also were lucky to see at least one whale off in the distance.

Next up was a quick stop at Dunanoir Fort, the site of a massacre of Irish and Spanish soldiers in 1580. The Spanish were in Ireland to help during one of the failed Irish rebellions.

Our next site was a pre-1000 AD monastery called Reask. It was very similar to the ring forts, with an exterior wall and several interior structures. The site also has a tall stone called the Reask Stone that has spiral decorations and the letters DNE, which is the typical Latin inscription for O Lord.

Near Reask was a "next generation" church site called Gallarus Oratory. There is some argument regarding both its date and use, but it is unique in Ireland and was interesting to tour.

We then headed back to the town of Dingle since the geography of the Peninsula makes backtracking necessary. After a quick picnic lunch in a lovely churchyard garden, we headed over the Conor pass on our way north and were treated to more spectacular views of the peninsula. We caught a ferry from County Kerry to County Claire i. Order ti shorten our trip to Doolin.

Our stop for the night was in the town of Doolin near the Cliffs of Moher which we will see on a tour tomorrow .