Irish roads are very narrow. Lined with dense hedges, slopes where wild garlic, rhododendrons, fuchsias bloom. Incredibly tortuous too. So we often have to stand on the brakes at the last moment to avoid the oncoming car. Then, in a delicate maneuver where the sheets touch each other and where the branches of hawthorn tinkle against the wings, each cross. This repeated random path brush gives rise to one of the manifestations of kindness are not sparing the Irish, these hotheads who, through pride, never ignore friendliness. As in the purple Taxi Michel Deon, we made a small hi hand. A smile. Before cautiously to engage the next gear. So the speed of a snail, a smile and hello in hand, as one progresses. As a royal procession. A pace that allows you to enjoy the scenery, strolling at the wheel, opening and closing the window at the option of the showers that are as irregular as common in this country cousin of our Brittany.
In recent weeks, the roads of the Irish coast are decorated with a representative panel on blue background, a kind of white zigzag. This is chosen by the Irish Tourist Office to materialize the Wild Atlantic Way, a coastal route, on 2500 kilometers long, connects the town of Kinsale, County Cork, symbol southeastern countries than in Derry, Northern Ireland. All without ever straying far from the sound of the waves. Unless you have plenty of time to spare, it is difficult to consider cover this route in its entirety.Therefore tourist office decided to separate it into five sections roughly equivalent size.
Between Kinsale and the Dingle Peninsula, this path takes the visitor to Ireland storytellers and black cliffs, dark skies and bright breakthroughs, old stone cross, cemeteries placed on hilltops, gray walls and green meadows, sheep, ruins expertly maintained. They are numerous in this country. This is for example the Franciscan abbey of Timoleague, which dates from the thirteenth century and was burned by Cromwell's soldiers in 1642 he left the walls, which are home to a deliciously romantic cemetery. Not far away is the stone circle Dromberg monument dating from the second century BC: 17 stones in a circle of 9 meters in diameter. At the winter solstice, some stones are aligned with the sun. The circle based flowers made by a visitor: an offering to whom?
There is also the strong Staigue powerful dry stone monument 30 meters in diameter, walls 4m thick. It was built in the third century AD. And yet, niches shaped hut inhabited by the monks of Skellig Michael, a sort of Irish Mont-Saint-Michel island. It was occupied by monks in the seventh century, but not anymore. The oratory Gallarus, built around the seventh century; the Romanesque church of Kilmalkedar, which dates from the twelfth and blocks erected here and there at random from a wall: today they no longer ensure that the sheep and cows.
Ancient stone dead monuments, witnesses of a past that is not really ours, a story that, not having been written, is largely ignored. They give to this country, where the eruption of modernity always an incongruous look, a very old and dignified.
Many foreigners who come to this region in search of authenticity, in search of their roots. For many, they are citizens of the United States. They can be seen plying huge bus board these roads barely wider than a sidewalk of America, continuing memories that have long since evaporated into the mist. They are found in the evening, at the counter of an old pub in Dingle, a wool cap on his head and big white sneakers feet, begging the bottom of a glass of whiskey or a pint of Guinness a little of that Irish blood which they are so proud at home, they seem to lack these shores and is granted graciously by the people here. The virtue of the road is that it phased the traveler to this beautiful country and austere. Smooth or haste, without illusion. On a peninsula to the other, far, farther and farther outposts of Europe. To a Celtic past presented to the passing stranger as a legacy to share.
On the way, stop in Bantry Bay. In 1796 it was the scene of a crushing defeat of the revolutionary fleet led by the young General Hoche. Party on December 15 the port of Brest, at the head of 45 warships full of seasoned soldiers, General Versailles had been sent by the Management Board with the mission to free Ireland from British rule and thus destabilize the enemy with whom France was at war since 1793 Bad weather was the best ally of England. Since the passage of Raz, the French fleet was dispersed by a strong east wind. December 21, fifteen boats only reached Bantry Bay, where they waited in vain for the rest of the armada: Hoche, already had returned to Brest. Once engaged in this east-west bay, ships, unable to go back into the wind, could not dock.On 27 December rose a storm drove them back to sea, putting an end to the failed expedition, without a single terrible revolutionary soldiers could set foot on Irish soil.
