VENTRY BEACH

Some shots of Ventry Beach (again!) just with my mobile phone, on a couple of recent walks. The phone has developed an annoying habit of reverting to low resolution – used to stay on high res, now I have to keep checking. Anyway here are some of the results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sky being unusually clear for this climate, combined with a very calm sea, like a lake, made for some fairly minimalist images, especially this one above.

Below, on a different day, the clouds created a much more interesting sky and some lovely patches of light and shade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A socially distanced conversation about social distancing, one could guess, above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doesn’t this beach look quiet? Yet there was nowhere to park in the small car park.  One way of keeping the beaches quiet here. Currently the area is full of visitors.

 

 

 

I hope you have enjoyed walking with me. This is Ventry Beach, a few miles from Dingle Town, on the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, South West Ireland on the Wild Atlantic Way. Obviously not looking so wild in these captures, but for some really wild ones, please visit my website, try this tag:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/tag/turbulent+sea

 

DINGLE HARBOUR AND MARINA

In this post I am showing images of Dingle Harbour and Marina, which are the soul of this popular little town and tourist resort.

 

A boat full of tourists (now less full than usual, to facilitate social distancing) heads out to see Fungie, the Dingle Dolphin, which has lived here of his own free will, since 1983, and has brought millions of Euro to the area.

 

 

 

In the Dingle sunrise, there are some signs of work starting.  Some of these very early morning shots were taken a few years ago.  It’s rare for me to get up early to capture the sunrise.

 

I loved capturing the light on the boats and the reflections in the still morning water.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Setting out on a fishing trip in the light of the rising sun.

 

 

The above was taken recently, but not so early in the morning as the previous shots, the colours look so different.

 

 

 

In this photo above the boats in the foreground are traditional currachs, known in Dingle as Naomhóg, (pronounced nave-oge) which means Young Saint.  They have a timber framework and are covered in tarred canvas. They used to be used for transport between the islands and for fishing. The style of these boats have been adapted for racing, built by Eddie Hutch, who with Maunza Heidke have been dedicated to the traditional sport of racing the naomhóg, and have run the Dingle Rowing Club for several years. See below a photo of naomhóg lined up for a race at the Dingle Regatta, an annual event, but sadly not this year, because of Covid-19.

 

 

 

 

Some more recent photos below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Dingle Pier can be seen the face of Charlie Haughey, who was the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of Ireland for a number of years, in and out of office until 1992. He died in 2006. Some loved him, some didn’t. But here he is in Dingle because he was instrumental in providing funds for creating the excellent harbour and marina in Dingle, and that has been a significant factor in the development of all the marine activities here.

The following photos were taken as I was out rowing in a naomhóg, the traditional rowing boat as described above. It’s a great opportunity to get captures I wouldn’t get from the shore.

 

 

 

 

Really, there’s so much more to Dingle than I could describe here, although it’s only  a small town; I have only given snippets of it’s character.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you will return periodically. I confess to feeling a bit blog-fatigued recently and it gets harder to keep up the enthusiasm, but hopefully my motivation will return.

Meantime, there are loadsa pics of the Dingle Peninsula on my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/c25–photos-of-dingle-peninsula

DINGLE TOWN 2

 

This is my second post showing photos of the colourful town of Dingle, on the Dingle Peninsula, in the South West of Ireland.

 

As you can see, this is very much a tourist town, on the coast of the Dingle Peninsula, which is one of the most beautiful scenic places in Ireland, or even the world.  It’s a small town, heavily dependant on tourism for its economic health.  It was a very poor area before the first big movie was made here – Ryan’s Daughter, in 1970.  This not only brought temporary but lucrative jobs for many local people, but the attention of the world was brought to the magnificence of this area.  That was the beginning of tourism  here.  Several more movies followed and the Dingle Peninsula has continued to attract the attention of the world.

 

 

 

 

Lots of seafood just opposite the harbour – as you might expect.

 

 

All kind of adventures, climbing walls, sailing,  kayaking, rowing traditional currachs, surfing, kite surfing, swimming with the dolphin…… and everything else on land and sea.

