Episode 3

It was another very damp morning when we visited Cork and I was commanded to wait in the car. I am not at my best when soggy and I was threatened with being 'binned' if I got in such a state. So off my humans went. We had parked in a Park and Ride, very good idea these are, except of course if you are the stuffed toy left in the hot car all day. So off into town on the bus went D and L. They say they walked miles around the town and got quite wet each time they ventured out. They certainly didn’t get many photos to impress me with.

They saw some lovely churches and visited the University College of Cork, and made a short visit to the Heritage centre in the gaol partly to warm up and dry out only to get wet again as they headed back into town. Again they got a bit lost due to the short comings of the map, perhaps it’s an Irish thing, confuse the tourist. Mid afternoon they gave up and caught the bus back then had a nice hot cuppa and got the heater going in the car to dry out, it wasn’t really cold, it was just that they were wet.

Then we drove on down to Kinsale: This is another old port and a well preserved old town with very narrow streets not designed for the motor car and two way traffic especially with the Irish way of parking on double yellow lines, makes driving a real challenge: Apart from the charm of the town itself and meandering around it, also in the rain, there was Desmond Castle to visit. Not an especially large castle or strategically positioned, it served a military purpose and has been a prison. It now houses a museum that tells of the history of wine in Ireland and how the Irish have become major participant in the wine industry in both France and Spain and to a lesser degree in Italy and California. It dates from the late 1500’s.

Outside the town were once two forts, one on either side of the entrance to the Harbour. James Fort is on the west bank and is in ruins, however Charles Fort on the east bank is in very good shape and we had a visit there. They both date from the late 1500’s too. Very busy time that must have been. The fort is built in a pentagonal shape with a bastion at each corner. This design seemed to be the most successful because then cannons from two bastions could be aimed at the same target. The fort sustained its worst damage during the Irish civil war in 1921 as the defendants were withdrawing and burning everything as they left. They burned the barracks and the armoury and many of the other buildings. A hippy commune occupied it during part of the 1960’s and finally in the mid 1970’s the Government took it over and began to preserve and restore it.

At Old Head of Kinsale, a headland with high cliffs and supposedly great views we were denied these views because of thick fog and drizzling rain. Here too, is to be found a memorial to the Lusitania, a passenger ship that was sunk by a German Uboat in May 1915 with the loss of over 1100 lives. It was sunk within sight of this point.

We braved the elements at Clonakilty to walk around and see another of these charming well preserved Irish towns. The shops with their old style fronts, the name of the business and what they did above the windows: L remembers old style shops like this in Gympie where she grew up in the 1950’s (she’s getting a bit long in the tooth isn’t she). There is a lovely stone building built in the early 1600’s, Market House, it has served as a town hall and a court house amongst other things and now houses a Chinese restaurant. A small park is dedicated to the Kennedy’s; the ancestors of John F Kennedy, US president assassinated in 1963 came from this town. For those of you who can remember that far back.

I met a very nice lady in the tourist information office, she was very helpful and friendly, we even got our photo taken together. The people certainly are friendly around here.

The model railway village is quite good. It’s a combination of model villages with a miniature train line covering quite a large area. It is outside so L and D had only a fairly quick walk around here in the tipping rain. Inside there is quite a bit of history of the railway lines that once used to service this area. The lines were opened in the mid 19th cent and some closed as early as 1910 whilst others carried on until the 1960’s then were closed. It was a sad time for those whose livelihood depended upon the railway. A little road train tour of Clonakilty was included with their visit so with just 4 adults and one small child they set off on their tour. Unfortunately the audio system wasn’t loud enough for my humans to hear (they are both hard of hearing these days) the commentary over the top of the noise the vehicle made so they were no more informed at the end than they were to begin with. The noise of the rain on the roof didn’t help either, it tipped down really heavy most of the time. Because of the rain I was confined to the car.

We drove onto Inchydoney Island and round to the broad sandy beach where, when there are some waves some fellow gives surfing lessons, there was little more than a ripple when we stopped here and the tide was well out, not much fun trying to surf in that. Hope that fellow isn’t dependent upon the surf for his living. L says she has bigger ripples in her bath.

