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Irelands best sights

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Some Of Irelands Best Sights

Which are the top rated sites in Ireland? We have now discussed the wide range of vacationer choices which make it enjoyable to travel to Ireland, however the very first time you check out any country, you will find a few sites you actually “need to see”, and Ireland isn’t any different.

There are numerous “top ten listings” for virtually any country. We do wish to point out to you that any kind of checklist is obviously another person’s concept of what’s important…. whether or not it’s best sites throughout Ireland or even what you ought to see before you pass away. Make use of these types of lists, however do not define your vacation by them.

With that said, listings are helpful with regard to homework. Let us go to our leading sites throughout Ireland…

When considering some of Irelands best sights, the very first site we would suggest will be the Bru na Boinne… that is Celtic or Irish for “Palace of the Boyne”. At times this region is known as the “Bend in the Boyne…” That is a looser interpretation, however , these sites ARE upon the banks of the Boyne River. It is actually a number of sites, that collectively constitute an significant historical megalithic area.

You need to discover Newgrange and Knowth. They are remarkable prehistoric passage tombs. Find the ancient stone designs and carvings round the exterior. You actually will need to take a tour; you cannot investigate these by yourself. You actually can pick to visit one or both. Prepare to turn up early on because tours fill up during the peak season.

The majority of guidebooks will advise you that you ought to view the Ring of Kerry… a road circuit which encompasses 3 peninsulas within southwestern Ireland. It really is an excellent drive with a lot of castles and shoreline and also the lakes of Killarney. It really is a lovely drive, however it has a tendency to get congested. In the event that you intend your journey for Springtime or Autumn, you can observe it together with lesser crowds.

To get a much less congested option, think about traveling the Dingle Peninsula as an alternative. Its got less crowds of people all year round, but it has got lots of coastal scenery as well. Drive to the sweet town of Dingle after that go ahead and take Slea Head Drive, a route out along side Atlantic. Furthermore there is an historic church, the Gallarus Oratory, plus some beehive huts (known as “clochans”) resided in by Monks within the Dark Ages. You will additionally view a Stone Age ring fortification along the trip. Here is a fascinating fact… Slea Head is the actual position in Europe nearest to America.

You should see the Cliffs on Moher as well as the Burren. These natural marvels are a fascinating counterpoint to one another. The Cliffs of Moher happen to be topped with green and dive many hundreds ft in to the Atlantic. The Burren is really a barren yet enchanting moonscape of limestone karst full of megalithic tombs as well as celtic crosses.

For the purpose of pure picturesque wonder plus some excellent Irish tales, you have to view the Giant’s Causeway. It is inside Northern Ireland. It really is an all natural wonder plus a spot packed with legends. 1000′s of polygonal columns seem to make-up a huge stairway. It is great fun for you to allow local people explain the different tales concerning the giants which are meant to have constructed this “causeway”.

Dublin is really a city certainly well worth viewing. We do not remain long within cities, however , you ought to view Trinity College to go to the Library to see the Book of Kells. It is a duplicate of the 4 Gospels from the New Testament, however what causes it to be special is the fact that this had been transcribed by Celtic monks during the Dark Ages… around 800 AD. All these calfskin volumes happen to be extravagantly illustrated… genuine pieces of art.

Whatever you decide on, you are going to discover your very own top places within Ireland. Keep time for simply rambling about. The entire country is actually gorgeous, and also the people happen to be friendly. You cannot go wrong.

Tendulkar’s 10-month wait for his 100th international century goes on

India are slipping towards a 4-0 series whitewash – and an eighth consecutive Test defeat – with one day remaining in the final Test against Australia.

Ricky Ponting’s 60 not out allowed the hosts to declare at 167-5 just after lunch in Adelaide, settting India an implausible victory target of 500.

Stand-in India captain Virender Sehwag smashed 62 from 53 balls.

But they collapsed to 166-6 by close of play, with no recognised batsmen left and defeat looking inevitable.

Australia had began the day on 50-3, 382 ahead, but Ponting and captain Michael Clarke (37) added 71 for the fourth wicket to bat India out of the game, with the declaration coming three overs after the interval.

With the world record for a successful fourth-innings run chase standing at 418, India’s target already looked more than unlikely when they lost Gautam Gambhir, who edged Ryan Harris to keeper Brad Haddin in the fifth over.

