We just finished looking for puffins at the cliffs at Loophead, the most western point in Europe. We waved across the pond, did you wave back? The tour guide at the last castle we visited said we might see a puffin. We had our eyes peeled, but all we could see were sea gulls. The only other person on the precipice of the cliff was a man taking photographs with a very impressive camera. We ask if he'd seen any puffins, his response, "Oh, there's no puffins here, there at the Cliffs of Moher". Bother, the puffin hunt will continue tomorrow.
** That's what we get for trusting a history buff about puffins
*** Sorry sea gulls that we didn't appreciate seeing you. I'm sure you are lovely cliff dwelling birds and you did look cute all nestled in the flowers growing on the cliff ledges.
Before starting out for the day we chatted with a couple from Manhattan during the "Breakfast" part of our B&B stay. They are basically doing the same circle tour of Ireland we're doing. After breakfast we headed around the Dingle peninsula. The sheep spotted hills rolling off into the ocean where very much what you'd expect Ireland to look like.
We stopped at an unofficial "Irish Famine Cottage" exhibit. We paid 6€ to a guy in a trailer by the road and walked up a narrow path past sad looking donkeys and sheep to a dilapidated stone cottage. The paper signs were faded and moldy. Inside the rooms were staged to look like a 1850's farm. The pitiful mannequins that have surly been posing there for at least 20 years seemed to be starving. This run down exhibit gave us a real sense of that terribe time in Irelands history.
At the opposite end of the museum scale was the Blasket Museum. This new museum at the tip of the Dingle peninsula tells the story of the people of Blasket Island. These hardy people tried to live on this tiny island just off the coast. It's quite close the the mainland, but they could only cross in good weather. At its peek 180 people lived there, but by the 1950's they all had to be evacuated because they were starving. It was a beautiful museum with a short movie and fancy artwork and exhibits. We just couldn't understand why. They lived like any other poor farmers, They had contact with the outside world. Except for the fact that they spoke native Irish when the language was disappearing, the story didn't seem worth of the expense of the museum. But we don't know all the history so maybe we're missing something. For us, the dilapidated famine cottage told a more powerful story.
We worked our way up to Conor pass where we had lunch and attempted a hike. We started up the rocky trail as the fog was rolling in over the mountains. At about .6 of a mile in, we had to turn around because we were afraid we'd get lost or worse, walk off a cliff. Back at the car we drove out of the clouds to Listowel Castle. After touring the castle we set out for the Tarbert ferry. We had been advised by the host at the B&B that the ferry was much better than the drive through Limerick. We got slightly turned around, and we're sure we missed the 5;30 crossing (it leaves ones an hour on the half hour). But the luck of the Irish was with us because when we pulled up to the dock at 5:34 the ferry was still there and a worker waved us abound. After fish and chips for dinner we headed to Loophead to look for the puffins. We could have skipped this. The drive was long and difficult. The cliffs were pretty and there's a light house, but. not worth the drive. And no puffins.
We arrived ar the Doolin campground later than we hoped, but we made it.
Comments