A day on the Dingle Peninsula

Another weekend and another round of visitors, more laughs, drives around the Dingle peninsula and this time we did the Conor Pass and over to Brandon Cove - a treat.

The Conor Pass is the  highest mountain pass in Ireland and provides the most dramatic and scenic way of entering or leaving Dingle. This narrow, twisting road runs between the town of Dingle and Kilmore Cross on the north side of the peninsula. Himself was driving today.. I did have a good excuse as I have injured my knee stopping me from driving :)

Don't be deceived by all the short wearing it was a bit of a chilly day, even in August. I know it happens occasionally in Dingle.

The view is impressive and if you are going to take this tour we'd advise doing the journey out from Dingle and it's up to the drivers coming into Dingle to pull over - in a few parts this is a single track road with a sheer drop down the mountain - just saying.

Brandon Cove and Bay is one of Ireland's best known surfing locations, we were not surfing. It is also known as the place that St Brendan set off from to discover America. I know he is suppose to have started this journey from many places, a bit like commuters from Beckenham on a Monday morning but we're believing this fairy tale.

This is a headland that's definitely worth a visit, along the way there are beautiful beaches, pubs and Brandon Harbour is worth a trip.

We made our way back towards Dingle, along the bottom of the coastline, avoiding the route back over the Conor Pass and had lunch in the South Pole Inn in Annascaul.

I know who'd have guessed, the South Pole Inn on the Dingle Peninsula. But there is logic in the madness... this is the home of Tom Crean, most or "only" famous as an Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer who was awarded the Albert Medal.

Tom Crean was a member of three major expeditions to Antarctica during what is known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration, including Captain Scott's 1911–13 Terra Nova Expedition. This saw the race to reach the South Pole lost to Roald Amundsen and ended in the deaths of Scott and his polar party. During this expedition, Crean's 35 statute miles (56 km) solo walk across the Ross Ice Shelf to save the life of Edward Evans led to him receiving the Albert Medal for Lifesaving.

One surprising discovery was a photo of Endurance, a boat that is on display in Dulwich College and a display that I had only seen a few weeks previously during an author visit.

The pub is definitely worth a stop, the memorabilia is excellent, the food superb or at least the seafood chowder was and amazingly they had a choice of wines! Hey what more could you ask for.