That was the cue for Sehwag’s characteristic assault on the Aussie attack, which contained 12 fours, but his luck ran out when he danced down the track, aiming another big hit at spinner Nathan Lyon, and the ball flew off a leading edge to the safe hands of Ponting at cover.

If India’s fans had hoped for veterans Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar to drag them out of trouble, those hopes were soon dashed as Dravid was caught at gully for 25 and the “Little Master”, still one short of 100 international centuries, gave a simple bat-pad catch for Lyon to claim his second wicket.

VVS Laxman (35) and Virat Kohli (22) added 52 but both fell in the last 10 minutes of the day, with 37-year-old Laxman’s position in the side looking ever more precarious as his career draws to a close.

Kohli had hit his maiden century in the first innings but perished off the last ball of the penultimate over, running a risky single to protect night-watchman Ishant Sharma from the strike.

Sharma had nervously survived facing Lyon with all nine outfielders around the bat, and was joined by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha for the final over.

But with only tail-enders Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav to come, it will take a monumental effort – or assistance from the weather – for India not to suffer another humiliating defeat.

Article source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/sport1/hi/cricket/16754096.stm

Australian PM Julia Gillard and leader of the opposition Tony Abbott have had to be rescued by their security staff after a protest became violent.

About 50 police escorted the pair from Canberra’s Lobby restaurant after it was surrounded by some 200 supporters of the city’s Aboriginal Tent Embassy.

They had been handing out medals at a ceremony as the country marked Australia Day.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-16736522

25 January 2012
Last updated at 09:38 GMT

By Phil Mercer
BBC News, Sydney

Three attacks in as many weeks have put sharks back on to Australia’s front pages. Mercifully, the victims survived – but three maulings is about as many as this country would often see in an entire year.

Off a remote beach in Western Australia, a snorkelling guide was injured by a 10-foot (3m) tiger shark, while two surfers were savaged in separate attacks on the continent’s heavily populated east coast.

Graham Nickisson, a member of the Westpac Rescue Helicopter aircrew, was dispatched to find the “rogue shark” – possibly a bull or juvenile great white – responsible for ripping off part of a board rider’s thigh at Redhead Beach, near Newcastle, north of Sydney.

What he witnessed from the sky that day over the glittering New South Wales coast was staggering. Never before during a career spanning three decades had he seen the ocean rippling with so many sharks.

Continue reading the main story

Treat figures with caution

According to the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), a program run by marine biologists at the Florida Museum of Natural History, the number of unprovoked shark attacks has grown at a steady pace over the past century with each decade having more attacks than the previous.

For example, in the 1900s there were, worldwide, around 20 recorded unprovoked attacks by sharks on people. That steadily climbed to around 100 by the 1940s, passing 500 by the 1990s. By the 2000s the figure had surpassed 650.

But in many respects, this data is misleading. The ISAF is the best current data set for shark attacks we have, yet by its curators’ own admission, this rising tally does not actually mean that sharks are attacking humans at a greater rate.

It could just be that the media and scientists paid far less attention to shark attacks in the past.

Read the full article

• See Isaf stats on a graph

“This was quite extraordinary to actually see them so close to shore on our city beaches. I’ve never seen it in all my years. It was frightening particularly being so close to swimmers. They were certainly unaware the sharks were there,” he says.

From the air, some appeared to be up to 4m long including one of nature’s most menacing creatures, the hammerhead.

“We came across a lone surfboard rider and when we had a closer look we spotted a shark in the vicinity of him.

“We thankfully got him out of the water as the shark was getting closer and closer, to within about 20ft (6m) of him. We were concerned that we were about to witness a disaster but it all turned out well.”

An abundance of baitfish, due to cleaner water and more nutrients in the ocean, is one reason why sharks could be attracted in greater numbers to the coast.

Swimmers and surfers are almost certainly accidental victims but while attacks off Australia are uncommon – figures of 20 in 2009 and 14 in 2010 were higher than normal – deaths are rare. On average there’s one fatality each year, yet news of close encounters invariably prompts Australians to wonder what is lurking out to sea.

Rodney Fox, who was almost killed by a great white shark 40 years ago, believes society is gripped by an “irrational fear” of these shadowy prowlers, many of which are protected in Australian waters.

“I’ve spent my whole life trying to get people to understand that sharks just aren’t as bad as people make out,” he says from the deck of his boat in South Australia.

He still bears the scars of a spectacular brush with death. His wounds required 468 stitches.

