Falling in love (with a lamb) & driving the Dingle Peninsula
I’m back!
Honestly still a bit tired but tonight should be another early night so hopefully I’ll finally feel a bit more caught up on the sleep front. I must have a pretty huge sleep debt, cos last night I did get a decent night’s sleep, but still felt just as weary this morning. Let’s hope 2 nights should do the trick!
Today was our first full day in the Dingle area, and it was absolutely divine. We had a slower start to the morning since Dad had to get up at 6am for something work related, I don’t know what it actually was but eh it was important apparently. We didn’t leave the cottage until around 11am, but honestly it was so perfect, I got almost 3 hours to hang out around the Airbnb and have a slow morning. And slow mornings are my absolute fav. Unfortunately travelling doesn’t lend itself to chill starts, so I was grateful for one today.
The weather was quite overcast as we headed out, but we were hopeful for good weather. There’s a saying in Ireland we hear all the time that’s ‘if you don’t like the weather, just wait 3 minutes.’ And honestly, they’re spot on with that. We got some rain as we started driving from Castlemaine to Dingle, so we thought we’d check out the town first to see if the rain and cloud would pass a little bit before we did the Peninsula. Pretty much as soon as we found a park in Dingle, which was difficult considering it’s peak season and almost midday, the sky cleared and we even saw some blue sky!
So we were off straight from there. We had many little stops that had been suggested to us, I don’t think we were driving for more than 10-15mins at a time. After yesterday, which was a driving-heavy day, it was nice to just be popping in and out of places. Although most of the stops were different little walks down to a beach, or viewing platform, there were 2 that really stood out to me.
The first one, and also the first stop of the day, was a ‘Famine Cottage’ just off the road about 10 minutes out of Dingle itself. It is very rare to be able to visit, or even see, a cottage from this time, as apparently most of them were burned from fear of lingering disease. This cottage somehow survived, and all the furniture, equipment, even bedding have been left in the exact state it was rediscovered in. There was some general info about the family that lived there, and the Famine (or ‘Hunger’, as the Irish refer to it), although the exhibition we visited in Dublin was so comprehensive we didn’t learn all that much. What struck me was how eerie the cottage was. The fact that nothing had been touched or moved or rearranged made it quite creepy, like the family was about to come home any second. The hallstand doors open, coffee cups on the table, the old sewing machine with scraps of fabric on the floor. It was truly a time capsule of the period from the perspective of the poorest. Usually locations such as this one, or any historical room/building has been reconstructed to what it would have looked like, which can sometimes take me out of the experience. It’s hard to put yourself in the shoes of people who lived somewhere if you know nothing in the space is authentic. This experience was obviously nothing of the sort, I almost got too absorbed. Not even in there for 10 minutes I caught myself worried about how we would get food for lunch that day. It was truly wild, I have never been so absorbed in something like that before.
Driving on from there, the next stop was a farmhouse (!!!) with spring season lambs to hold. I was mocked incessantly by Dad because of how excited I was to hold one of the lambs, but I didn’t care in the slightest. The whole experience was the highlight of my week! I felt so at home in their little stable, you could just walk straight in and say hi. They were happily munching away on their straw, and I thought it would be a good idea to pat them first to see how they liked people. They’ve definitely been desensitized! A 20-year-old animal fan was probably a welcome break from all the American toddlers they’d have to deal with. I held a few different little guys, but they weren’t too enthused, so I left them to their straw and just hung out with them for a bit. It was nice to be in out of the wind, where we were driving along the coast was very exposed, so it felt like a little hideaway with the lambies. After a little while a small white lamb came up to me, which I was surprised by, previously they just disinterested. I left them sniff me, then picked them up. Not joking, this lamb fell asleep in my arms within 5 minutes. I was trying to stay still and not freak it out, but I felt so special that this little dude chose me to have a nap on. I was also feeling a bit smug considering everyone else in their went chasing after lambs who just ran away, then here I was with my new bestie. We hung out probably close to 20 minutes or so, I figured out it really liked scratches just behind their ears. I waited until a girl came into the stable that didn’t seem too much like a menace, then came over and passed it on. It did make me feel good that as I left I could tell the lamb wasn’t going to go asleep again. It was such a precious Disney princess moment, I just love animals so much, hopefully they can sense that I’m not going to be annoying and come hang out. If there’s any more farm animal experiences on the road you best believe I’ll be first in line.
Continuing on, we drove all the way north up the coast, stopping frequently for photos and snacks. The beach we ended up making the effort to walk down to was so dramatic in nature, massive, towering cliffs of black rock over the wild ocean. A photographers dream! This also when the weather was the warmest, and there were more than a couple people swimming, which honestly looked pretty nice. I’ll be sure to include lots of scenery pictures, it was just unreal. I don’t have all that much to say about it, other than damn mother nature is so cool.
We thought we should have a look around Dingle at least a bit, and we would have to drive back to the Airbnb via there, so we popped back in around 3pm. It was much easier to find a park this time, and looked around the brightly-coloured streets for an hour or so. I’m on the hunt for an Irish jewellery souvenir piece. Usually I would go straight for the Claddagh ring, although I don’t wear rings all that much. Mum has a pair of earrings from Ireland that have the Claddagh shape on them, so I’m on the lookout for some that match hers. Fingers crossed!
I managed to convince Dad to have dinner in at the Airbnb, which was a miracle for me. I really didn’t feel like going out for food tonight, and luckily Dad didn’t seem to mind either, so we dropped into a supermarket in town and picked up bits and pieces for what I would need for a quick stir-fry. Not only couldn’t I be bothered going out for dinner, I’ve also really missed cooking! It’s so therapeutic and calming after a long day of exploring, so I actually really enjoyed doing our own dinner for once.
Hopefully an early night tonight, we don’t have much planned tomorrow morning but I think we’re going to do some sort of hike during the day, then a very special activity tomorrow night. Very exciting stuff, it should be amazing. We’re in Dingle for 3 full days (including today) and 4 nights so we’ve got time to go at a slightly slower pace, thank God! Manifest more good weather for me please!
Currently MIA,
Lauren x
