Our first adventure of the day was a hair-raising ride on another narrow guardrail-less road along the cliffs near Kilkee Beach. The view was even more impressive than the Cliffs of Moher, but unfortunately, there was nowhere safe to stop so we could not get out and take pictures. Luckily, Walt managed to take some from the moving van.
Angela gave everyone the option of hiking down a mile-long trail from the top of the cliffs to a cafe below, but we decided to stay on the bus and ride down. I was hoping I would be able to take a picture of the mural of Che Guevara which adorns a rock wall along the beach. The image was originally created by the Irish artist Jim Fitzpatrick after a chance meeting between Guevara and Fitzpatrick in the Marine Hotel Bar. Guevara had been travelling to Havana from Moscow but due to bad weather, his plane had been grounded at nearby Shannon Airport. The image spread worldwide via t-shirts, plaques, and posters but Fitzpatrick didn't recieve any royalties for his creation. We were parked too far away for me to walk to the mural before the rest of the group completed their walk down from the cliffs so I found this one on the web.
As we sat in a cafe at the beach drinking cappucino, we watched intrepid bathers plunging into a large tide-pool. It must have been bitterly cold, but they were undaunted.
Next up was a brief ferry ride across the Shannon estuary, followed by a group lunch arranged by Angela in a bar in a small town, and then on to what was possibly my favorite experience of the tour - a sheepdog demonstration.
The farm was where Bridget had been born, and she was the only one of her siblings who was still there. She explained how the dogs are trained and demonstrated their herding skills. It takes about a year and a half to train the puppies, and they work herding the sheep in the mountains until they are about 10 or 11 years old. Then the dogs retire to Bridget's mother's home where they live in comfort for the rest of their lives.
After the demonstration, we were offered bottles of milk to feed the babies who for one reason or another could not be fed by their mothers. They were very enthusiastic and aggressive eaters.
This adorable sheep had just been acquired. He was separated from the others because he would get too excited when he was put in a pen with other sheep. Bridget predicted that he would calm down in a couple of days and become a part of the herd.
Our last stop of the day was the South Pole Inn in Annascaul. The inn was originally opened by the Antarctic explorer, Tom Crean who returned to his hometown after his Antarctic explorations. It was nice to just relax and talk with our fellow travelers as we sipped a Guinness.
We finally arrived at Emlagh House in Dingle where we would spend the next 2 nights. Unfortunately, all the nearby restaurants were booked for the evening so we walked to a nearby convenience store where we bought some chips and sandwiches. Although the chips in Ireland are outstanding, the sandwiches leave a lot to be desired. They generally contain little meat and way too much mayonnaise. Many contain "salad" which is generally just a bit of cabbage.
We had the entire morning of the fourth day of touring to spend as we pleased, and then, at 1 PM, we assembed in the bus for a drive around scenic Slea Head. It was Angela's day off, so our guide was a rather condescending young man who liked to tell insulting jokes. After about 10 minutes, Walt and I were sincerely longing for Angela's return.
Our first stop was to see some beehive dwellings, or clochan. It is not known when these structures were built, but it is estimated that the ones that are still intact were built in the 12th century.There was a cave under one of the dwellings where women and children probably hid if they were threatened by invaders.
Afterwards, we were invited to bottle feed some baby lambs because, as Shane said in a mocking tone, "Tourists love to feed sheep."
This is the view of the Skellig Islands from the sheep pens. One of them, Skellig Michael, served as the filming location for the planet of Achch-To where Rey finally finds Luke Skywalker in "The Force Awakens".
We drove along the coast past incredible views and took many pictures.
It was a pleasant afternoon in spite of our annoying substitute guide.