The Traveling Idiots-Where The Tuck Are They Now?: Dingle!

Friday afternoon we took a short (less than two hours) flight from Edinburgh to Cork, Ireland. From Cork it was a pretty simple drive to our next destination, Dingle. Now every time I say or type out the word Dingle it brings out the immature, adolescent like child in me. I had a few funny names for this blog playing off the word Dingle but Beth encouraged me to act my age. She's always looking out for my best interest and keeping me from embarrassing myself too much. It kind of a full time job for her.
Anyway, it's is a pretty cool name for a town and it's actually a very cool little town. Dingle has a population of around 2,000 people and is located on the Atlantic Coast of Ireland. It actually sits on a peninsula appropriately named the Dingle Peninsula. Unbeknownst to me there is also a Dingle in the US. Our Dingle is located in the great state of Idaho and from the 30 seconds of research I did I learned it has a population somewhere between 14 and 109 people depending on your source.
So how did we end up in Dingle, Ireland? Once again, it's thanks to Beth's diligence and once again she knocked it out of the park!  We have had two great days and nights here so far and will be here for one more night before moving on.
Even though it is fairly small, Dingle has a pretty vibrant city center with a number of restaurants, pubs, shops and the always important ice cream shop. It was recently named Ireland's top "Foodie Town".
http://www.newstalk.com/Dingle-named-Irelands-Top-Foodie-Town
Being a coastal town seafood is the star attraction at most of the restaurants and we've had some very good seafood.  Last night just to mix it up we had a nice meal of Chicken Curry (me) and Irish Beef Stew (Beth) at Murphy's Pub. We then moved up the street a bit to O'Sullivan's to listen to some traditional Irish music. Yes, we were out way past our bedtime and didn't get back to the hotel until close to 11:00. This late hour was thanks in part to the fact that even though the sign says the music starts at 9:30 it doesn't mean that it actually will. Oh well, life in the fast lane!
http://www.murphyspub.ie/
http://www.osullivanscourthousepub.com/
Dingle and the entire peninsula are known for their rugged beauty.  There is a mix of shear cliffs, rocky coast lines and wide sandy beaches all with stunning views. Yesterday we turned a 25 mile drive into a six hour adventure. We drove the Slea Head Drive. This looped drive around the Dingle Peninsula is a small part of what is called the "Wild Atlantic Way" which is a 400+ mile coastal drive here in Ireland. The scenery was amazing and we didn't miss too many opportunities to stop and look. We also found several nice beaches along the way including one that was several miles long that we walked pretty much from end to end. One of the highlights of the drive was when we were stopped on the road by a herd of oncoming sheep that were being moved from one field to another. Well, at least we hope they were being moved from one field to another and not to the supermarket!
https://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/attractions-on-the-dingle-peninsula-co-kerry/outdoor-attractions/the-slea-head-drive-sli-cheann-sleibhe.html
http://www.ireland.com/en-gb/articles/wild-atlantic-way/
Although we got plenty of walking in yesterday, today was totally dedicated to hiking some of the many walks that this area has to offer. We did three different hikes today. The first two were from trailheads along the Slea Head Drive. Both trails were our kind of trails. They were fairly flat, well marked and unlike the English Lake District trail were high above the water line so no wading in frigid water was required. What these hikes did provide was even more up close and dramatic views of the coastline.  After a nice lunch back in Dingle followed by some well deserved ice cream we took a little time to recover before heading out for the final hike. This hike didn't require any driving and was a nice flat coastal hike from the hotel to the entrance of the harbor.
Along this last hike we were looking for Fungie, the Dingle Dolphin. This is a real bottlenose dolphin that has lived in the harbor since 1983 and is very fond of humans. Now I'm not sure why he got the name Fungie. From what I read it just says the name was given to him by local fisherman. I guess that if the town can be named Dingle why not name the dolphin Fungie!    As a matter of fact they've built quite a tourism industry on Fungie by offering boat trips out to see him with a money back guarantee that he will be sighted. We didn't see him, but the walk was free and we see plenty of dolphin when we're in Florida so it wasn't a major disappointment. They're estimating Fungie to be about 40 years of age and dolphin can live up to fifty so they have a few more years to make money off of him.
https://www.dingle-peninsula.ie/home/fungie-the-dingle-dolphin.html
There are so many amazing places to explore and Dingle can certainly be added to the list. I'm looking forward to Dangling in Dingle again sometime!
Sorry, I just couldn't help myself!

Sheep on the Move!

Ventry Harbor Beach

Overlook on the Slea Head Drive

Slea Head Drive-That's a two lane road!

Slea Head Drive-They actually filmed some Star Wars scenes along the coastal area near here. I only saw the first Star Wars movie so I can't provide any detail other than it was some Jedi Camps