Storm Festival promises to blow your socks off

THE weather always gives us something to talk about, but never so much as during the Dingle Peninsula Storm Festival which runs from this Friday to Sunday with a very varied programme of walks, talks, trips and songs – all with a blustery theme.

The festival, now in its second year, gets underway on Friday evening with simultaneous choral recitals from 7.30pm – 9pm in St James’s Church, Dingle and in the Club Rooms in Castlegregory. On Saturday the great outdoors dominates activities with Diarmuid Begley and geologist Mary Lynch giving a guided ‘whirlwind’ tour of some of the stormiest locations on the peninsula, including the storm beach at Minard. This starts from the Dingle Marina car park at 10am and ends in Ballyferriter at 1.30pm (cost €25). After lunch, another trip leaves the Comharchumann centre in Ballyferriter with Seamus Kelliher giving a guided tour of Ceann Sibeál and the Three Sisters while Mary Lynch will outline the effects of storms on the geology of the area.

A big attraction on Saturday will be the wind machine used in the filming of Star Wars, which will be set up in the car park of Louis Mulcahy’s pottery in Gráig. This is a participative event and organisers promise ‘it will blow your socks off ’.

Also on Saturday afternoon there are car treasure hunts over three separate routes: the Ventry to Ballydavid area; Conor Pass and ‘Below the Hill’; and the Sliabh Mish area from Boolteens to Camp. The clues can be picked up at Dingle Oceanworld, Siopa an Bhuailtín in Ballyferriter, the Club Rooms in Castlegregory, Siopa an Phobail in Cloghane and the South Pole Inn in Annascaul. and participants can start anytime between noon and 1.30pm. These treasure hunts are repeated on Sunday at the same times.

At 7.30pm on Saturday in the Castlegregory Club Rooms Sandra Fitzgibbon will give a visual presentation on what’s under the water in Brandon/Tralee Bay while in nearby Cloghane at 8.30pm there’s a concert with Seán Keane. Tickets cost €20 and they’re nearly sold out (contact: 71 38137 for bookings).

On Sunday at 10.30am Annascaul Walking Club is hosting a choice of a 16.5km walk on the ‘Tom Crean Trail’ or a shorter family walk talking in Crean’s family home and his grave. At 3pm in the South Pole Inn, Aileen Crean-O’Brien will give a talk on her recent trip to South Georgia, where she broke her leg while walking in the footsteps of her grandfather, Tom Crean.

Also on Sunday, local woman Nuala Moore will give a talk in Dingle Oceanworld at 11am on her ice swimming exploits is some of the world’s most extreme locations.

These are just some of the highlights. For full details and updates on festival events see facebook.com/dingle.official