From left: Conservationist Rodney Fox in his youth, after a shark attack, and today

“This huge thump and crash hit me in the chest,” says the 71-year-old conservationist and filmmaker.

“I stuck my fingers in its eyes and it let go. I pushed it off and grabbed the whole shark in a bear hug so it couldn’t bite me and as I was holding on, I realised I was going to drown because I was 10 metres under water.”

Continue reading the main story

‘Australians are just used to it’

“It’s normally very rare to see a shark, let alone be attacked by one.

Australians know certain rules to help them avoid being attacked. For example, dogs draw attention by splashing around.

This won’t stop people swimming for long due to the fine weather.

Aussies are not great risk-takers. They are just used to warnings.”

He got to the surface but the shark followed him and swallowed his fish float, which was still attached to him, dragging him under again. Fortunately, the line snapped and he kicked for the surface, where he was rescued by the crew onboard a passing boat that had seen the sea turn red.

Australia has a huge coastline that stretches almost 50,000 kilometres and is punctuated by over 10,000 beaches, more than any other nation on Earth. The vast majority of the population – about 85% – live within 50km of the sea. It’s not so much blood but salt water that courses through their veins.

More people than ever are taking to the ocean to surf, swim and sail but the chances of coming face-to-face with jaws full of flesh-tearing teeth are slim.

“There are a small number of attacks each year,” says Dermot O’Gorman, the head of conservation group WWF-Australia. “It’s much more high-risk to drive your car than to go swimming on an Australian beach.”

A shark alert was issued at Manly beach in Sydney earlier this month but on an overcast summer’s day, surfer Nick, a 22-year-old finance worker from Queensland, was eager to take to the battleship grey waters in search of a decent wave.

Sydney’s Manly beach recently issued a shark alert

“You try not to think about sharks but occasionally you see a shadow in the water,” he says.

“You see them quickly but they swim away. It’s obviously a bit frightening and you lift your legs up off the board but if you’re out with other surfers you take your chances. You’re out there just to surf, not to worry about sharks.”

His 23-year-old friend Phil agrees.

“There’s obviously a threat out there but attacks don’t happen that often. It’s a risk that most people are willing to take.

“For the number of people who go surfing and use the beaches in Australia, I think it’s generally pretty safe most of the time.”

Additional reporting by Sophie Robehmed

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/magazine-16681464

Maritime officials in Queensland, Australia, are trying to clean up an oil spill in the Brisbane River which is threatening local birdlife.

About five tonnes of fuel oil leaked into the river while a Korean ship was being refuelled.

An investigation into the cause of the spill has been launched.

Simon Fraser reports.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-16702562

18 January 2012
Last updated at 16:26 GMT

By Duncan Kennedy
BBC News, Sydney

China has been looking the increase the number of cows at its dairies to boost milk production

China wants more cows. Lots more. Especially dairy cattle.

It is all part of its plan to increase its annual national milk production to to 64 million tonnes by 2020 from the current 38 million tonnes.

Why? Well it seems the Chinese have woken up to milk’s nutritional value.

Right now, the average Chinese consumer ingests about 30 litres (53 pints) of milk a year. Compare that with the average European who laps up about 225 litres a year. China even lags behind the world average, which is about 89 litres.

The message to consume more has come from the top.

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao famously urged students to drink a glass of milk a day, even though many Chinese are lactose intolerant.

Soured taste?

For many Chinese, milk has got a bad name, picked up after a tainting scandal four years ago.

Back then, unscrupulous farmers and middlemen, mostly from the Hebei province, laced milk and baby formulas with melamine, a toxic substance derived from coal.

The aim was to trick inspectors into believing the milk contained higher levels of protein.

At least six infants reportedly died and up to 300,000 became sick. Sales of milk plummeted and the reputation of the white stuff nosedived.

Now the government is trying to get consumption back on track.

It says it has taken tough action against the fraudsters. It has also taken measures against other producers for failing to meet quality standards, with reports that up to 40% of the country’s dairy companies had their licences taken away last year.

Small scale

But even with those efforts to weed out the corrupt and unhygienic, it still leaves China with a substantial gap to fill.

Infected fodder led to the production of tainted milk at one of the biggest dairies in China recently

About 75% of milk comes from dairy farmers with four cows or fewer. That makes it a cottage industry in a country that needs a mansion-sized response to the milk shortage.

And those cows which do produce cannot match the volumes of other countries.

