Day #: 34-37

Date(s): 29MAY – 01JUN2025

Location(s) Visited: Dingle & Dingle Peninsula (Note: at the last minute, we decided to skip Killarney, which was previously our next planned destination. When we researched Killarney again, Rick Steve’s guidebook said the town itself was a shamrock-themed tourist trap and that this area is the epicenter for all the dreaded tour buses which are the bane of our existence. Killarney wasn’t the vibe we were going for, so we crossed Killarney off our list and moved on. Spoiler alert: We made the right decision to pivot to Dingle as it was awesome!)

Overall Impression of Location(s): 4++

4 -added to our favorite list and we would return again
3 – a great place to visit
2 – OK for one visit, but we would not return again
1 – we wish we hadn’t wasted our time here  

Distance Driven on Leg/Trip (km): 117

Weather/Temperature (°F): Overall, the weather was glorious, but there were a few spells of daytime rain which were easily avoided. The weather was cool in the 60’s during the day and into the 40’s at night. This is perfect Tony weather when he can wear shorts on the bottom and long-sleeves on the top. The weather in Ireland varies wildly and we have learned to expect rain even when it is sunny outside and the forecast says no rain predicted as rainstorms move in quickly but thankfully, they tend to be very brief, too. The wind continues to be the hardest thing to deal with as the gusts are quite strong, especially when doing cliff hikes. We mainly had sustained rainstorms overnight and every day we were able to work around the few brief storms, if any.

Road Conditions: We mainly traveled on N (interstate-like) and R (regional connecting roads which usually have a center line dividing the road into 2 opposite lanes of travel, although they can still be quite skinny) for most of the way. Once we passed the connector for Killarney, the tour buses thinned considerably and the drive was much more pleasant. We are starting to feel more comfortable driving our left-hand drive campervan on the left-hand side of the road. Our white-knuckle moments are less and the stress level when driving has diminished. Driving over here is still not 2^nd nature, but we no longer feel unsafe or worried we are doing something catastrophically wrong.

Chickpea Mechanical Status: Tony’s repair of our skylight water leak using butyl tape last week is holding nicely and we have had no further water infiltration. We have an appointment at a Hymer dealer near Limerick for a warranty repair in a few days. Butyl tape is the bomb!

Highlights:

• Dingle was our favorite place we have visited in Ireland thus far. A charming city that feels real and authentically Irish. Lots of pubs and shops congregated in the walkable town center but there were also lots of cute gardens, churches and a few museums scattered into the mix. The town itself is set in a harbor so there is additionally a lively fishing industry. The tour buses bring in the masses but they arrive around 10 AM and are gone by 1:30 PM so outside those hours, the town is lively but not crowded. We met so many nice people during our visit, too.
• We regularly rely heavily on Rick Steve’s guidebook and this time he did not steer us wrong one bit. We took an archeological van tour from Dingle with his recommended guide which took us along the Slea Head Loop of the Dingle peninsula. This tour might end up being one of the highlights of our entire Ireland trip. Michael, our guide and an archeologist, drove a Ford Transit van (very similar in size to our US van Tofu) like a boss on the small (and dreaded) L roads we would have been white knuckling the entire way as these roads were really very skinny and curvy. We both just sat back and enjoyed the scenery for once and soaked in the experience. Michael took us to monastic, Pre-Christian, Neolithic and Medieval structures along with ring forts and beehive huts and provided information and context to their importance and significance. Michael was a wonderful teacher and storyteller and we learned more in our 3.5-hour tour than we collectively learned in either of our lifetimes about Ireland. Tracey again said that had she had teachers like Michael when she was in high school, she might have picked a different profession as she loved this tour when normally she says she doesn’t love history tours. Michael was passionate about advocating for the Irish language, customs and culture and he has piqued our curiosity to do some additional studying. We could have listened to him all day. 10 out of 10!
• We found a pub the had a new mini campground for 8 campervans in their back parking area located right in Dingle town center. They provided garbage, recycling, electricity and a dump station for 30 €/day and all the money went to charity. It was a holiday weekend (which we didn’t realize when we arrived) so we elected to stay 3 nights at this place and we easily could have stayed another 2 nights as there was so much to do in Dingle, but our scheduled Hymer appointment forced us to move on. Mikey (staff) and Mike (owner) were wonderful to us. Friendly, helpful and they had 2 of the sweetest border collies which freely roamed around the camping area. Tony loved one of the dogs and when he couldn’t be located, he could usually be found giving the dogs belly rubs or throwing a rubber chicken for them.
• We did a lovely town cultural walk (from Rick Steve’s guidebook) and we also did another magnificent cliff hike. The cliff hike took us out past the lighthouse, past the narrow mouth of the harbor to where the cliffs became sheer drops. Many stiles had to be transversed on this route. There were no guiderails or ropes on this trail which required walking near the edge but because the wind was blowing us strongly inland, there was little risk of falling off the edge. We got caught in a brief rainstorm but we had come prepared with raincoats and within 3 minutes the storm was gone and the sun had returned.
• We went to a Traditional Irish Music concert at St. James’s Church. We heard the Irish Uillean Bagpipes (which use a bellows attached to the elbow to inflate the bag vs. Scottish Highland Bagpipes which require blowing through a mouthpiece) and also listened to 2 sister’s from the nearby Blasket Islands who sang several songs acapella in Irish and then all of the musicians played together using their bagpipes, guitar, accordion and Irish Bodhran drum along with their voices. There was even a bit of Irish dancing thrown in at the end. The old church provided a lovely venue for this small concert for 100 people. The passion the musicians had for this music and the Irish language was palpable.

Lowlights: We are struggling to find many lowlights for our time here. Maybe the weather could have been a bit better? Maybe we could have stayed a few more days? Maybe we would have liked a restaurant with a vegan option? Maybe, but overall it was pretty perfect and we wouldn’t really change much about it.

Up Next: A continued meandering along the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW) with a detour to Limerick for our warranty repair. We are winging this section as it is not typically covered in the guidebooks.

Onwards!