Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
calm day could row across in 30 minutes—would dock here and hike 12 miles into Dingle
to sell their produce.
19.4 km:
Back on the main road, follow signs to the
Ionad An Blascaod Mór
(Great
Blasket Centre). You'll pass a village school from 1914 (its two teachers still teach 18 stu-
dents, grades one through six).
22.3 km:
Leave the Slea Head Road, turning left for the Great Blasket Centre (provides
23.1 km:
Back at the turnoff, head left (sign to
Louis Mulcahy Pottery
).
23.2 km:
Ryan's Daughter
film buffs will take a left turn here (a gravel lane) to visit
the schoolhouse built for crucial scenes in that movie. Drive down the lane a few hundred
yards and park at the dead end. Walk the trail another hundred yards (through a couple of
kissing gates) and you'll see the schoolhouse below, ringed by a low stone wall. Never in-
tended to be a permanent structure, it's the only building still standing from that outdoor
movie set of some 40 years ago—and it's falling apart, too. But the lonely setting is mem-
orable.
24.5 km:
Passing land that was never reclaimed, think of the work it took to pick out
the stones, pile them into fences, and bring up sand and seaweed to nourish the clay and
make soil for growing potatoes. Look over the water to the island aptly named the “Sleep-
ing Giant”—see his hand resting happily on his beer belly.
