EXCERPT FROM SARA'S JOURNALOctober 17, 1998
Near Ballyferriter
Dingle Peninsula
The Dingle Peninsula is the unspoiled region in Ireland. The
chunk of land juts out into the mist of the Atlantic from west side of Ireland.
Above the peninsula is the port of Limerick, one of the principal ports from which a
million peasants emigrated on "coffin ships" in the 18th and 19th centuries.
From Castlebar to Westport and across the peninsula there a scenic
drive through the valleys of the Partry Mountains and their grazing foothills.
Tralee, at the mouth of the Dingle Peninsula provides an opportunity to orientate
ourselves and look for amenities like a copycentre (for printing computer documents) or an
Internet café. Further west, the little port of Dingle is the heart of the
Peninsula and today it is teaming with foreigners, students and Irish descendants.
The area west of Dingle has the greatest concentration of ancient sites
in County Kerry if not the whole of Ireland. It is also where the most Irish is
spoken in the country, and remains unspoiled by British influence and tourism.
The films Ryan's Daughter and Far and Away were made
here, taking advantage of the rugged coastline and the windswept fields, misty, rocky
beaches and the mysterious, undulating seascape of the Blasket Islands.
The proprietor of the little cottage, Philomena meets us "at the
calls" (the phone booths) in the village of Ballyferriter. She leads us
along a five-minute drive through fuschia hedges and barking dogs and farmers in gumboots
and crumbling castle ruins. She has started the peat briquettes in the fireplace and
we are quick to realize that these things require careful hot coal manipulation before one
can get them going anywhere past a severe smoking problem. The cottage is consumed with
smoke when we enter. I spend the evening working out the subtle nuances of the peat
briquette and how to coax its best BTU performance before inevitable asphyxiation.
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