Biking, Golf, Music and Hiking

My last post ended with some hopes of getting some opportunities to partake in the four activities in the title. Check, check, check and check.

Biking

When I think about all of the highlights from this Irish trip, it will be hard to compete with the ~30 mile bike ride that I took with my dad around Dingle peninsula. Our host at the Greenmount B&B recommended the ride to us as we munched on our breakfast and took it one step further by recommended hire (rental) from Foxy Johns down the street from where we sat. Our incredible view at the time included a rainbow which arched down to Dingle Bay, which meant heavy rains were coming, again, according to our host. So we gathered our rain gear and made our way down to Foxy Johns with the intent of getting some bikes, then making our way to the nearby pitch and putt to knock golf off of our list.

Foxy Johns is a hardware store on Main street that performs double duty as a bar. When we walked in we noticed the latter duty to the left, seeing a few blokes with Guinnesses in hand. "Mornin'", one of them nodded to us. Yes it is...9:30 AM to be precise and you're drinking Guinesses? Too funny. To our right stood the owner behind a counter with paints and other odds and ends surrounding him. "We'd like to rent a couple of bikes", I said, and he ushered us to follow him to the back. As I followed, I had to look back again to make sure I was seeing these guys actually drinking Guinness and not coffee.

We were disappointed to find the pitch and putt was closed despite the bright and sunny day. It also looked as though the greens had not been mowed in quite some time, so we figured that they were probably calling it a season. We'd have to find our golf elsewhere and we figured while the weather was holding for us, we'd rather get wet golfing than riding.

And what a ride it was. We climbed high above the ocean with our 21 speeds, getting gorgeous views of the ocean as we sped along. Waves were crashing down below creating a beautiful bright white explosions in a pool of turquoise blue. Sheep, rams and mountain goats were grazing in the green grass above and below us. I wasn't expecting the ride to be so scenic.

We made some stops along the way to snap pictures and catch our breath. A tour bus turned into an overlook with us to do the same. I heard some German being spoken, which I've been waiting the whole trip to hear. To travel is to be German. :-)

There was a nasty climb towards the end of our ride, starting at what seemed to be a middle school. I saw kids bouncing basketballs and Irish footballs in a school yard as a rode by. They urged my dad on as he rode by, yelling "faster!". He said it didn't help his burning quads, but he got a kick out of it. It probably reminded him of recess at the elementary school that he just retired as principal of.

Our climb was rewarded by 3 miles of curvy down hill. It was a fun and relaxing way to come back to Dingle. We returned our bikes almost immediately, feeling that we had biked enough miles for the trip, and noticed the Foxy John (and boy was he foxy) was working the tap behind the bar as we walked in. I couldn't remember whether the company there was the same as the morning, but I wouldn't have been surprised.

Golf

That afternoon we decided to drive to the Dingle Links, a golf course that we saw signs for on our bike ride. The people there decided to give us a deal on rental clubs and 9 holes that we were happy to take advantage of. I think part of the reason for the special treatment may have been the dark weather that was approaching.

The course was pretty flat and wide open, though the rough was incredibly thick. We had a view of one of the peninsula coves to our right as we tee'd off for the first hole, which again was spectacular. I could see rocks pointing up through the water with waves crashing up against them. It was a great scene to have up against a golf course.

By the 3rd hole it was hailing and we were continuing to play in full rain gear. I hit a wicked slice of a line drive with my 9 iron from about 120 yards out that was placed beautifully on the fringe. My horrible play + mother nature = harmony.

By the 4th hole it was bright and sunny again with rainbows all around. That's what I'm finding to be the Irish weather. Just wait a few minutes and you'll get what you're looking for. By the 7th hole we were back up shite creek without a paddle as it was pouring again.

But we completed the 9 holes triumphantly and were happy to have gotten a chance to play some golf in Ireland. My dad was able to sink at least one par and I put down a couple bogeys, which is awesome for me.

Music

That night we went to O'Flaherty's bar for some live traditional Irish music. Dad took in his first Guinness and I tried my first Irish Irish coffee. All good. There were about 20 people in the bar, half of whom seemed to be tourists. A family sat with us at the table we were at. They consisted of a mother who sounded Irish with her kids, husband and in-laws.

The musical instruments used consisted of a banjo, tin whistle, some sort of bag pipe, a mini accordion-looking thing that sounded almost like horns and finally a harmonica. Some of the members appeared to know each other, but I got the sense they were trying to figure each other out. It almost had the feel of a jam session at times, which was fine. They sounded really good.

We sat and listened to them for about an hour and a half before we decided that we were ready for bed. The bike ride and golf, along with the Guinness and Irish Coffees had finally done us in.

Hike

The next day we decided to take a little more slowly, opting for some short hikes around the area. We did get to redo our peninsula ride, this time by car, which again was a treat. This lead us to a little hike on Clodagh (sp) Head a little mountain (very little) protruding out into the ocean off of the peninsula. The head took every advantage of its small elevation though as the views were stunning. There were trails all around it which seemed to disappear and led to a little bit of scrambling. Lots of fun.

In the afternoon we decided to head back onto Conor Pass, which we had driven in on. This led us to us some great views of Dingle town as we climbed along a rural trail. By the way, coming into Conor Pass on the way here, we had a chance to climb up to a glacial lake that was feeding a waterfall. It was another gorgeous area and we noticed very tiny white dots way up above the lake that we took to be mountain goats. Faintly in the wind I could almost hear what I thought was "There will be feasting and dancing in Jerusalem this year. I am going to make it through this year if it kills me" Something like that. Very strange. :-)