Finally, some solid plans being laid for this Irish Adventure! Our flights from Miami to Dublin have been booked and we leave the Sunshine State on Monday, June 9, just two days after my daughter finishes her freshman year of high school. (For the record: I spent my freshman summer helping my Dad bale hay, going to marching band practice, marching in small town parades and trying to make out with older guys at the carnival. She has no idea how lucky she is....) We arrive in Dublin on Tuesday and will tear it up for a day and a half before hopping a train to Tralee in Dingle.
Dublin; you have been warned.
I've booked our first few nights' accommodations and like our experience in England, we'll need to carry a load of cash to pay our way. Few places accept credit cards. In fact, they'll accept the credit card info to hold the room, but final/complete payment must be made in cash. Great! Who doesn't want to walk across a county carrying a shit ton of cash?! And now that I'm blogging that, every criminal in the world will lay in wait behind the very first shrub of our walk, just waiting to jump out and rob us blind. Be warned bad guys; we'll be packing. I'll leave you to decipher exactly what that means.
Aside from that little snag, thing seem to be moving along smartly. I'm looking into taking a side trip from Dunquin to the Blasket Islands, but I've learned that Mother Nature has something to say about that. If seas are rough and the weather is poorly, we'll stay on the peninsula and find something else to do. I think the idea of holing up in a pub by a roaring fire while the wind blusters and blows outside sounds damn near perfect. Luckily for me, my traveling companion is a lover of pubs. She doesn't like beer (I know, right?) but loves pubs. Did I luck out or what?
So it is will a big smile that I share our tentative itinerary:
June 9: Depart Miami's heat and humidity
June 10: Arrive in Dublin's fair city of pubs and culture
June 11: Train to Tralee
June 12: Tralee to Camp, 11 miles
June 13: Camp to Anascaul (this night is spent above a pub; our favorite way to camp), 10.5 miles
June 14: Anascaul to Dingle, 13.6 miles
June 15: Dingle to Dunquin (two nights in a pub; even better), 12.5 miles
June 16: Blasket Islands or bust
June 17: Dunquin to Ballydavid, 7 miles
June 18: Ballydavid to Ballycurrane/Feohanagh (yet another pub night), 7 miles
June 19: Ballycurrane to Cloghane, 13.6 miles
June 20: Cloghane to Castlegregory, 18 miles (this will be a really hard day)
June 21: Castlegregory back to Tralee, 16.7 miles
June 22: Train to Westport to visit Lavelle's Bar, Doug joins us
June 23: Hike cemeteries and trails around Westport by day, pubs and music by night
June 23: Train to Castlebar, search for more Lavelle's
June 24: Train to Dublin
June 25: I fly home; Lauren goes on to England and Switzerland w/Doug
As you can see, when we've completed walking the Dingle Peninsula, Doug will meet us in Westport. We'll visit Lavelle's Bar, where local legend/storyteller Mic Lavelle made his name and see how many other kinfolk we can find. After a day or so, we'll train up to Castlebar to search for more Lavelle's. I don't know what's pulling me there, but its haunted my dreams for awhile now, so that's where we must go.
On the 25th, I fly home to get back to work at the Academy while Doug and Lauren head off on their own adventure to England and Switzerland.
Stay tuned as the details become more sorted. This is going to be one for the books...