At Galley Head there is supposed to be a great view but again it was raining heavily and misty so we couldn’t see very far. However, the sun did emerge when we walked to Drombeg stone circle c.900BC. This is only a small circle with 13 of the original stones now standing. As they are all evenly spaced L wonders if they have been re-seated because apparently there was supposed to be 17 originally. It is aligned to sunset on the winter solstice. Nearby is the base of two conjoined huts, a very small one and a bit larger one and also a well and a trough.

Castletownshend is a really pretty small village overlooking a small inlet. The road descends steeply through the centre of the village to the little jetty and right plum in the middle of the road is a very large tree that only cars are small enough to pass. This is great because it keeps the tour busses out of the town. My humans sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee whilst taking in the scenery. I don’t get cups of coffee, apparently they will only make be soggy.

Lough Hyne is a lovely tidal lake with a nature reserve around some of it that included a woodland walk up a hill to a lookout. Again I got left in the car and off they went. They seem to have enjoyed their walk and say the view was lovely when they got to the top. It had been further than they realized and they were quite tired by the time they got back. We went on to Baltimore but didn’t like that place, it was crowded with tourists, and was full of modern holiday house developments so that it didn’t have any character.

So we went on to Skibbereen. Another quite pleasant small town that was badly hit by the famine in the mid 1800’s; There is a memorial to the victims here: L got more exercise than they bargained for when she asked someone where the nearest post box was to be found. The lady said just 3 or 4 doors away. L couldn’t see it so asked someone, they keep saying it was just along a bit further on each time she asked. About 700m later she came to the post office. Well at least she got a good look around the town on the way back. It was warm enough for L and D to enjoy and icecream, I didn’t even get a lick.

Some way out of town we came to an ancient stone tomb made of huge stone slabs. It dates from around 2000BC. Those stones must have taken a great deal of effort to move into position.

We went on to Mizen Head the most SW point of Ireland from here we could see the Fastnet Rock and lighthouse. Again it was raining off and on. Shortly before reaching Mizen Head we passed Barley Cove, quite a famous sandy beach and we were going to venture down onto it but with the rain that idea was abandoned too. It actually looks better in photo’s than it does upon closer inspection. We saw several other small coves that were equally as nice too, but they just aren’t up to Aussie standards, sorry folks!

In continuing rain we drove along the north shore of the Mizen Peninsula and around the Sheeps Head Peninsula. There is said to be a lovely walk there at the point of this peninsula but with the rain continuing it would not have made an enjoyable walk so my lazy humans gave it a miss. They really are getting quite soft.

Bantry is a fairly large town and again we had a walk around in light rain. I did get a short outing tucked into L’s coat but then I got left in the car while they went off to the library to use the internet. The sun was shining when they emerged but it didn’t stay that way for long. We headed off around the Beara Peninsula. Very soon we passed a bamboo and palm garden. The climate is quite mild in this region because of the warm gulf stream so that these plants can be cultivated, however, it didn’t feel especially mild to my humans out it that bitter wind, they wrapped up well.

We tried to visit a standing stone or two but the muddy wet conditions of the walking track beat us I fear so we all retreated to the car. Even the stile my humans had to climb over to get onto the path seemed about to fall apart, the wood was rotten and most of the bolts were missing. We did all venture up across three fields and over two stiles, ones in better condition, to see a wedge tomb. I am inclined to think that it’s more likely to be a leprechaun house but L assures me its an ancient tomb. Much more simple than the previous one we saw. There are several of them in this area, along with single standing stones and a couple of small ring forts c.500BC

At the end of this peninsula is Dursey Island and it’s joined to the mainland by cable car, however that doesn’t seem to be working at present. A small car ferry seems to be servicing the island, it didn’t used to, we could see it pulled into a jetty there. While here L took a photo of the signs, I’ve been to Moscow, well, driven around it twice anyway, but I’ve yet to make it to New York, I will have to speak to my humans about that. We also read a sign about the rescue of some fisherman from a small rocky islet by seven men in a row boat. Looking through the binoculars at that Islet and how rough the sea was out there today in this very strong wind, we could see that it was indeed quite a feat.

© Lynette Regan May 22nd 2014