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| St Finan's Bay |
Rather than publish yet another post about some obscure yet beautiful corner of the Emerald Isle, I thought it would be nice to reflect on the whole holiday. These thoughts are based solely on my fortnight's experience in County Kerry, which hardly makes me an expert... but here goes anyway.
People
Meet anyone on a ramble in the English, Welsh or Scottish countryside and you're almost guaranteed to get a cheery "Hello!" Ireland is very different. Time and time again we met people – from lone farmers to groups on outings from Dublin – who would enthusiastically strike up a conversation. Their first three questions were nearly always the same: Where are you from?.. Are you having a good time?.. What do you think of Brexit?From these pleasurable encounters, that could delay our walk by anything up to half an hour, we learned that many in Ireland have been hit hard by Brexit, as trade barriers go up between them and their nearest trading nation. They're also intensely worried by the 'hard talk' emanating from Northern Ireland over its border disputes with the rest of the UK. Though to a man and woman they love their country, many also have fond memories of living and working in England; memories that they're keen to tell you about. In short, they could not have been more friendly.
The bit of Europe beyond the UK
I've been to France many times, where it feels very foreign indeed... and rightly so. To the English (and Cornish), Ireland is 'foreign' as well, but in a very different way. They speak English, they drive on the left, they use 13 amp plugs and they shop at Lidl and Aldi and Tesco. But there the similarities end, imparting a unique 'feel' to the country. And I don't just mean buying things in euros.Oh, and on the subject of Tesco, I strongly advise against trying to use Tesco UK's Pay+ app in Ireland. I tried it in Killarney and crashed the check-out computer!
When we were last in Ireland, back in 1997, the country was in the process of converting all its road signs from Imperial measure to Metric. They had set about it in a way that perhaps only the Irish could.
24 years later... and metrication is complete. Even the 'T' road designations have passed into history, replaced with 'R' for regional. They also have 'M' (motorway), 'N' (national) and 'L' (local) roads.
Language
Gaelic (gaeilge) is the official language of the Irish Republic, although English is very much the everyday working language. Look again at that 'new' signpost in Inchigeela and notice that the town to the left is written only in Gaelic. To you and me, the place may still be Ballingeary, but officially it is no more. The reason for dropping bilingual designations is that Béal Atha Ghaorthaidh, together with many other (mainly rural) areas of Ireland, has been designated An Ghaeltacht – Irish Speaking.A consequence of this Gaelic-ising is that some once familiar towns have disapeared from the Ordinance Survey maps. It therefore took me a while to recognise Daingean Uì Chuts as being Dingle. Reassuringly for English speakers, though, Dingle was still much in evidence in the town – Dingle Oceanworld, Dingle Boat Tours... and (praise be) Dingle Whisky Distillery.
Maps
The 1:50,000 Ordinance Survey maps are very good, though not quite as detailed as their UK namesakes.
Contours are shown in 10 metre intervals (as on UK maps) but roads and railways are simply drawn over the landscape without any indication of cuttings or embankments. Oddly, though, mileposts are shown on the railway lines.
Rambling
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County Kerry does, however, have some great paths that are clearly marked on the OS maps, such as the one we followed up Torc Mountain and the long-distance Kerry Way, with its many alternative tracks.