 

 

 

 

 

This dolphin sculpture has a particular significance in Dingle. it represents Fungie, the Dingle Dolphin, who has been residing in Dingle waters since 1983, when he was about eight years old. Fungie is a very popular and much loved dolphin, who has made millionaires out of a lot of people.  Hard to imagine how one wild dolphin living freely here can have had such an impact on the local economy.  But just do the sums –  all the boat trips packed with people every day to see the dolphin for several months a year.  Imagine how many people come here just to see the dolphin. Amazing that so many people experience such joy just to see Fungie, and there are many real Fungiephiles who just want to spend time with him, and compete with others for time and for that ‘special relationship’ with him.

 

 

 

It’s the little backstreets that can be most interesting.

 

 

I don’t know the name of the artist who did these murals, or I would gladly mention it. But if I find out I will include the name here.

 

 

 

 

The place is saturated with artists, to be honest.

 

 

The above paintings have been here near the harbour since 2010.  I’m a little surprised they are still here. The  artists are Carol Cronin (sorry it’s cropped) Deirdre McKenna, myself third from left and Martine Moriarty. There are others not seen here. These paintings were commisioned by the Kerry County Council.

A closer view of my 8 ft x 4 ft painting of fishing paraphernalia, nets and chains etc., being just next to the fishing boat dock.

 

 

 

 

 

Now this is a really creative use of colours! They would be even more vibrant if the sun had been shining on them, but they were on the shady side.  It must be noted that as Covid-19 restrictions are now just easing, most of these shops and businesses haven’t been operational for a number of months and some of them have not been painted up to their normal standard. But these two above are just stunning.

Covid flexibility! Restaurants have been serving more take-away food and drink.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dingle Pottery. Some of the most colourful pottery you can find is here.  Obviously still closed on this day.

 

The Díseart.  This was the old Presentation Convent School, now an adult arts and education centre, with links to a US university, (see below).

 

 

 

 

The photos below are somewhat abstract. They are views in shop and pub windows, which show a kind of fusion of the actual images of the window displays with the reflections of the buildings opposite, and even myself, the photographer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting. I have some photos of the harbour and marina area to show next time.  Please come back.

There are several photos of Dingle and the surrounding area on my website. I hope you will take a look.

https://www.helene-brennan.com/c25–photos-of-dingle-peninsula

 

 

DINGLE TOWN

I thought it might be good to share some photos of Dingle Town, my nearest town, in fact.  It is the main town on the Dingle Peninsula, in west County Kerry, South West Ireland.

 

This is Main Street, Dingle. I started taking these just as shops were beginning to open up again, after lockdown, and I wished I had done it sooner when it was completely deserted – so much easier to stand wherever you want in order to capture the best views.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No shortage of pubs in Dingle.

 

 

Foxy John’s Pub above and Curran’s Pub below are very traditional old Irish pubs which would sell all sorts of supplies, as well as alcohol. They might sell anything from bed linen or food to gardening supplies. In Foxy John’s above you can see the vegetable seed packets and onion sets displayed.

This photo above is Foxy John’s window, with a display of items for sale and the reflections of Curran’s Pub etc. across the road.

 

 

 

 

Dingle has many excellent restaurants, great if you can afford them!!

 

 

 

 

 

This is St James’ Church, Main Street, Dingle, a very modest looking building which is a venue for many concerts and is original home to the very popular Other Voices, which is shown internationally on TV.  Many famous musicians have performed here.  It is usually live streamed to the local pubs, as there are not enough seats in the building for the huge crowd that comes to Dingle for the Other Voices event.

 

Below are several photos of Dykegate Lane, off Main Street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orchard Lane, off Main Street, three photos below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have several more photos of Dingle Town to show later, I hope you will return to see them. Thanks so much for your visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEACH WALKING AGAIN

Here are several photos taken on Béal Bán Beach (White Mouth), one of my local beaches in Ballyferriter, near Dingle, in County Kerry in the South West of Ireland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you so much for viewing my post. More Dingle Peninsula photos are on my website:

https://www.helene-brennan.com/c25–photos-of-dingle-peninsula