Whilst an average Chinese cow produces about 5,000 litres per 300 days lactation cycle, its counterpart in New Zealand and Australia is gushing out 8-9,000 litres.

When it comes to cows, China has a herd of family saloons, whilst the world’s best producers have a fleet of bovine Bentleys.

Imported cattle

China sees part of the solution coming from high-quality imports.

In 2010 they imported 80,000 cattle. Last year that rose to 100,000.

Nearly all those imports come from three countries: Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay.

Those countries believe there are many more export opportunities and that the Chinese will want more of their cattle and expertise.

The Chinese used to import from Europe and the United States, but haven’t done so since 2006 because of fears over mad cow disease.

What it does take in from the US is bull semen. The value of that has risen from $2.7m (£1.7m) in 2009 to $4.7m in 2010.

Economies of scale

It is all part of China’s move to go it alone.

But even after all the high-quality livestock arrives, their problems aren’t over. Those cows from Australia, New Zealand and Uruguay are, for the most part, reared on pasture land. That keeps their productivity high.

China lacks vast areas of grassland to repeat that success and is having to rely, instead, on keeping the cattle in sheds with a diet of fodder.

But the Chinese clearly believe they can eventually match milk output with their growing consumer demand by establishing a much bigger and more professional dairy industry.

They say that, in future, most produce will come from farms with not less than 100 cattle and believe economies of scale will be followed by increased quality.

Milk, the next Chinese miracle growth story? Well, dairy farmers from countries like Australia certainly hope China will become the land of milk and money.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/business-16607847

Pl Conghaile gets back to nature and discovers Ireland’s very own Taj Mahal in the Lakelands.

The wilderness therapy

“When you pull back the nettles and rushes there’s some amazing stuff in Leitrim,” says Kevin Currid of Lough Allen Adventure Centre.

He’s not kidding.

Participants on his wilderness therapy experiences not only pull nettles back — they cook them and eat them too.

Paddling away from the rat race, they go on to learn lost arts such as fire making, navigation and shelter building, while camping on an island on the lake.

“We suggest leaving the mobile phones behind,” Kevin says. “They complain at first, but they come back loving it.”

I get a taste of the therapy when Eamonn Briel — Leitrim’s answer to Ray Mears — shows me how to create fire by striking a flint off steel into a firelighter made of egg carton, wax and a larch cone.

After firing off the sparks, I bend down, blow into a little nest of strip wood and try to coax the flames up through the kindling.

It’s a primal feeling — man makes fire. Booyaka!

Afterwards, we tuck into a nettle, chorizo and onion stew, washed down with an earthy mug of tea drawn from dandelion roots. It’s all surprisingly tasty.

Sure, you’ll be caked in mud and stink of campfire.

But a trip into the great outdoors like this is fundamentally reinvigorating, you get to use cool knives and hatchets, and life is brought back to the basics — shelter, warmth and food. Therapy is the word, all right.

Details From €60pp per day. Tel: 071 964 3292; loughallen adventure.com.

Love’s little temple

The last thing I’m expecting to find in a corner of Carrick-on-Shannon, squeezed between a pair of pubs on Bridge Street, is a souvenir-sized version of the Taj Mahal.

But that’s exactly what Costello Chapel is: a monument to love. The chapel was built by local merchant Edward Costello after the death of his wife, Mary, in 1877, and the couple continue to rest beneath glass panels today, their coffins on full view to the public.

It’s an extraordinary attraction, more a tabernacle than a temple, and capable of holding six people at most at the same time.

The coffins themselves lie beneath a single stained-glass window, cracking with decay, as if vampires would emerge at any minute.

Details Free. 9am-6pm. See mycarrick.ie.

The Arigna Miner’s Way

Coal mining was a back-breaking feature of the Arigna landscape for some 400 years, as the brilliant Arigna Mining Experience illustrates. Its legacy goes beyond the underground gashes and tunnels, too, spreading right across a network of paths in the surrounding mountains.

The Arigna Miner’s Way is a 112km route tracing the old tracks from Arigna to Dowra, but there are plenty of shorter stretches, including an 8km route from the mining experience itself to Kilronan Castle.

It begins with a super panorama over Lough Allan, and proceeds downhill (mostly!) along the mountain, passing Keadue and Lough Meelagh, before hitting the hotel.

Kilronan is a luxury stop, so if you’re looking to rest up while connecting with the old mining culture, try the Miner’s Bar in Arigna. It’s a spit-and-sawdust kind of place, and I step inside to find ex-miners chatting on barstools, and walls plastered in old paintings, photos and newspaper headlines from the heyday. “A commitment to hardship” reads one apt example.

