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It was a different
morning with total cloud cover and thankfully no midges. Yesterday
I’d got ahead of myself so today is a relatively short ride so there
was no point in being away early. I took my time and didn’t pack up
camp till after 9am. I descended in to Ventry and the road around
the bay. There were still plenty posh houses but no obvious village
centre. The road continued to Slea Head where it followed an
impressive line along the steep hillside and far above the sea
below. The fort Dunbeg was signposted and also ‘genuine famine
cottages’. |
Near Dunbeg fort. |
Onlooker |
Looking across the sound to
Blasket
Islands |
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School children on
Blasket
Islands in the 1930s. It was evacuated in 1953 |
Across Blasket Sound |
In the Blasket Centre |
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There was an
admission charge generally of 3Euros. Further along the road beehive
huts were advertised at 3Euros. I reached the point and turned
north. There was then a very impressive view of Great Blasket Island
across Blasket Sound. Some parking areas were by the road and one
had an information board and many tourists enjoying the views. The
board made no mention of the Armada shipwreck the Santa Maria De La
Rosa which is somewhere in the sound. |
Blasket Centre |
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Down a lane was the
Blasket Centre. I made the diversion to have a look. It was an
interesting building with a large coloured glass window inside. I
didn’t go further than the entrance hall as there was a charge to go
in. I asked the man behind the counter about the Armada shipwreck,
which he knew about, but said there was nothing in the centre about
it. There were still a few tourist coaches trundling along the lanes
as I rode by Clogher Head and great views ahead. Eventually the road
climbed then junction followed by a long straight descent back into
Dingle. |
Blasket Centre |
Tom Crean Brewery, Dingle |
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It had gone midday so
I stopped for something to eat. My next objective was the Connor
Pass on the R560 to the NE. As I was leaving the town I came to the
Tom Crean Brewery so stopped to have a look inside. There was a
large themed reception area and some nice displays in the next room
showing some of the Antarctic expeditions Tom Crean had been on. |
Tom
Crean (1877 - 1938) |
Tom Crean was on:
Discovery
Expedition, 1901–1904 with Scott and Shackleton.
Terra Nova
Expedition, 1910–13 When Capt Scott failed to return from reaching
the South Pole. Crean was one of the 11-man search party that found
the remains of the polar party.
Imperial
Trans-Antarctic Expedition (Endurance Expedition), 1914–17 when he
sailed with Ernest Shackleton. The Endurance was crushed in the ice.
They dragged their lifeboat the 'James Caird' across the ice and
sailed to Elephant Island. Then a smaller party including Crean
sailed a further 800 nautical miles to South Georgia. Then the three
fittest men, Shackleton, Crean, and Worsley trekked across the
island to the whaling station to organise a rescue for the 22 men
waiting on Elephant Island. After several attempts they succeeded
and all men were saved.
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I set off again to
the summit of the pass. The road was good and the gradient steady.
As I left the last housed the gradient steepened a bit and seemed to
keep to the same gradient. I was riding in gear no 2 and finding it
straightforward. With 3.2km to go a sign for cyclist gave the
distance and gradient of 7.1%. My plan was to camp on the summit but
finding water would probably be a problem. I made a mental note of
some bankings on the left where surface water was running off the
hillside. |
Connor Pass |
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At the top it was
315m altitude at the car park where people were enjoying the views
and ice cream from the van. I wheeled my bike up a track, left it on
the grass and headed up the hillside to find running water. There
wasn’t any. I put the tent up and my panniers inside then set off on
my bike back down the road. At the first area of running water I
used a pan to collect it and fill 2 plastic bottles before packing
them in my rear pannier and cycling easily back up. It’s amazing
what a difference there was with little load. I retired to my tent
which had superb views of both sides of the pass and the sea at both
sides of the Dingle peninsula. There was also a good ‘H’ data
reception on my phone. |
Connor Pass summit
view |
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Whittle Wanderer