Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
16.9 km:
Pullintothelittleparkinglot(at
Dún Chaoin
sign)toviewtheBlasketIslands
and Dunmore Head (the westernmost point in Europe) and to review the roadside map
(which traces your route) posted in the parking lot. The scattered village of Dunquin (Dún
Chaoin) has many ruined rock homes abandoned during the famine. Some are fixed up, as
this is a popular place these days for summer homes. You can see more good examples of
land reclamation, patch by patch, climbing up the hillside. Mount Eagle was the first bit
of land that Charles Lindbergh saw after crossing the Atlantic on his way to Paris in 1927.
Villagers here were as excited as he was—they had never seen anything so big in the air.
About a kilometer down a road on the left, a plaque celebrates the 30th anniversary of the
filming of
Ryan's Daughter.
From here, a trail leads down to a wild beach.
19.3 km:
The Blasket Islands' residents had no church or cemetery on the island. This
was their cemetery. The famous Blascaod storyteller Peig Sayers (1873-1958) is buried in
the center. At the next intersection, drive down the little lane that leads left (100 yards) to
a small stone marker (hiding in the grass on the left) commemorating the 1588 shipwreck
of the
Santa María de la Rosa
of the Spanish Armada. Below that is the often-tempestuous
Dunquin Harbor, from where the Blasket Islands ferry departs. Island farmers—who on a
