Dingle

I know it’s a long way off, but the official dates have been set for the second annual Dingle Food and Wine Festival. It will take place the first weekend of October (3-5th) 2008. So if you like to plan ahead, mark your calender!

Speaking of festivals, I know I mentioned it in a recent post, but I’ll say it again – if you like Dingle and the arts, Feile na Bealtaine is one of the best times to come to this part of the world. From film to drama to music to fine art – it’s a packed week and my favourite time in Dingle, since the town is still quiet enough to enjoy it! I’ll post a schedule when the full list of events has been published…

Technorati tags: Dingle, food, festival, wine, 2008, gourmet

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I am happy to announce that Dingle has a fresh fish shop for the first time in years. I am so excited!

O’Cathain Iasc Teo., on the Quay, have opened a little fish shop right next to their factory. Only open two days, I had to queue behind a few other delighted locals to get my bit of turbot for tonight’s dinner. So, it looks like it will be successful, which is great news.

They had quite a range of offerings, and I sincerely wish it brings some hope to Dingle’s struggling fish industry. I certainly will be a good customer!

And yes, if you’re heading to Dingle for Easter, and if you feel like cooking, they will be open on Good Friday so that you can get your fish. From the fresh look of it, though, it will hardly be a penance!

Technorati tags: Dingle, o’Cathain, fish, shop, fresh, quay

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I’m a pretty laid-back fellow, but certain things really get to me. One of them is the disregard of any form of government to the wishes of its people.

In Dingle, we’ve had a famous battle over the name of the town. Whatever one’s stance about the issue (and I understand arguments on both sides), the fact is that the town held a plebescite, and 96% voted for “Dingle/Daingean Uí­ Chúis.” It’s now a year and a half later, tourists are still confused by the use of “An Daingean” on the road signs, and the government still hasn’t honoured the wishes of the people.

In an even more worrying development, Kerry County Council launched a Traffic Plan for Dingle a year ago, which I wrote about here. Basically they wanted to remove almost all of the parking from the centre of town and create satellite parking around the edges.

For most of the year, Dingle is a tiny market town of 1,800 residents, without any traffic problem outside weddings and funerals, and removing the parking would be a disaster for businesses and for quality of life (would you really hike 10 minutes in a January gale to grab a coffee, visit friends, or do your shopping?)

There was uproar about the plan a year ago, and most of the businesses, associations, and residents sent in opposing submissions. Do you think Kerry County Council paid any attention to the submissions? It seems not. They just launched a new traffic plan that still takes away the parking. I haven’t seen it yet, but it appears that instead of removing 130 parking spots, they now propose to remove only 122. Very generous.

They say it’s a new plan, and so the old submissions are invalid. All the submissions need to be re-done. For what? To save another few parking spaces? I think they could have a battle on their hands this time. Stay tuned…

P.S. In the interest of fairness, I have heard from both the press officer of Kerry County Council and a local Counciller who say that this is just a draft, that they are open for input, and that submissions will be taken seriously this time around. Let’s hope so!

Technorati tags: Dingle, traffic, plan, Kerry, county, council

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The sun has been blazing down in Dingle. Well, sort of. The weather has been stupendous up until today, and that means that farmers have been burning gorse to clear pasture up on the hills before the seasonal ban comes into effect. According to a friend, there were more than 100 fires in the Dingle area yesterday.

The smoke, oddly enough, had no intention of rising and floating away. Instead, it meandered down into town, where it settled in and made itself at home. The photo on the right was taken in the middle of the afternoon, and it sure was murky.

So what do you do if you want to take a stroll? We drove up to the fresh mountain air at the top of Conor Pass.

There, in the parking lot, we were greeted by a goat. Yes, indeed, she (I think it was a she, even though she had a beard) trotted up to the car and bleated for attention. She looked to be feral (Dingle used to be known for wild goats) and seemed somewhat arthritic, which is perhaps why she was hanging around looking for handouts. I sadly didn’t have any ice cream on me, but an apple core, tossed from a passing car, interested her greatly.

She didn’t much like to be petted, perhaps because one horn appeared to be damaged and was wrapped close to her head, so we left her and headed up the hill. She bleated a few times and then followed.

We walked, and she trotted along behind for the first 500 meters or so, before she became distracted by an especially tasty patch of grass. She raised her head and bleated out an invitation for us to join in the grazing, but we politely declined and kept walking.

When we returned, she was back in the parking lot, scaring a car-full of tourists who were put off by her over-eager approach. I tried to pet her again. She butted away my hand, maybe offended that we had spurned her grazing invitation.

If she sticks around, she could become a permanent fixture on the Conor Pass like Fungie in Dingle Bay. I’d say she would take some getting used to, however, to judge by the haste with which the tourists drove off and by my slightly sore hand. Maybe those folks in Killorglin know what they are doing, sticking their goat high up on a pedestal, but I don’t know. A goat up close and personal is kind of fun.

Technorati tags: Dingle, Irish, goat, Conor Pass

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There are a lot of tired people in West Kerry today after yesterday’s Wren’s Day festivities. It was great fun as always. Here’s a bit of footage for you!

Technorati tags: wren, day, St. Stephen, Dingle, Kerry

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Here’s a little bit of video my father took of the Christmas charity swim in Dingle. I’m in the last frame running out of the cold water as quickly as I can! I hope your Christmas day is much less severe than the Kerry sea in December.

Merry Christmas!

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