Details €10/€6. See irishtrails.ie; arignaminingexperience.ie.

The forest canopy adventure

It’s not every day you get to cycle a BMX through a forest canopy.

That’s exactly what I find myself doing at Zipit, an aerial obstacle course threaded through the trees at Lough Key Forest Park. Clipping into the safety wire overhead, I sit up on to the saddle, take a deep breath and pedal down a boardwalk — 10m in the air.

Zipit is a new addition to the brilliant suite of lakeside activities here, formed by two Irish families who got a brainwave while holidaying in France.

You’ll find other aerial trekking courses in Ireland, but nothing of this scale, this integrated into a forest and using this harnessing safety system.

You pull on a harness and gloves and proceed to an initiation trail. After learning the ropes, you set off on a 1.3km series of trails, which are staggered according to age and ability and throw up obstacles from Tarzan ropes and a 150m zip line to the BMX ride. Get ready to sweat adrenaline.

Details €15 (age seven-11), €20 (age 12-14), €25 (age 15+). Tel: 051 858008; zipit.ie.

The Shannon’s source

Leitrim may have the shortest coastline in Ireland, but its lakes are second to none.

Driving around Lough Allen, I pass holy wells at Ballinaglera, Drumshanbo’s Sliabh an Iarainn centre and fishermen casting off at Spencer Harbour, before meandering towards the Shannon Pot.

Lying near Dowra at the northern end of the lake, this little pool is said to be the source of the River Shannon, formed when Sionnan of the Tuatha De Danaan attempted to eat its salmon of knowledge.

When Sionnan approached, legend says, the Shannon Pot sprang up to overwhelm her, bursting its willowy banks and bearing her south towards the Atlantic Ocean.

“Another explanation is much simpler,” as Aiveen Cooper writes in her book, ‘River Shannon’ (Collins Press; €19.99). “It attributes the name to the Irish for ‘Old River’, or Sean Abhainn.”

Details See discoverireland.ie/ Leitrim.

The gastro-pub

As winter warmers go, a slow-cooked daube of beef, gooey with gravy and flanked by crusty cubes of garlic potatoes, root vegetables and tangy red onion (€11), takes some beating. It’s the kind of lunch that will either put you to sleep or set you up for the afternoon.

I’m eating at Conor and Ronan Maher’s Oarsman pub in Carrick-on-Shannon, where most of the ingredients are sourced within 60km of the table.

The room is encouragingly full at 1pm on a Thursday, too, despite most of the cruising community being in hibernation.

In truth, you could come in here at any time of the year and find rich comfort. A big stove, lashings of dark wood, smiling staff and fresh flowers on the tables all add to the atmosphere, and other humdingers on the menu range from sauted king prawns with Carraig na Breac smoked bacon to breaded haddock fillets battered in Galway Hooker ale.

Details Tel: 071 962 1733; theoarsman.com.

The overnight suggestion

Frances McDonagh speeds up her stone driveway with exciting news. Bridie the hen has just had a chick. She whisks me off to see it, an ink-black creature hiding beneath its mother’s wing in the coop. Buttercup, her Dalmatian, bounds along beside us.

Welcome to Lough Key House, where Frances not only keeps hens, dogs, horses, donkeys, sheep and guinea fowl, but also grows her own salads and makes her own jams.

The results are on the breakfast menu, from a farm-egg omelette to pancakes covered in crispy bacon and acacia honey.

If the 200-year-old house itself seems familiar, it’s because Frances was last year visited by John and Francis Brennan for an episode of their makeover show, ‘At Your Service’. “I only had a trickle of customers before that,” she tells me. The Brennan brothers advised her to do dinner on Saturday nights, and to cater for groups, both of which have helped boost business.

The interiors are busily furnished, with antique writing desks and old-fashioned bath tubs complemented by quirky details like sweet jars in the rooms. PVC windows are a jarring inheritance from a previous owner, though they do keep the place warm.

Pick of the six rooms are to the front of the house.

Details BB from €42.50pps. Tel: 071 966 2161; loughkeyhouse.com.

Footsteps to the Famine

Moseying around Carrick-on-Shannon, I notice a curious trail of footprints in the pavement. The bare feet of a mother and child are encased in bronze plaques which can be followed all the way to a famine graveyard and restored workhouse attic at St Patrick’s Hospital.

