Today was a busy day. We had a leisurely breakfast at 9AM and then set off around the Dingle Peninsula. The weather was a bit rough. The mist was down and it was very damp. The temperature ranged from 12 – 15C. The roads were loaded with mad cyclists. There were a few holidaying with all their gear on the bikes, most were on racing bikes and then there were a few riding old clunkers. All rode two abreast and cars had to trail behind them around the windy corners, waiting for a chance to pass.

We stopped off at the beehive houses. These date from around 1200 AD and were houses made from stones laid upon each other in such a manner as to keep the inside of the house dry. The one we saw was about 10 feet in diameter inside, with an open door, but they are reconstructing a larger one.

We also stopped at a museum that held items from the prehistoric age to the Vikings. They had the skull and tusks of a mammoth. It was huge. Somehow they got hold of it after it was dragged up from the sea off Holland.  There were also great exhibits from the stone age and bronze age as well a Viking helmet (with no horns.

Next on the list was the Blasket Island centre. Lynette mentioned them yesterday. It must have been an extremely tough life living out there.

We stumbled across the windmill at Blennerville, near Tralee. This was a windmill that had been built around 1800 and used until the middle of the 19^th century. By 1900it was derelict and remained that way until the local council bought it in the 1980's. The used the unemployed as labour to rebuild the windmill and it now is in pretty good condition. It's claimed to be fully working, but looking at the inside, it hasn't run for a year or two.

It's really massive and is unusual in that it has to be turned manually into the wind.. We were able to climb up inside it and go to all floors.

From there we drove to Rathkeale, which has featured recently in the TV reality show, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding. This is where the gypsies go during the winter and we recognised a couple of places and saw a few caravans there. We would have stayed but couldn't find a B&B and the hotel was full of entrants for the long weekend card rally. This weekend is a Bank Holiday here.

Just down the road is the town of Adare. It was voted the most picturesque town in Ireland in 2013. We found a bed there and went into town to have a pub meal. The pub we chose just happened to have an All Black jersey which had been signed by Sean Fitzpatrick. Apparently his forebears came from this area,

The overnight campers sleeping in the car park opposite the hotel.

The top of the mammoth head was at least eight feet off the floor.  

A beehive hut from around 1200AD.

The Blennerville windmill.

A bronze age axe head and mould in which it was cast.  Comes from Hungary and dates fromabout 800BC.

One of the gypsy winter homes in Rathkeale.  Note the dogs and caravans.

Some of the thatched houses in Adare.