Slept well in one of our three beds in our room at the Milestone House B&B. Woke, showered, dressed and had a very delicious breakfast in the B&B dining room prepared by Michael, our host. Breakfast consisted of coffee, fresh stewed rhubarb from their garden, Michael’s homemade soda bread, jams, scrambled eggs with salmon and fresh juices. Our hosts, Barbara and Michael, have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome and at home. After breakfast, Barbara sat with us and outlined points of interest on a map, handed us towels (for the beaches) and sent us on our way with a smile. Michael and Barbara work extremely hard to keep the B&B efficient and humming.

So out we went into the sunny, cool morning. Jumped into our little red Micra and traveled west. Stopped to examine the beehive huts on Mary Houlihan’s property as suggested by Barbara. Also explored a fort called Dun Beg. We were pleased to meet Mary, a gentle grandmotherly type who proudly showed us a photo of her with Tom Cruise, who filmed “Far and Away” nearby, and another photo of her son-in-law, who worked as a rescuer at Ground Zero after 9/11. We snapped some photos of charming Mary then wished her well and continued along the coastline, stopping to admire the stunning cliffs dropping dramatically into the blue-green water. Found a deserted beach which Barbara had pointed out on the map and took photos of “the sleeping giant,” one of the Blasket islands nearby in the Atlantic.

The weather suddenly turned gray, blustery and rainy, so we stopped for a bite of lunch at Caife na Cille in the village of Ballyferriter across from an ancient church near an even older medieval cross-inscribed slab.

After lunch we wound our way back into Dingle, crossed through town and found our way to the top of Conor Pass, with spectacular breathtaking vistas. We felt as if we were on top of the world.

Then back down into town for some window shopping. Eventually we tired and drove back to the B&B where we rested and showered.

We have tickets tonight for a concert of traditional and modern Irish music at 7:30 pm. We drove into town, parked near ancient St. James Church where the concert was going to be held. We walked into Ashes Bar and immediately bumped in John and Mandy, from North Carolina, who we had previously met at McDonaugh’s fish restaurant in Galway (he was the fellow who had a fender-bender shortly after picking up his rental car.). We asked them to join us for dinner and we spent a pleasant hour comparing travel notes, and then the four of us walked over to the nearby church.

For the next two hours we were treated to some beautiful and at times high-energy Irish music and we were sorry when the music finally stopped.

We still had some energy left so the four of us walked across the street to Brennan’s Hotel where we sipped on Irish whiskey until 11 pm and continued sharing travel stories.

Finally we said goodnight to our new friends and made plans to meet for dinner tomorrow evening.

By 11:30 we were fast asleep after another marvelous day on the Emerald Isle.

Next Day