I get to the bottom of the mystery in the town’s heritage centre.

Tell Helen or Noeleen here that you’re following the trail, and they’ll meet you at the end of it with a key to the old workhouse. Proceed up several flights of stairs and a door opens into a sparse vision of whitewashed walls, rough floorboards and the odd clothes peg — a men’s dorm straight from the 1840s.

Some 1,896 people died at the fever hospital here during the Famine, and those who lived slept on straw, separated from their families, and watched the population of Leitrim plummet by 41,000 in just 10 years.

A video installation by Alanna O’Kelly makes for stark viewing, too.

Details St George’s Church; €5/€3. Tel: 071 962 1757.

- Pol O Conghaile

Originally published in

Article source: http://www.independent.ie/travel/inside-ireland/secret-ireland-leitrim-and-roscommon-2988887.html

12 January 2012
Last updated at 04:41 GMT

Tropical Cyclone Heidi left at least 3,500 homes and businesses without power after it swept across Western Australia, according to local media reports.

The cyclone has now been downgraded to Category 1 in the towns of Port Hedland and South Hedland.

But a red alert is still in place for some coastal areas.

Australia’s largest bulk ore export facility at Port Hedland was shut as a precaution.

Cyclone Heidi packed winds of up to 150km/h (93mph) in Port Hedland, the ABC News agency reports.

‘Getting smashed’

The storm made landfall at about 04:30 local time (20:30 GMT Wednesday), the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said.

Dozens of seaside residents were forced to leave their houses and hide in shelters after a flood alert was issued.

“We are getting smashed now, mate,” Tom, who lives near Port Hedland, told ABC Radio.

“There is full horizontal rain and very high winds.”

There were no immediate reports of any injuries of major damage.

Local officials say that Port Hedland – which exports some 240 million tonnes of iron ore a year – will remain closed until the storm passes.

Port official Steve Farrell said bulk ore carriers and other ships had been sent to safer waters.

“The last thing we want is for those vessels to break their mooring and run aground or cause damage, so it’s always much safer for vessels and port to clear the vessels to safer water outside the cyclone area,” Mr Farrell was quoted as saying by ABC.

Other regional ports serving the enormous iron ore mines in the regions are also shut.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-16522856

Pol O’ Conghaile uncovers coastal adventures and the freshest seafood, washed down with a heroic brew.

The Blasket Island scallops

There’s no shortage of seafood in Dingle. The real trick, in a town that seems to have as many restaurants as pubs, lies in separating the magical from the mediocre.

Out Of The Blue leans towards the former.

Housed in a brightly painted old smoking house across the road from the marina, it sets out its stall with a matter-of-fact scribble on a blackboard outside: “Everything fresh or alive, nothing frozen, no chips.”

Stepping in past the bubbling lobster tank, punters take a seat in a jolly little space crammed with paintings of fish. Menus rely on the catch of the day — in my case, a small sole (€28.50) that doesn’t justify the big price tag, and Blasket Island scallops (€13.50) that absolutely do.

The scallops come on a busy plate surrounded by several other elements — olive tapenade, couscous, salad, pickled beetroot and so on — but chomping through the seared exterior gives way to a creamy flesh done all sorts of favours by a surprising curry marinade.

Details: Tel: 066 915 0811; outoftheblue.ie.

The Antarctic ale

For the best part of a century, Tom Crean was the unsung hero of Antarctic exploration. Recently, the grizzled hero who retired from epic voyages with Scott and Shackleton to run a pub on the Dingle Peninsula has been celebrated in books and a TV series.

This summer, the Dingle Brewing Company paid the publican the honour of naming a lager after him. Tom Crean‘s, a sweet blend of malted barley, saaz hops, pilsner yeast and spring water, is available in pubs all over Dingle, but tastes best right where it is brewed.

A tour of the small brewery, based in Dingle’s old creamery, includes the chance to observe the brewing process, read about Crean’s adventures and have a pint. Make sure it is properly chilled — a later dose in the Dingle Bay Hotel wasn’t half as tasty.

Details: €6 for the brewery tour. Tel: 066 915 0743; dinglebrewing company.com.

A hospital for seals

Danu has a nasty scar under her flipper, most likely a propeller wound.

The little seal pup, just a few weeks old, was discovered on the beach at Inverin, Connemara. Her wound was gaping then, her prospects for survival slim.

