Today was another on a series of bright, sunny and warm days. Perfect for driving the Shea Head Road around the Dingle peninsula. Our first stop was the Dun Beag Fort which was the site of a very early settlement. Carbon dating has determined that humans have been on this site since 4000 BCE. We visited s few more bee-hive type huts. These were connected to each other and had a fenced in enclosure to keep the animals. All of the buildings were made from stacked rocks with no mortar used to bind them. As they were building then they placed the stones in a spiral manner, or so we were told, all the while increasing the angle of the stack or create a dome on the top of the bee-hive. There were a couple more settlement spots along the way and many pull outs to see the cliffs and the water. Finally we stopped at the Gallarus Oratory, a 1300 year old chapel. It was tiny inside and maybe 15 folks could fit inside, perhaps there were not so many folks living there or they did masses in shifts.
Bikes on the tour
Hee Haw!
Donkeys within the walled fields
The Stone House cafe had sweets, souvenirs and a audio visual show
A robin
This part of the coastline is getting undercut and slowly falling into the sea
Pretty graphic sign
Very rugged
2500 years ago
This was a fort built in the 1100's. Most likely on top of a former settlement
Stacked stones
A tiny door
A mock up of the site
Sheep dog trials were being held
Grey Heron
A fast boat to the Balsket islands
Sunny blooms
Loving the sunny day
\Horse shoe clover
Large insulators
Here's looking at you
The settlement with five huts and a wall encircling the entire group
These were incomplete
Some corners were 90 degrees
The angle of the rocks would continue to slant until they met at the top of the spiral
Round and round we go
A smaller beehive perhaps a storage hut
Another sight seeing boat
The cap stones
Stonechat on a stone having a chat
This cottage muse see some serious weather in the winter
The green tops of the cliffs
A creek flowing over the road
Splash
Our next stop
Stone walls stretch to the top of the mountain
The entrance to the huts
The root cellar and the hiding hole of last respoort
Where the wall meets the hut
Leslie for scale
More stone walls
An odd triangular stone int he wall breaks with the style
Sleepy sheep
Really liking the lichen
The Great Blasket Islands in the distance
Sparkly
The road hugs the eroding hillside
Herring gull
The sightseeing boat off in the distance
So glad the wall is here
A popular beach bit I wondered how folks got down to it
Misty Isles
Sharp slabs
Rocky islands
The Spanish armada floundered off the coast and many sailors washed up along this coast
This is how the folks get down to the beach
Love the color of the water
A very deep crevice is the start of the walkway down
A craggy isle
They filmed a Star Wars movie here
A standing stone
A slot in the cliff
Another isolated beach
More sheep
So many colors on this hill
For standing upon, tires are.
Pretty robin singing its heart out
The Gallarus Oratory
Amazing stone work
A tiny window at the back
Great craftmanship
Some stones are much larger
Rune sonte?
An apparition of beauty
Strata of rocks
There used to be folks living in this island but the young ones moved away and the older ones eventually could not take care of themselves so the Government evacuated the entire Island
A lonely neighborhood
The Oratory Club
Keeping the cows out
Heading back to Dingle we see another tiny church
