Dingle bells dingle bells dingle all the way!

Two nights here at quayside in the beautiful Dingle! Well, currently the Emerald Isle is being assaulted by storm Desmond. It wouldn't matter where you were in Ireland you would be effected. However, where we are on the west coast it was pretty horrendous.

Kelly and I seemed to arrive with the storm, it was a lovely drive in and easy to find our place of residence...........once we had the address!  We came in on a different road to that I'd travelled before and the gps had us down the wrong end of town. But we worked it out and got in and unpacked before the rain and wind started. 

It was about lunchtime and we went for a wander to get our bearings and some lunch. We didn't go far due to a bit of rain and found ourselves at murphys pub for some soup and a pint. After suitable refreshment we ventured out into what was developing into quite the storm. We wandered the shops and each purchased a hat, however we were looking at the coats for some time. 

On advice from Maurice at quayside we were heading to O'Sullivans that night to enjoy some music and drinks. However a wrong turn, bad directions or just our inability to understand a thick Irish brogue and all that happened was we both became drenched and cold, so found somewhere else to grab a disappointing bite to eat, then headed to supavalue for some chocolate and baileys and headed back to our hotel in the worsening storm.

We awoke the next day to a real humdinger of a weather event! The storm now had a name, Desmond! In Australia we name our cyclones, and in the states they name their hurricanes, so think similar! 

Not to be thwarted from our sightseeing we formulated a plan.

First we had a Skype session with the family back home, they had been to a neighbours wedding in the Hunter Valley and we're all quite well infused! 

We then took off on the Slea Head Drive, a famous part of the Dingle peninsula

 We got about 1/3 of the way in when we were turned around due to flooding on the road.

Not to be discouraged we turned back and went anti clockwise till we found ourselves on the other side of the same piece of road. The rain had let up a little and perhaps I was encouraged by the fact we had passed cars coming from this direction, I took a punt and drove on, bit scary but we got through without a hitch.

We continued on to another part of the drive where once again we were stopped by flooding across the road, this one however was a bit more significant it was about 3 feet deep and 150 metres wide. Nothing for it but to reverse back over the narrow bridge to the safety of the somewhat higher ground. 

With that we decided to turn beck to Dingle and seek some solace in a pint.

We wandered around the shops again and I purchased a coat for the cold and wet then we went looking for the bar we had misplaced the night before. Once we discovered it we went home and got ready for a Saturday night on the town.

What a fabulous venue it is a small, intimate bar that has live music serves hot ports and hot Whisky, the staff are really friendly and on this night the music was being provided by the owner and a friend. They were fabulous, and as the night continued and we were more lubricated a conversation was struck with a group from Tipperary that were down for the weekend. One of the boys found out Kelly could sing, (don't ask me how) and they teed it up with the staff for her to sing! 

I do have it on video and she was a hit.

From there we moved on to another local bar then (cringe) a nightclub. It was a fantastic night, improved by the entertainment of some Irish lads who were happy to spend time talking to an Australian mum and her daughter. It was craic!

Next up Skellig Ring and the Ring of Kerry!