Today, she’s peering up at me with big pooling eyes, pert whiskers and a mouth you’d swear was smiling.

“This is a happy seal, doing that sort of banana position!” her keeper says.

Danu is one of more than a dozen pups rehabilitating at the Dingle Seal Sanctuary near Lispole. The sick, injured and abandoned creatures have come from as far afield as Sligo and Skerries and, after intensive care in their ‘kennels’, will move into purpose-built nursing pools, get gradually weaned off human contact, and ultimately return to the sea.

Visitors can watch their progress via a series of boardwalks built over wetlands, where you’ll also find wildfowl enclosures, a playground and a caf. You can adopt a seal online from €20, too.

Details: €6/€4. Tel: 066 915 1750; dinglesanctuary.com.

The strand from the silver screen

Okay, at 191 minutes, maybe ‘Ryan’s Daughter’ (1969) was a tad long. And maybe the sweeping scale of its cinematography did end up dwarfing its characters.

But one thing’s for sure, as an elderly lady tells me in Dingle: “That movie was the best government we ever had.”

I ask her to explain. “It put Dingle on the map,” she continues, with a steely certainty in her eyes. “That was when people here started eating dinner in the evening.”

Little remains of the movie sets today, but several locations are unchanged — including the stunning beach of Coumeenole, which watches out over the Blasket islands near Dn Chaoin.

When I visit, waves are peeling in and a clutch of surfers is lining up to catch them alongside a couple of ducking cormorants.

The wet brown sands are the colour of butterscotch sauce, and the familiar angular rocks make it look like the movie was governing only yesterday.

Details: Slea Head. See discoverireland.ie/dingle.

The overnight suggestion

Two words spring to mind when I first see the line of mini-mansions along The Wood outside Dingle: Celtic and Tiger.

Stepping into Castlewood House, however, my concerns are quickly dispelled by the sureness of hand with which Helen and Brian Heaton run the business.

Picture a cross between a BB and a boutique hotel. Original art by Helen’s mum, Irene Woods, hangs on the walls; a lounge is stocked with classic couches, antiques and coffee-table books; Helen is on hand with all the local info, and there’s even takeaway coffee inside the front door.

Rooms are big, slick and comfortable, with heavy curtains blocking out the early light (and parting to reveal a champion view of Dingle Bay), a large wooden-framed bed, and a brace of Lily O’Brien chocolates on the dresser. Between bedroom and bathroom, space ain’t an issue.

Everyone is talking about the breakfast, too. When I surface, Brian greets me in his chef whites. A buffet includes homemade breads, stewed rhubarb and pears poached in orange juice, and there’s an ‘L’ beside dishes made with local produce.

I go for the eggs Benedict, a Saturday-morning staple simply presented on a black plate with light hollandaise sauce, a toasted muffin and a long, decorative chive. Just a five-minute walk from the marina, Castlewood offers a lot of polish for a very reasonable winter price.

Details: BB from €45pp in November. Tel: 066 915 2788; castlewooddingle.com.

The little things

Dingle certainly punches above its weight as a tourist hub. Fungi the dolphin, thumping pubs, sizzling seafood and shop fronts painted up like a box of liquorice Allsorts have given it an international reputation other towns of its size could only dream of.

I prefer the hidden gems to the big hits, however. Think of the TV series ‘Other Voices’, which has brought an astonishing range of performers — from Amy Winehouse to Anna Calvi — to St James’s Church. Or the spiritual centre at Diseart, across the road from Dick Mack’s pub.

Secreted away in the chapel here, you’ll find 12 stained-glass lancet windows from the peak of Harry Clarke’s career.

There’s also an unusual version of ‘The Last Supper’, by Eleanor E Yates. Take a close look at the apostles — if they seem familiar, it’s because they were modelled by local men.

Details: €2. Tel: 066 915 2476; diseart.ie.

The wilderness trek

It’s a chilly Saturday morning with grey skies hanging low over the Dingle Peninsula. Three horses come galloping along The Banks, the squelchy throttle of their hooves, throwing clumps of sand and seawater up into the air.

Beach riding isn’t for novices, of course — the speeds and surfaces make sure of that — but I do get to ride on the foothills of Mount Brandon nearby.

Mountain treks are another niche for Susan Callery’s Dingle Horse Riding, a canny business on a peninsula not known for its horsey heritage.

