When it was time to leave, John drove me to the roundabout to begin hitching to Dingle Town. Thanks, John. Catherine, an artist in the area and her friendly cur, Batman, (she rescued him) picked me up after only a few minutes and took me the 10 miles to Castlemaine where it was raining. She stopped to let me out but we chatted about our respective websites and my journey. She was fascinated by the idea of hitching up the coast and all the festivals that will be available as I go. As I left her car it stopped raining. Next, a young fellow, Tomas, from the Czech Republic, stopped his diesel powered VW with 187,000 miles on it and took me all the way to Dingle Town. He makes pizza at the only pizzeria in town. It was about 40 km to Dingle and the sun was brilliant on the mountains to our right and Dingle Bay to our left. Tomas has been to many countries working mostly as a cook although he has much information about cars and the best performers. He told about the road tax system here and it fits with what others have said. He pays €350 (about $500) yearly To register his old car with a 2 liter engine. People with new cars and big engines can pay thousands every year based on engine size and emissions. That seems like a more sensible way to promote climate change than the way we do it in the states. After Tomas dropped me off at the town center I walked up Green Street to Dick Macks pub and went in for an orange soda and a brief chat with Oliver Mac, the best pub keeper in Ireland. Oliver is much healthier looking than when I last saw him in 2011. He explained how a series of doctors were only making him worse and the cheapest one finally found the problem and fixed him. Oliver and I sat in a side room where he had a turf or coal fire going. It felt so good to warm myself. A young very tall woman from Holland came in to photograph Oliver and to record his philosophical statement for a project based in New York. He smiled as he usually does for the thousands who want his image but begged off on providing an answer to the philosophical question, saying: Im tired out from the bank holiday weekend and will have to recover some before I can answer that kind of question. The girl thought that answer was more than sufficient from such a personality as Oliver and she left happy with the photo captured on her phone. I then popped into Currans pub on Main Street to say hello to Jim Curran, the owner of the second best pub in Dingle. Hello Jim and then down the street to find a B&B. Was referred to Harbour Nights on the waterfront. After a little nap, Im now finishing this post and will go out for the best pizza in town made by Tomas. I should mention for Barb that Tomas thinks Prague is the most beautiful city in Europe.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 17:05:05 +0000
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