It was drizzly and cool (almost cold) when we got up this morning. We set off down the hill to locate breakfast at 9.30 with our raincoats and were damp by the time we located a cafe with a table available. They served a reasonable avo smash with halloumi and fried egg and other usual options, though in the style of a US diner rather than with a kitchen that did poached eggs. It’s a bit random whether you can get trim milk and they only do flat whites in one size. Everyone has decaf though, which is good for Mike.
After breakfast we split up and wandered back to the accommodation after checking out some shops. Unfortunately the heavens opened when Mike and I were 200 metres away from any shelter at all and our trousers got utterly drenched. I was able to largely dry my leggings and shoes with the hairdryer but we had to leave his jeans on a chair in front of a heater. They are now hanging out the window!
The Hillgrove is now a motel and it smells sort of musty. It is clean enough but needs a significant refresh (or restart).

There are loads of cabbage trees and flaxes everywhere. It’s very New Zealand, especially with the torrential rain.

We set off on our anticlockwise tour of the Dingle Peninsula, stopping at the distillery first to book a tour. There was no room for us today but we are booked for tomorrow at 10am.
The scenery is spectacular even on a dull day with very green hillsides all divided into small paddocks with walls and hedges.

The coast is very wild and rugged and there are numerous small islands offshore.
We stopped at this place with a sign saying “ancient ring fort” where there were loads of cars. Well you pay the lady €1 and get a container of pellet food that enables you to feed a menagerie of goats, sheep, horses, donkeys, a pig and even 2 alpacas. You also get to roam around the fort which is in a field just beside the road. The main attraction was clearly feeding the animals. We might have had a better look at the fort had the heavens not opened yet again. We didn’t get quite as wet but it was a close run thing!

A few kilometres along we came upon this sign and not knowing what it was, decided to go in. The car park and buildings were extensive.

It turns out it is a museum about the people who used to live on the Blasket Islands that are just off the coast of the Peninsula. Most of the island folk emigrated to Massachusetts in the 1800s and 1900s with the last residents returning to the mainland in 1953. The museum is clearly built with US money and follows the books that were written back in the 1800s about the residents and their lives. There was an excellent video that provided background and it was altogether fascinating. The sun eventually came out so we also got good views of the main Blasket Island (not that my iPhone could manage any decent photos of them) and surrounding farmland and village.

Irish towns and villages seem to have a theme of highly coloured shops and houses. I’m not sure if there are rules but invariably the neighbours are painted differently and rarely is the same colour repeated in a block.

We were booked for dinner at Half Door restaurant which had no room for us the previous night.

My fish with scallops that followed was equally good as were the meals the others all enjoyed. Our only criticism would be that the wine list and options was inadequate. The range and number of wines that could be purchased by the glass was limited and given the number of oyster entrees they were turning out you’d think they could do better than just offer Prosecco by the glass in the sparkling range! We were not in the market for a bottle of Moët at some outrageous price!
Mike and I returned to the same pub to sample 2 different whiskeys (I think it’s the Irish variety that has the ‘e’) and this time sampled the local selection. They were actually very good. We managed to get back to our room without getting drenched but it was a close run thing.