In Scotland, the porridge was served with scotch. This is a first for our trip through Ireland....John offers the porridge with dark brown sugar, cream, Bailey's and Irish whiskey-soaked raisins!! Note all the seasonings on the plate to the left of Tom's porridge. What a way to start the day, huh?
The omelet is served on a duck!
I'm trying the boiled eggs with soldiers for the first time. The soldiers are the toast strips on the right. Check out the egg warmers on the left!!! And the chicken legs... The dish in the middle contains big pieces of "smoked" salt.
Ta-da! The boiled eggs!
I couldn't get a picture of the waitress cracking the shells. She had a long handled device which dropped a weight on the shell to crack it. It was quite a ceremony. The whole dining room was watching with curiosity. Deeply regret that we left Pax House without a picture of our wonderful host, John Pax. He does all the cooking by himself....creative, fun and a most gracious host.
So far, we are pretty lucky....most of the rain occurs when we are driving.
We were wrong about the no-name churches. It must have been a regional distinction. We are finding more named churches since we left Galway. This is St. John the Baptist, built in 1865.
We are leaving Dingle by way of the southern route. We came in on the north, toured all the west yesterday, so this completes the entire peninsula. The sun is out, highlighting the beautiful shades of green.
Inch Beach is a sand spit jutting in to the sea between Dingle Harbor and Castlemaine Harbor. Part of the movie "Ryan's Daughter" was filmed here. It's middle of summer, but the beach is deserted. It is cold (63) and windy
Another roadside church....
Can you picture someone ringing the bell by hand, announcing the beginning of Mass?
We stopped for our coffee and potty in Milltown......except it is a pub, not a tea room, so we settled for a pint and split a sandwich. It is after 12 noon. Denny was very friendly and informative.
Walking out, saw this tour bus....love it when people give thought to their logo....not just O'Reilly's Tours.
Kathy changed our Killarney reservations while we were in Dingle. She reread the description of the property from her file: "when you cross the RR tracks, turn right and we are 200 yards on the right". We made that mistake in Oxford and did not sleep for 3 nights. Fortunately, we were able to cancel within the proper time frame with no penalty.
No trains here....no cars, no people....just nature!
As soon as we checked in, the rain started....AGAIN!!! We have counted 12, twelve!!!, rain showers today. It rains for 15 minutes or so, then sunny for 30 or so...all day long. This has happened most of the days in Ireland, but never THIS many!
Seems to be a recurring feature!!! Whoever sold these shower drain basins made a lot of €s.
Kate was a well known Irish beauty in the years before the Great Famine (1845 to 1849). Legend has it that she served quantities of poteen, "Kate's Mountain Dew" -- an illicit moonshine. Today The Cottage is, fittingly, an Irish pub...
that serves a great seafood chowder with Irish brown bread...
and so-so roast lamb with LOTS of gravy.
The veggies are over cooked and heavy on potatoes.
But the main reason we are at Kate's Cottage is the weekly Irish show with Irish music...
and dancing. They also did a lot of talking about the music, dance, and instruments -- 90% of which our old American ears don't understand. We couldn't see the dancers, so Kathy asked one of them to dance for her outside! Kara, you are WAY better than they!!!!
Back home to Loch Lein with a welcoming open front door. Night, night
