Sunset behind Inis Tuaisceart (Sleeping Giant)
Rainbow in the light of the setting sun at Cuas
Blasket Islands
Ventry Beach with view of Mount Eagle
Ventry Beach
Sunset behind Inis Vickillane of the Blasket Islands
WEST KERRY SUNSETS (3)
Category Archives: Dingle Peninsula
WEST KERRY SUNSETS (2)
Blasket Islands
Emlagh, Ballyferriter
Emlagh, Ballyferriter
Mid-summer sunset at Ceann Seatha
Ventry Beach
Lots more photos from the Dingle Peninsula, West Kerry, on my website:
http://www.helene-brennan.com/c25-dingle-peninsula-photos
WEST KERRY SUNSETS (1)
Here are a few of my several local sunset pictures. As there are so many I have decided to publish just a few at a time.
RURAL LIVING – JOYS AND COMPROMISES
Yes there are so many benefits that I enjoy and appreciate about living on the wonderful Dingle Peninsula. I love the helpful friendly people, country roads, amazing beaches, glorious sunsets, magnificent walks, clean air, space, big garden, little shops and big ones……………..
My only complaint is my lack of decent Broadband. It would be nice to be able to view more blogs and like them etc., but some days it’s just too slow to view others’ blogs, especially those with image content.
But thankfully, today I have managed do do this post and upload a few photos, I hope you will enjoy them.
Please visit my website: http://www.helene-brennan.com
STAR WARS IN KERRY
I have previously written about the film Ryan’s Daughter, which was largely shot on the Dingle Peninsula, and how it brought the beauty of the place to the attention of the world and stimulated the tourism industry in the area.
Not only tourism was stimulated, several other movies followed, which were also partly shot in County Kerry. Here are a few:
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 2015
The Field (1990)
Far and Away (1992)
Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince (2009)
Excalibur (1981)
The most recent Star Wars movie – The Force Awakens was partly shot at Skellig Michael, a World Heritage site, off the coast of the Iveragh Peninsula, South Kerry, amid much controversy regarding the damage they may do to the ecology and the antiquities on the island.
The Skellig Rocks are two rather spectacular looking tall craggy rocks rising up from the Wild Atlantic Ocean; there is also a third but smaller rock known as The Lemon. Skellig Michael, or Great Skellig, 714 feet tall, is an ancient monastic site where in the sixth to eighth centuries AD, a community of monks built their monastery – a number of beehive shaped stone dwellings and oratories, and lived their lives there, in considerable hardship and isolation 12 miles from the mainland of Ireland.
Well now – it seems we will have a major film crew in this area again shortly, as Disney Lucasfilm prepare for shooting their next Star Wars movie at Sybil Head (Ceann Sibéal).
Sybil Head, the site chosen for the next movie, is another majestically beautiful place, having a commanding, yet magical presence, adjacent to a collection of other stunning iconic landmarks to be seen from the roadside of the famous Slea Head Drive from Dingle.
To help you locate these peninsulas: The south west of Ireland has three magnificently beautiful peninsulas. Two of them are in County Kerry – the Dingle Peninsula, and the Iveragh Peninsula (Ring of Kerry), going south, and the most southerly one is in County Cork – the Beara Peninsula (West Cork).
More information can be found on:
http://www.worldheritageireland.ie/skellig-michael/
Please also visit my website for more images of the Skelligs and Sybil Head
MOUNT BRANDON
A winter evening view of Mount Brandon from Cúl Dorcha Beach, Ballyferriter, West Kerry.
Please visit my website for more Cúl Dorcha: http://helene-brennan.com/tag/cúl+dorcha
TIME CHANGES EVERYTHING – The Schoolhouse from the Ryan’s Daughter Movie.
Sometimes I enjoy taking photos that show how things change over time. The schoolhouse from the Ryan’s Daughter movie is one such subject that has caught my attention.
On this wonderful awe inspiring peninsula in 1968 a film crew from MGM descended to make a movie, directed by David Lean, which, though not immediately popular with the critics, became a huge box office success. Many local people were extras in the movie, or worked in some capacity for the film company and still have many memories and stories of the events of that time. Imagine how exciting it was to the people in an area which, at that time, in spite of its exceptional natural beauty was economically struggling. The exposure of this marvellous place to a wider world contributed greatly to the increase in visitors the Dingle Peninsula has enjoyed over the years since then.
Most of the set built for the story was destroyed when filming was finished, but the schoolhouse still remains, in an increasingly ruinous state, perched on the coast of Dunquin and with marvellous views of the Blasket Islands. Most visitors don’t even know it’s there. The name Kirrary National School still to be seen there means nothing to most people. (Kirrary was a fictitious place.) There has been talk of restoring the building. That could be interesting.
Since I started to prepare this blog I discovered that there is another wordpress blogger who has written on this topic. For more in depth information and images of the schoolhouse from the time of filming, see SMcP Blogfeast’s very interesting blog:
https://blogfeast.wordpress.com/2015/03/31/saving-ryans-daughter/
You can check out this on Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan%27s_Daughter
Also to see more images from the Dunquin area of the Dingle Peninsula please visit my website:
http://helene-brennan.com/tag/dunquin
Here are some photos taken in October this year (2015) as well as some taken in September 2013. As you can see the timbers have now been ripped from the roof with the storms that have raged since.
