Pretty Wild in Dingle, Too!

The wind blows. The rain falls (horizontally). The windows rattle from the impact of the drops.

Sounds a lot like Connemara, except we’re a good bit south down the coast, on the next major peninsula. We’re staying in a trailer, a single-wide “manufactured home,” in this case manufactured probably sometime in the 1970s. Funky? Very! No hot water (communal showers up the road) No Internet available. When the wind blows, it moves right through the trailer (and it blows all the time!). But we are perched over a small cliff with the Atlantic Ocean rising and falling just below us. 

The "good weather" view out the window

And THAT’S why we picked this funky trailer for these three days! Followers of this blog know we are not "five-star hotel" people; it's the experience, not the amenities that attracts us. On this little spit of land there are eight or 10 of these trailers and nothing else. Location, location, location: the trailer is like a cabin in the woods. (For further explanation, check that “good weather” photo!)

As for the storms we encountered, remember the stories of Jon Muir, the American naturalist and activist, who reportedly tied himself in a tree to better experience a thunderstorm. I can hardly claim that our enthusiasm and commitment matched that of Mr. Muir, but I understand his desire for that extreme experience. Note, however, that our trailer on the cliff edge was far safer and more comfortable than Muir's tree!

Not-so-good weather on the Dingle Peninsula

        

Our time in the trailer was amply rewarded with some fine views; after all, that south-facing window looked out on the ocean, where we once, briefly, saw the island of Michael Skellig (until the fog closed in again). Then after a rain storm on our last evening we saw a fantastic double rainbow, one to rival what we had seen a few days earlier in Connemara. (I’m beginning to understand why the legend of Leprechauns and pots of gold started in Ireland!) We went to bed grateful and satisfied, and ready to pack up and leave the next morning.

After the storm

Make that a double!

    [Note: These links to videos may not show up in emails; you will have to go to the blog website to see them]

                                             Rainy day in our Dingle trailer

           

                                                         After the storm...

Eight in the morning, the skies a dark gray; we awaken to the sound of howling winds and rain blasting the windows. The trailer shakes, the walls flex; small things fall off shelves fastened to unstable walls. The storm continues all morning. Whitecaps build in the sea. Rainwater streams down the window. Bushes and long grasses shake furiously. Pictures don’t do it justice, but here are some videos!

                                                The Final Storm: on moving day!

I’m not really worried; this trailer has been here for decades, and has withstood worse (this is, after all, a summer storm). The trailer next door has wide straps over it, tied to heavy bolts in the ground (and, oddly, water bottles under the straps in the corners; to distribute the load of the straps?) So a little bit of flexing and shaking is ok. Or so I tell myself…

We pack up and reluctantly leave, I’d love to spend the rest of the day watching the storm from this vantage point over the sea. But others are coming in, so we must go.

The “going,” in this case, takes about ten minutes, into the town of Dingle where Paula has booked a room at a B&B. After showers, and a celebratory Internet frenzy, we walk into town, only five minutes to the nearest pub (of 53 in town!).

Downtown Dignle, Ireland

Turns out Dingle is a very satisfying town. Many tourists, but many pubs to hold them all. A few art and craft shops for the local artists, some music stores, but no massive “tourist” area.

We had an excellent seafood meal at a nearby pub and learned about the Dingle pubs. At one time they all had multiple functions. Where we ate was a drapers shop; the hooks to display the merchandise were still visible in the ceiling. Other pubs were, and still are, in fact, hardware stores, or farmers’ supply depots.

And, the pubs are small. Or at least the first room, the one that opens on to the street, is small. They have several more room in back; during the tourist season, all the rooms are open; wintertime, maybe only that first room is used.

Pub in Dingle

One of the huge draws for visitors to Ireland is the traditional music, or Trad. And Dingle is a real hot spot for Trad, as well as other, less traditional, kinds of music. We were fortunate enough to find a little of both. One real gem, something I will always remember, is the pub we passed where locals were singing, unaccompanied (A capella is the term, I believe, but that is far too formal for what we saw!) I did manage to get a bit of video of a woman singing a very moving traditional song. I just wish I had video of the skinny guy doing Tennessee Ernie Ford’s Sixteen Tons; he was a real hoot. (Ah, the one that got away…)

           

                               Traditional song in Dublin Pub (video)

And a couple of audio files of singers in the same pub (please forgive all the ambient noise, that's what it really sounded like!):

                                                 Trad song, heartfelt and tearful!  (audio)
                                                                The Liar Song   (audio)

              Note that these links take you to Dropbox files; you can download or play them directly
AND, this is a bit experimental as I've never linked to audio files before.Let me know what happens!