The day dawned wet and miserable. There was no bike shed at the hostel so we'd left them in the courtyard. They were of course dripping wet by now and it was not a pleasant task to load them up with panniers. As we wheeled round to the front of the hostel the true extent of the day's weather was revealed. Yesterday there were sea views, today nothing but
mist.
Our plan was to ride around the tip of the peninsular. We had been told that the road along the southern coast offered spectacular views, for us there was nothing. We made our way to the Blasket Island Visitor Centre and got in on a group ticket. It was a great exhibition, Trevor especially was moved by the story of the islanders who had to leave after centuries of living on the island.
We returned to Dingle by the northern loop and after Alan did some shopping we started to climb Ireland's highest mountain pass road, 'The Conair Pass'. Since we were starting at sea level we expected this to be very tough. 1500ft in 4.5 miles at a steady climb, Alan and I reached the summit after 50min. Once again there were no views to be seen, in fact we could hardly see each other!
It was then a short whizz down to the 'Conair Pass Hostel'. The hostel is operated by Tomasins Bar which is opposite on the main road. Alan and Bert cooked a three course meal including fish from Dingle. An excellent meal was rounded off by a trip over the road to the pub.
