Onward to Valentia Island.

A bit of a drama today, but that can wait. This morning, we woke up to heavy rain that had been on most of the night and the wind had got up again. So, any thoughts of climbing Mount Eagle or visiting the Blasket Islands were scrapped. We had breakfast and got tidied just in time for the sightseers on their 54 seater coaches to start appearing around the bends of the narrow cliff road. We moved the van a wee bit as I don't like taking up more of a parking area than I need to. We were scanning at the bird activity on the water from our high vantage point, and Joyce sports a seal patrolling along the beach just at the surf line. Clearly there were lots of fish in the bay. Callum was desperate to get down on the beach with his bucket and spade, it wasn't a morning for it but he was sure it was so the jackets, hats and gloves were donned and down we went, it was not too bad down there and a few castles were built. It is another stunning little beach and on a blue sky day would be idyllic. After a while we got sorted and moved on around the Slea Head Drive, the views to the Blasket Islands and the back of Brandon Mountain with its Cuillin esque cap of cloud were superb.
We soon arrived back at Dingle where an impromptu stop at the fish merchants sorted lunch and a couple of nights tea. Again Dingle town was very busy, there was no room in the carparks today. We drove a little further along the road and stopped for a late lunch at Inch Strand which is a stunning long stretch of yellow sand. It was very busy with upward of 30 surfers trying to make the most of the modest waves, pretty ironic after the weather of the last couple of weeks. There were also loads of cars driving along the sand and doing some fancy manoeuvre's that I may briefly have considered in my youth.
Lunch was superb, we have develpoed a real taste for scallops, they seem to accompany Aldi's finest black pudding very well. So we never miss an opportunity to pick some up, and I suspect Dingle Scallops will be as fresh as they come.
We carried along along the road, keen to get out to Valentia Island for a relaxed evening and the sunset views over the Skellig Islands. The views along the stretch of road between Killlorglin and Kells are superb, and its a great section of road fortunately, as just before Kells BANG..........and the rear of Bessie is almost dragging on the ground, it sounded pretty bad, somethimg had collapsed but I was pretty sure it was a blowout.....which it was. Luckily, it was a straight bit of road, and we got slowed down right in someone's large driveway......there are loads of places on these roads with nowhere to stop. Our right rear tyre was completely flat, with shreds of rubber and reinforcing wire all hanging out the centre of the tyre. Our puncture fixing goo wasn't going to fix this......and it was 4.30pm on a Saturday ....not good!!
Its great to get away from technology on holiday, but sometimes its a life saver aswell, a quick google search had me on the phone to a tyre garage in Killorglin, he had a van tyre that would do in the short term, but they didn't have a mobile service, he said he would stay open later than 5 for us, but I had the issue of how to get the wheel to him, its about 30km....I popped up the the house we were parked at to explain why I was parked at the bottom of their drive, and straight away the family very kindly said they would run me to the garage. I jacked up the van, wheel removed and 2 hours later the van was ready for the road again.
This is a real faux pas on my behalf, I have been concerned about the tyres on the rear of the van for a while. I now know they are the original tyres, which makes them 11 years old. They have shown minor signs of perishing on the sidewalls since we got the van, but it has never really got any worse. We are planning a much longer trip next summer, and this was these tyres last journey, they were getting replaced when we got home.
On looking at the tyre, the fitter exclaimed (holy fcuk) and thought something must have gone through it, but I had not seen or hit anything on the road. Then he looked at the tyre and moulded into it is a wee oval section with 1507 written in it, so these tyres were manufactured in week 15, 2007......he was asking about our MOT system, saying that in Ireland now, any tyre over 5 years old fitted on a vehicle is an advisory on the MOT, and if its older than 6 years an insurance company will probably not pay out if a tyre is responsible for an accident.
After getting the wheel back on the van, we popped up to thank the family for assisting us, a bottle of wine seemed very small recompense for the effort and kindness they had shown, but what else could we offer. We were invited in to their lovely house which is actually a holiday let, with beautiful rough stone walls and an amazing thatched roof. The owners were actually using the house just now, or we might not have been so lucky with assistance. We chatted for a while, but the boys were being a bit pesky, so we thanked them again, and headed out, over the wee ferry at Knightstown over to  Valentia Island for the night, we are parked in the Skelligs View point carpark.
Its a stunning spot with a walk we will do in the morning. We had a later than planned tea, and got the boys bedded, they fell asleep straight away tonight. Scrabble commenced and another victory for me, 8-6 up with 5 nights to go.

Today was a wake up call. I am not happy about the tyre issue and that's my department as I said in an earlier post. It might have had much more serious consequences and of course we still have an aging tyre on the other side of the van. Depending on when we get to Cork that may get replaced also-provided it doesn't  go before then. We still have a lot of miles to do and my family's safety is paramount.
I will also be binning (well selling) the towbar that was on the van when we got it, its of no use to us and just adds weight and fitting a cradle for a spare wheel and tyre underneath, had we had this we need not have inconvenienced another family. I just need to get another wheel and will use the tyre I got today as the spare. Here's hoping for no more issues anytime soon and a lesson learned for sure!!!