From the terrace of Bantry House, a beautiful palace posed for the bay, watching the carousel Richard White of French vessels. This descendant of an old Anglo-Irish family had taken precautions and waited the arrival of the valiant soldiers of the Republic. A year later, King George III granted him the title of baron, in recognition of his bravery.A title that Sophie Shelswell-White, current owner, always wears. In gardens, there is also a French cannon retrieved from a shipwreck. Inside this house, which is Bed & Breakfast, stunning Aubusson tapestries came from Versailles Palace, sold to his ancestor by republican France. They adorn the walls of homes.
A Bantry, winds and history have wanted Versailles meet two of its most contradictory figures: the passion of the revolutionary general and refinement of Marie Antoinette.
Posed as the fingers on the map, two peninsulas separate Bantry Bay to the Dingle. It runs in the believer already halfway around the world, but in truth it is beyond, in a place where no road leads: Great Blasket Island. To get to this strip of land to put a few miles from the coast, you have good weather and calm seas, which, here, will not necessarily together. Otherwise, the visitor is bound to observe the dark silhouette of the island from the coast, thinking of what she was home, which has now disappeared, but which nevertheless remains through books.
Great Blasket was nothing to make history. She was home at its peak, in 1911, 160 people in 22 houses. In 1953, his last 22 inhabitants of permanent departure, returning to the mainland by the Irish government. Since then, the houses slowly fall into disrepair but are subject to a kind of devotion restraint defined, among readers that was given to discover the amazing literary heritage that flourished on this little piece of Ireland.
Called to the rescue to tell the island, Hervé Jaouen. Breton writer, in love with Ireland, he managed to get three times on the Great Blasket "It's like a big boat failed at 45 degrees. The houses are surrounded by a few fields where the locals used to grow oats, and raised at the foot of an impressive slope. There is a striking white sand on the backbone of the island, a road that runs through the whole length. "What attracted the curiosity of the world on this rock, says the writer, c ' is the purity of the Gaelic language its inhabitants continued to speak long after the British government had banned the use in Ireland. In the late nineteenth century, two British scholars specialists Celtic languages went out there and incited people to tell their everyday writing. They were sent nuggets: Man islands, Thomás O'Crohan; Peig, the autobiography of Peig Sayers, and Twenty Years of Youth, Maurice O'Sullivan. Raymond Queneau has assured the French. There was also Elizabeth O'Sullivan, whose Hervé Jaouen translated the letters she sent between 1931 and 1951, a British correspondent.She tells with touching simplicity his love for his island of exile tear after leaving Blasket to live on the mainland, just a few miles away. Her husband, Sean O'Crohan, was the son of the writer. He also published a book, A day in our life, the translation of which is harnessed Hervé Jaouen. Of course, the quality of the stories varies, but in such a small island, such a concentration of writers seem bewildering.
For the private visitor pilgrimage on this earth as unexpected literature, it remains the Slea Head Cliffs. The place was the site of filming of Ryan's Daughter, directed by David Lean. It is a perfect setting for a passionate affair. Planted like walls into the ocean black cliffs on which crash of foam or yellow color celadon waves, white sand, in their fury, rollers pick the bottom of the sea to the plan on the rocks . Dabbling in Dante's universe like ducks in their pond, tribes of cormorants, gulls and puffins. And in the meadows where the grass also made waves as the wind is strong, a few meters from the vacuum, sheep, immune to the wrath of Neptune, graze. Sometimes looks a curtain of rain. Seen coming from afar, obscuring the horizon a little more bleak, however, approaching the coast as a wild herd wandering undecided over the waves, and then falling on the meadows with violence. Sheep still graze the curtain away and, between two clouds, the sun appears clearly. Light, told Saint-Exupéry flying over the Mediterranean, sometimes through the clouds like a big smile. Here, it looks like she lays on the rocks of silk. Suddenly everything is sweet, clear and peaceful. So for a moment, on the edge of the cliffs, it feels sheep. You become immune to wind, waves and rocks that the sea always attack also frantically. And you throw in a grass greedy eyes. But others came from the clouds darken the sky and wide now, the rain is coming. Then, regaining his humanity, they rushed away from the car to wait out the storm.
