We woke to a bright blue sky with not a cloud to be seen, so we headed down to the harbour to get on a boat to go dolphin spotting. I have to confess here that the few times we have been somewhere coastal and Mediterranean and there has been the chance to see dolphins, I've always passed it by, thinking it would be utterly boring! I was wrong.

Seeing them swim right next to the boat was breathtaking, particularly as there was some of their young in the pod we saw. They swam and leapt with such synchronicity they looked like they were velcroed to their mothers. The experience was further enhanced by Betsy shouting FISH FISH FISH excitedly.

The boat stopped off on an island called Cape Clear for an hour or so. Cape Clear is off the south of Cork where 100 or so people live all year round, and looks like something from The Famous Five! The day we were there was a sunny idyll with a quiet beach where 40 kids on summer camp playing team games, not an iPad in sight. From the beach, the road inclined into steep fauna covered hills. It felt like a place from a bygone era.

A little way across the pier we found a small secluded grotto, a dedication to Saint Ciaran, who brought Christianity to Cape Clear before St Patrick converted Ireland (a little known fact).

Beautiful and otherworldly as Cape Clear was, I wouldn't fancy it all year round - I'd say it'd be fairly lonely spot on a cold wintery night. Nov to Feb is known as 'gale' season where winds in excess of force 9 are not uncommon!!

Back in Baltimore, we had a few drinks in the evening sun where Betsy made us laugh by repeatedly shouting CATCATCAT for all to hear (including the owners). The problem being it wasn't a cat but one of those silly small dogs! We tried to correct her but she was adamant!

We decided to have a morning at the holiday house on the Friday and let both kids have a sleep in as we had been out and about all day Wed and Thursday. This plan failed spectacularly when both Betsy and Patrick decided they didn't fancy sleeping! So after driving us barmy, we jumped in the car with no real plan. After the bright sunshine of yesterday, Friday was a bit of a 'meh' day - fairly overcast and blowy. We decided to check out some of the local villages near Baltimore and see of anything took our fancy.

Union hall was our first stop - we headed to the harbour area thinking there would probably be a hub there; but ended up in a cul-de-sac instead! This cul-de-sac resulted in us meeting an irate man who insisted we mustn't do a u-turn in his backyard so Ed had to do an awkward hill start reverse-turn in the road whilst flanked by sharp stone walls on either side! We decided we had seen enough of Union hall after that and followed the water round to Glandore, the next village along. We visited the Drombeg stone circle just outside the village which dates back to 800- 1000 BC.

The village of Glandore itself stole my heart - I can't really put my finger on why, it just had a charm. It's main square sat on a hilly bend looking out to sea. We stopped off for an afternoon pick me up; the sun came out, there was a wedding in town and a local sailing school arrived back for the day. It all added to the feeling that it'd be a great place to sit and let the world go by.

We finished the week in Baltimore off with having a family tea in the village. I had mussels and Ed had hake - both of the boats that day. A few beers/wine back in the house whilst watching the Boomtown Rats on the Imelda May show brought a very enjoyable first week to a close.

Tomorrow we head to the kingdom.