Retirement blog : Ireland 2020, a celebration

Well by this time in the year we would normally be half way through our annual Irish holiday. Same as for last six years. But then these are not normal times as we know. So instead of being there right now we’ve taken our voucher for the same time next year. Took a bit of sorting out with the holiday company but in the end they practically insisted on refunding all our money with the exception of the deposit (£300) which they have kept as a deposit for next year. Fair enough.

This lockdown must be saving us a fortune. No holiday, no pub meals, no trips out. True we’re doing our best to keep the economy ticking over with our spending on line – amazon books, drum amp, greenhouse (not arrived yet), picture frame and large photographic print.

Anyway back to the holiday theme of this retirement blog. As we’re not actually there I feel it makes sense to post a blog featuring our favourite aspects of our past Irish holidays. So here’s a selection, a top ten you might say. I suppose I should do them in reverse order so you’re kept in suspense as to what comes in at number one.

But to cut to the chase. In a way, it’s a no-brainer. Number one? It’s the beautiful, empty, sandy, rolling beaches. So that was easy. Bear in mind that the photographic examples below have been chosen for their representational value not their photographic excellence. But with the beaches they meet both criteria – illustrative and picturesque. Our favourite beaches in the area. I couldn’t choose just one, so there’s three.

We’re lucky in having the Blasket Islands as a view just out the kitchen window. One of our favourite parts of the holiday is the first time we crest the hill on the way over the mountain to Dunquin. There’s the ocean and the islands and if we can, we try to have Van Morrison playing ‘Have I told you lately..’ Soppy, I know but we feel like, right we’re here again. So that’s number 2 on the list – this view for the first time.

I was delighted to hear from Mrs Summerhouse that enterprising publicans were delivering Guinness by drone so of course you aren’t going to get very far into a list of favourite things in Ireland before some form of drinking appears. So here’s John Benny’s pub in Dingle. It’s on the list out of many, many choices because surprisingly Irish pubs are not very dog-friendly. I think the explanation is that they regard dogs as working animals not as something cuddly to feed chips to. But John lets us in even if his staff think he’s bonkers for doing so. That’s why I’ve given him top billing in this blog (above).

Pubs in Dingle mean music. There must be 30 or so pubs and I would say that every one of them has live music. Almost always Celtic music of some kind. One of my proudest moments on Irish holiday was plucking up the courage to play along with folks who performed a kind of open mic session every Friday night. Not a great picture I know but it brings back the memory which is its job.

And while we’re speaking of music this would be the time to report on the concerts we have attended while staying in Dingle. These are professionally a cut above what happens in pubs but only just. The main difference is that you buy a ticket and are guaranteed a seat. Not always the case in the pub. This picture is of the inside of the Dingle Music shop and it’s a kind of pilgrimage each year of a place to visit.

And again, while in Dingle I’ll just throw in a quick snap of the harbour in the evening light. There’s a bit of fishing left and quite a few pleasure seeking yachts sailed by those brave enough to travel up and down the west, Atlantic coast of Ireland.

Just to return to the Blasket Islands for the next one. In this case to the beautiful Blasket Island Museum. We’re very fortunate to have this stunning building right across the road from where we stay. It has a book shop, an excellent restaurant from where I send my blogs when we’re there and of course the museum itself detailing this history, culture and lifestyle of the islands when they were inhabited. This picture shows the central passageway of the museum with its picture window oriented towards the islands. I’ve also included one of the outside of the building for good measure.

I’ll finish this blog with a couple more favourites. The first of Inch Strand, an unfeasibly long piece of sand that stretches away for miles. It’s about half an hour from Dingle and when we’re travelling to the house we stop here for the pleasure of the open sand and the fact you can drive your vehicle, in our case, the trusty Defender on to the quite empty beach. About as close to off-roading as we get these days and a real marker that the holiday is about to begin.

It would be remiss of me to write about this part of Ireland without including a picture of The Wild Atlantic Way. So this is around the South side of the peninsula. Quite different to the sandy beaches round near Dunquin, Ballyferriter beach etc. at the beginning of this retirement blog. To say it looks dramatic would be to undersell it. The Americans love it. Unless it’s completely fogged in which it often is. Whoops forgot the photo. Here it is now.

I’m going to finish with Mrs Summerhouse’s ancestral home. You might say this is where it all began along with the barracks in Limerick where my father was born. Until this last six years we probably hadn’t been to Ireland for 30 odd years. We spent our time visiting far distant parts of the globe. But, in this last few years at this time of the year, we’ve made up for it, I think.