THE TRAVEL BOOK
Helpful
The site of the tourist office in Ireland, where there is information about the Wild Atlantic Way ( www.ireland.com/fr ).Get There
Aer Lingus (0.821.230.267; www.aerlingus.com ). Ireland's national airline flies to Cork with one flight per day from Paris-Charles de Gaulle. From 115 €. Four daily flights to Dublin from 120 €.
Our selection of hotels
In Cork River Lee Hotel (00.353.21.42.52.700;www.doylecollection.com ) A design and luxurious hotel close to the center of Cork.. Night from 160 € for 2 people.
A Kinsale, Perryville House (00.353.21.47.72.731;www.perryvillehouse.com ). With lovely pale pink facade, the old board placed on the port of Kinsale does not go unnoticed. On the ground floor, a lounge with a good fire burning peat. Upstairs, the spacious and comfortable rooms. Night from 160 € for 2 people.
A Bantry, Bantry House (00.353.27.50.047;! www.bantryhouse.com ) night in this lovely B & B from € 169 for two people, with the opportunity to enjoy its impressive library, play. pool or wander around the gardens after they are closed to the public.
At Kenmare, Park Hotel (00.353.64.66.41.200; www.parkkenmare.com .) This imposing Victorian building houses a comfortable Relais & Châteaux. Fine dining, night from € 148.50 for two people.
A Killarney Royal Hotel (00.353.64.66.31.853; www.killarneyroyal.ie ). This lack of charm, but it is well located, and Killarney is a pleasant town. Avoid eating breakfast there. Night from 169 € for 2 people.
A Dingle, the Dingle Skellig Hotel (00.353.66.91.50.200; www.dingleskellig.com )Large and comfortable hotel situated a little away from the city.. Night from 89 € for 2 people.
Addresses on the road
A Kinsale, Jim Edwards (www.jimedwardskinsale.com ). A renowned restaurant in the city. Fresh and fine cuisine.Oyster lovers, do not miss this place. Around 35 €.
A Bantry, O'Connors Seafood Restaurant(www.oconnorseafood.com .) As the name suggests, a good place for the products of the sea. Chief sympathetic and full of good advice. Around 40 €. Manning's Emporium ( www.manningsemporium.ie ). In this charming deli run by the same family for three generations, there is a selection of local produce.
On the N171, between Glengarriff and Kenmare, must not miss the Chocolate Benoit Lorge (lorge.ie ). The French love of Ireland prepares outstanding chocolates. It is also a great ambassador for the region, ready to share places and heart strokes with compatriots of passage.
On the N171, between Glengarriff and Kenmare, must not miss the Chocolate Benoit Lorge (lorge.ie ). The French love of Ireland prepares outstanding chocolates. It is also a great ambassador for the region, ready to share places and heart strokes with compatriots of passage.
At Killarney, Courtney's ( www.courtneysbar.com ) is one of the oldest pubs in the city, famous for its live Irish music.
A Dingle, the Global Village (restaurant www.globalvillagedingle.com ). The place is lovely, fine cuisine and friendly staff: a place not to be missed. Around € 40 per person.Not far away, two of the oldest pubs in the city. With its red and white facade, Curran's $ is a little lower on the same sidewalk. In this open business for 140 years, nothing has ever changed. The display of old pub which was also shop are always loaded with mysterious boxes. Dick Mack's ( dickmacks.homestead.com ) also has a pristine setting. Atmosphere great.
A Ventry, The Skipper Restaurant ( www.theskipperventry.com ). Run by the chef Franco-Irish Paddy Chauvet, this all blue restaurant, placed at the edge of the road and facing the ocean, offers excellent cuisine taken from the sea. Around € 30 per personne.Quand the météto permits, very friendly Mick Sheeran organizes excursions on Blasket Islands (00.353.86.33.53.805; www.marinetours.ie ), 50 €.
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