Our trip to Graigue / Dunquin
on the tip of the Dingle Peninsula, Ireland
April 11-20, 2008
Page 6: Inch Beach / The South Pole Inn
Press here to return to personal picture menu.
Page 6: Inch Beach / The South Pole Inn
Thursday, April 17
Inch Beach and Annascaul:
Today was a lazy day! We slept until 10:30 and Rick and Colleen were up when we came downstairs. There was a truck on the field behind the cottage today, there were no sheep, and two men were putting up fences around the grazing areas. Rick and Colleen were doing their laundry and we were still waiting for ours to dry. Apparently, if you overfill the dryer it doesn’t work and we had obviously over filled it! By the time the laundry was done and we’d all showered and dressed, it was 2 pm.
I should have gone into Dingle today but by the time we got going it would have been too late – I wanted more than 3 hours there – so KC talked me into going with them to Inch Beach. Inch Beach is renowned for having the perfect weather for parasailing. It also has some interesting dunes at one end. KC really wanted to go and Rick and Colleen were game so I agreed to go along. We parked by Sammy’s Café, bundled up, and walked down to the water.
It was cold again today and VERY windy, and the wind was blowing the sand into our eyes, so I lasted maybe 5 minutes. Since KC had someone else to walk with him (Rick), having a coffee in the café and WATCHING the wind blow sounded infinitely more interesting to me than strolling along the beach; Colleen agreed and we went back to Sammy’s.
There was a small store connected to Sammy’s so we went in and I bought two cookbooks, an Irish-English dictionary, and some shortbread. There was a dog there who kept Colleen busy while I shopped. About a half and hour later we went into the café and ordered two cappuccinos and an apple tart.
Colleen and Barb bundled up on Inch beach:
KC and Rick went on without us. I didn’t expect to see them again for several hours as KC loves being out in inclement weather and rarely gets the chance to walk along a beach.
Rick on Inch Beach:
The dunes:
Another shot of the dunes:
What is this:
Rick and KC walked as far as the dunes and then turned around. They got back to Sammy’s just as our cappuccinos were being served. Although it surprised me to see them back so soon, I was happy to share my apple tart with KC – it was homemade and delicious!
Coffee and apple tart in Sammy’s Café:
We left Sammy’s around 3:30 and drove to The South Pole Inn in Annascaul for a late lunch. The Inn was opened in 1927 by Tom Crean, a local boy, who by several weird twists of fate had been to the Antarctic with Scott and Shackleton and returned to tell the tale. He retired in his home town of Annascaul and opened the South Pole Inn.
KC and Colleen ordered a burger, Rick a vegetable soup and a ham sandwich, and I a toasted cheese sandwich with onions and tomatoes on brown bread. My sandwich was delicious! KC and Colleen ate all of their burgers so I assume they were good, too, although Colleen tasted Rick’s soup and declared that the Irish really know how to cook vegetable soup.
Inside The South Pole Inn :
Press here for more pictures of the food on this trip (a new window will open).
From the Inn we drove to Garvey’s to replenish the bread, butter, beer and turf we’d used up. We got back to the cottage around 5:30, Rick and KC shared some Jamison’s and some Killarney Cream (lighter than stout), and then KC stuck his nose in his book I stuck mine in my journal.
Rick built us a great fire and then watched KC read through binoculars, much to KC’s chagrin and my amusement. I plugged into my earphones and worked on a crossword. We opened the bottle of wine we’d bought, a 2005 Coronas tempranillo (delightful, for the price), and had the leftover stew.
After dinner we played Bu**wipe, a very funny card game, until 11:30. For each round, whoever goes out first becomes “the president” and can order the other players around (as in, “Colleen, get me a beer”) and/or make rules, such as ‘twos are wild’ or ‘no verbs allowed’. As you can see, KC’s request for a beer had an unusual result and although KC generally likes celery he discovered that in beer it becomes very bitter!
KC enjoying (not!) the celery in his beer:
Press here to return to personal picture menu.
OOAKFolk, Inc., and artist Barbara Healy are not affiliated in any way with the original manufacturers of
the dolls pictured in this site. No photograph, text or graphic on this site may be copied without written
permission from Barbara Healy. Copyright © 2004 OOAKFolk, Inc.
Last Revised: October 19, 2009
Site Questions? Press Tech Support to send email.