An early start this morning! On the bus by 8.00am.

Dingle Peninsula became famous in the 1960's, because it was where 'Ryan's Daughter' was filmed. There have been a number of movies filmed on the peninsula. Patrick talked a lot about the filming of Ryan's Daughter. When the producer came to Ireland he scouted around and fell in love with the Dingle Peninsula. Patrick then spent the next hour giving us the BIG story about the actors in the film. How, why and who was chosen and the scandal that goes with producing a film. Maybe some of us would have liked some quiet time first thing in the morning!  

The star of the film ended up being the scenery, and the 'Dingle Peninsula' was made famous! Everyone wanted to visit the 'Dingle'. Apparently the producer waited a whole year for the perfect storm for one of the scenes in the film.

A number of movies have had scenes filmed on the Dingle Peninsula and a new Star Wars Movie is the latest. The Star Wars movie which will be released next year. Well that is what I have found out with the help of google. This from a website:

There's still another 18 months to wait before fans can find out what happens to Rey and Co in the next episode of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. However, fans can whet their appetite with a sneak peek at one of the sets as filming on Episode VIII continues in Ireland. Film crews appear to be reconstructing the 6th century monastic site from the island of Skellig Michael in County Kerry - which was used in last year's The Force Awakens - on the rocky headland of Ceann Sibéal further north. There is a great lot of photos to be seen grandies on this website:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3608857/Pictured-Crew-build-Jedi-style-temple-dramatic-cliff-overlooking-Atlantic-Star-Wars-Episode-VIII-starts-filming-Ireland.html

By 8.30am we were at the small town of Mill Town. This town once had a linen mill and a lot of flax was grown in the area. The town of Castlemaine is the home of the 'Wild Colonial Boy'. More information from Patrick!

We stopped for a photo shoot of the surfing beach. Not a patch on the Gold Coast, but surfing has got big in Ireland and they come to here. There is 3,000 miles of Atlantic Ocean between here and Newfoundland in Canada. We could see across to the Iveragh Peninsula, which was where we were yesterday. The cloud is low and it is misty, but it's not raining.  

We stopped at a small property on the side of the road. There was a pullover area big enough for a couple of buses. On the farm there are some early christian monastic beehive huts, that have remained untouched since they were deserted in the 12th century. The young guy that has inherited the property from his mother, now charges 2 euros each to visit. He also has a few lambs and chooks to interest some tourists!

'Fungie' is the resident celebrity in Dingle and he came to the town about 30 years ago. 'Fungie' is actually a dolphin. You can take trips out to see 'Fungie' and if you don't see the dolphin then they will refund your money. There are a number Irish Gaelic speaking communities on the Dingle Peninsula and the Irish Gaelic is taught in some of the schools.  

The trip down along the coast to Slea Head, was really great and the clouds did break up a bit and allow the sun to peep through. Have to say sitting on the left hand side of the bus, the views were as good as our 'Great Ocean Road'. The road along the coastline only goes for a short distance though!

When we arrived at Slea Head there was the 'Vegan lady wanting a Vegan Warrior'! Loved the sign on her van. She had set up and was selling her organic slices from the back of the van. Two euros a slice and we have to say "Sorry to the Vega lady, but we both couldn't eat what we purchased". The raspberry one was far too sweet and the chocolate brownie just a tad too rich. I didn't think I would ever say that about a chocolate brownie! 

The views from Slea Head were very nice out to the Blasket Islands. It is said 'Slea Head' is very romantic. In 1953 residents were forced off the Blasket Islands. A number of inhabitants from the islands, have formed a writers group and you can actually google 'Blasket Island Writers' and find out more about living on the islands.

Lunch was fish and chips in the fishing village of Dingle, followed by a 'Murphy's' famous Irish ice-cream. We had an hour and a half in the village and left at 1.00pm for our overnight stay in Limerick. There were so many tour buses in the carpark, by the time we left. Tourism has become big on the 'Dingle'.

We travelled through the thatched village of Adare, where we had an afternoon stop for 35 minutes. Thank goodness! I need some fresh air. It must have been too warm on the bus. All we have both wanted to do is sleep!

Adare appears to be a lovely clean town which has a lovely row of thatched cottages. Unfortunately there was a fire in the thatched cottages in June 2015. The sign said 'The restoration process has commenced'. There is a large old Catholic church alongside the Visitor Centre. It was once a monastery and there was an unusual round building at the back. The monks used it to raise pigeons, which were used for food. It was a Patrick question when we pulled up. So we did do the research and found the answer to the question! We asked Eugene our bus driver what was the name of the tree with the red berries. They are everywhere and absolutely loaded with red berries. It is a Mountain Ash tree.

Our destination today is Limerick which is famous for its rhymes, lace and elegant Georgian houses. We skirted around the edge of the town as our hotel is out in the country. We will come back in the morning for a quick look. It was in the 19th century, during Victorian time, that it became a craze to sit around and write limericks. Patrick shared a few limericks with us. He did pick some good ones. 
 
To complete this day we chose to be part of the group to go to a banquet at a medieval castle, named Bunratty. It turned out to be a great evening. Bunratty Castle is a large 15th-century tower house in County Clare, Ireland. It is located in the centre of Bunratty village. It was something quite different. We were served by men and women in medieval costume and entertained in medieval manner and fashion. Addressed as 'M' Lady and M' Lord'. We travelled quite a distance to get to this castle and we had started to question ourselves "Why we had gone with this option"? Perhaps we should have asked a few more questions about it! Especially when we had had a big day of travel! But it was all worth it!