Rosie is my mount, a cross between an appaloosa and Irish draft. As a beginner, I get some quick pointers on reins and riding position, before climbing up towards a panorama over Dingle with Susan, her daughter Sophie (11) and head girl Elaine Waters.

Horses make perfect sense here — off-road on the mountain trails, we’re accessing parts of the peninsula only hikers can reach, albeit with a much higher viewing position. The drizzly weather doesn’t bother the animals either, and on a clear day, you can see Skellig Michael.

Details: €65pp for a two- hour beach and mountain ride. Tel: 066 915 2199; dinglehorse riding.com.

Windows into an underwater world

Aquariums in Ireland can be dank, disappointing affairs. From the moment I step inside Oceanworld, however, it feels as if someone cares.

The tanks, ranging from an eerie piranha pit to a 150,000-gallon pool dominated by cruising sand tiger sharks, are crystal clear and spankingly clean.

Yes, it’s pricey. But there is no damp stink, kids can touch certain species under supervision, one tank holds the cast of ‘Finding Nemo‘ and another highlights the effects of pollution by plonking a car bumper in with the fish.

Did you know a disposable nappy takes 450 years to degrade?

The newest additions are several sub-Antarctic Gentoo penguins.

The waterline in this exhibit is at shoulder height, so you can observe then both below and above the surface, and two of the penguins — Hugh and Candy — have even paired off, singing to each other and sleeping side by side.

Details: €13/€7.50. Tel: 066 915 2111; dingle-oceanworld.ie.

- Pol O Conghaile

Originally published in

Article source: http://www.independent.ie/travel/inside-ireland/secret-ireland-the-dingle-peninsula-2982225.html

The remains of one section of the container ship the Rena, which crashed into a New Zealand reef three months ago, has finally sunk.

The stern of the vessle slipped under the water after heavy seas split the vessel in two over the weekend.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-16481013

9 January 2012
Last updated at 04:51 GMT

The Shonan Maru No 2, a support ship for Japan’s whaling fleet, was tailing an activist vessel

Australia is in ”diplomatic discussions” over the fate of three activists who boarded a support ship for Japan’s whaling fleet.

The activists from the Forest Rescue Australia group boarded the Shonan Maru No 2 early on Sunday, about 26km (16 miles) off the west coast of Australia.

The men could face charges under Japanese law, Attorney-General Nicola Roxon said.

This is not the first time activists have boarded Japanese whaling ships.

In 2010 New Zealander Pete Bethune boarded a ship which subsequently took him to Japan. He spent five months in jail after receiving a two-year suspended sentence and was later deported.

Forest Rescue said in a statement that the trio boarded the vessel to prevent it tailing a ship belonging to anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd.

That ship, the Steve Irwin, was on its way to the Southern Ocean, where Japanese whaling ships hunt at this time of the year, after escorting a damaged vessel back to Australia.

In the past there have been collisions between Sea Shepherd vessels and the whaling fleet. Last year the Japanese fleet returned home early, citing safety concerns, after confrontations.

There has been a ban on commercial whaling for 25 years, but Japan catches about 1,000 whales each year in what it says is a scientific research programme.

Critics say it is commercial whaling in another guise.

Trio ‘being questioned’

The men, all from Western Australia, were named as Geoffrey Owen Tuxworth, 47, Simon Peterffy, 44, and Glen Pendlebury, 27.

The environmental group has demanded that their members be returned to Australia.

However, this could be ”tricky” as the incident did not take place in Australian territorial waters, Ms Roxon said.

”Because it was only in our exclusive economic zone that doesn’t give us automatic rights to assert Australian law,” she told reporters.

”In fact, the clearest advice that we have is that Japanese law would be likely to apply,” she added.

A spokesman for the Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research told AP that the activists were not injured and were being questioned.

“I would describe them as volunteer detainees,” said Glenn Inwood from the institute which sponsors Japan’s annual whaling activities.

Last month, the Steve Irwin had to escort another Sea Shepherd vessel, the Brigitte Bardot, back to Fremantle for repairs after the latter was damaged by a rogue wave while chasing the Japanese fleet.

The Shonan Maru was on the tail of the Steve Irwin as it travelled back to Australia. It is thought to be watching the anti-whaling vessels to help the Japanese fleet avoid protesters.

But the presence of the Shonan Maru No 2 near Australian waters has not been well received.

“We’ve made very clear that this boat is not a welcome boat in our Exclusive Economic Zone,” Ms Roxon said on Australian television.

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/world-asia-16464267