Ireland - Mizen Head continued, Three Castle Head

The buildings at the end of the point had info about lighthouse keepers and about Marconi who sent the first transatlantic wireless morse code signal from here.

There wasn't much to see of the lighthouse as it is so high up on the cliff that there is no need for a tower and the light is now LED rather than the big, cut glass ones.

We walked back over the bridge

seeing only a solitary seal this time.

Nicola explored another path down to the cliffs but I had had enough of stairs and walked back to the car to get a granola bar and a drink of water.

We drove back to O'Sullivans in Crookhaven for lunch. It was a different place now, packed with people looking for a meal and a drink, especially at the tables outside. We were sunburned so stayed inside and had the best fresh crab sandwich ever. The server described it "as plain as can be, just our bread and the crab" but that didn't do it justice. Fresh crab, and I mean fresh, is like having the lobster in Maine that you see being taken out of the holding cage in the sea and put in the boiling water, so flavourful.

We had seen on the tourist info map, a castle, so we set out to find it. There was only one sign and 3 or 4 points at which we had to make a choice of direction. At the last one we had to decide if we would go on a road only as wide as the car, with grass growing in the middle (Dad used to love those, Mum used to hate them) on the off chance it would take us where we wanted to go. We are our father's children! Luckily we met no cars coming the other way and

at the end of the road

was a parking lot and a closed gate that said the castle was on private property and to please be respectful, closing gates etc.

We walked up through a couple of fields (carefully closing gates behind us) and then there was a sign about the castle. Dun Lough (Fort of the lake) is the oldest of the O'Mahoney castles built in 1207, soon after the Norman invasion.

then it was up into the moors,

over a couple of hills

and there it was!

The lake at one end of the wall and three towers

and shear cliffs down to crashing waves at the other end.

On our way up we had passed a couple of groups leaving and shortly after we arrived another group left.

We had the place to ourselves.

We sat on a rock, for about 20 minutes, just drinking it in. It was so quiet that we could hear the ducks splashing down in the lake.

We wandered around and took way to many pictures,

awed by the history, the location, the isolation, having it to ourselves and the wonderful walk over the moors to find it.

We drove home, tired but saying, again (we seem to say it most days) what a wonderful day it had been.

Ireland - Baltimore to Mizen Head.

In contrast to yesterday, today dawned bright and sunny with 0% chance of rain. As we had spent most of the day at home yesterday we had more of a driving day today, going up to the next peninsular north of us.

Jackdaw in the pine tree, from the cottage. Look at that blue sky!!

Through Skibbereen and Ballydehob and our first stop was

an ancient altar. It had been used in more recent times too, when the British forbade the preaching of Catholicism in Irish churches, so services were held here.

From here we could see Mizen Head, way off along the coast.

We also got our first sighting of the Fastnet Lighthouse.

We stopped at a very efficient little Tourist Office in Goleen, had a coffee and mailed our postcards in the post office attached to the cafe.

Windy, narrow roads, then past a sandy beach and in to Crookhaven. We came back to O'Sullivans for lunch later in the day but didn't have ..

It is a lovely, protected little harbour

with small, wooden, crabing boats

jostling with the pleasure craft at the wharf and out on the mooring buoys.

Out at the end of the peninsular is the Mizen Head signal station and lighthouse. This building had a cafe, gift shop, entrance and

displays about the area, lighthouses in general and the building of the Fastnet Lighthouse in particular.

We would be walking out to the Mizen Head lighthouse at this point of land

across this bridge. Here Nicola proved that she doesn't have a fear of heights (though she is not that thrilled with them). Her difficulty is with going down steep steps, she gets vertigo.

Looking down from the bridge we could see seals in the little cove below.

Also lots of white jellyfish and a few of these nasty looking red ones.

Out at the end, the coast was impressive

in both directions.

I am going to end this post at this point as it is 10pm, I'm tired and a little sunburned and I haven't even gone though the rest of the pictures I took today. So today's shots will appear in the 2 posts.

Ireland - Baltimore, rainy day

Well we knew it would happen eventually. The weather forecast said 70% chance of rain (we hadn't asked the cows) and we awoke to a dull grey sky and drizzle. During coffee and breakfast it went from drizzle to rain to mist to torrential. A day for staying inside with a book. We have those, and lots of videos and a craft that I bought from home and paints.

When it was just drizzling we went for a walk up the road and then down an L road to the left, towards the water. In a short while we came to a tidal area.

The hedgerows were full of these spider web hammocks full of rain droplets.

Plenty of the regular kinds of spider webs too (I vowed to close my window when I got back to the cottage)

Although damp it was quite warm, about 20. Really too warm for the rain coats and splash pants we were wearing.

This is looking back at the causeway that the road had crossed. At the far end

there was a humped back bridge that the tidal waters flowed through. On the inland side we saw large fish swirling and breaking the surface with an occasional flash of silver.

This is the little cottage we will be living in for the next 6 days while we explore this section.

We worked on the wool applique kits that I had got from Brit before I left. Nice and small, very packable. But when our stomachs started to rumble we decided to get out of the house again.

We drove into Skibbereen (the nearest town), this is a very colourful hotel that I am sure will look much better in sunlight.

It was a Sunday afternoon and every restaurant was serving roasts. We finally chose the Paragon Restaurant and Bar, down a little alley off the main street. This is my half portion of roast turkey with potato and ham stuffing. A full portion was mammoth.  I could have had mashed potatoes and chips but chose seasonal vegetables (they were all fresh, even the peas, not frozen and definitely not mushy) They really like their starches here. The man at the table next to me ordered chicken curry and it came with rice, mashed potatoes and chips.

Nicola had the chicken Caesar. Yes that is an Irish Coffee.

We had been told by a guy on the boat out to Skellig Michael that we needed to be in a pub at 3pm on Sunday and here we were. At 3 all the TVs (there were quite a few) were turned onto the same channel and we were watching the Gaelic Football Finals.

A guy at our end of the bar hung up a Dublin flag. A guy at the other end yelled down "There'll be none of that here". Then laughter, hope it stays that way. Dublin was playing Tyrone (its in Northern Ireland). We watched for a while but we felt we should give up our prime seats to fans and left. Dublin won!

In Gaelic Football you can carry the ball but only for 4 strides then you have to kick it to someone else, kick it to yourself or bounce it. Looks like you can score it into a goal or through the cross bars. We didn't get the nuances, obviously, but it looked like a fast and exciting game.

Ireland - St Finians Bay to Baltimore.

Sadly we had to leave Bridie, Midge and the lovely little house on beach and head further south for our next week. We woke to dense clouds on the ocean. Perhaps caused by the cool sea and the warm air, they rolled in with blue sky occasionally visible above them. We had a long drive so got up early, just had breakfast, no coffee (would give us a reason to get out and stretch later in the morning), packed the car and said goodbye to Bridie.

Unfortunately we had started out too early and it took about an hour to find a place to get coffee. In the mean time we stopped periodically to take pictures of the cloud/fog formations.

The cloud crept in. off the sea, up the valleys and getting caught in between the hills.

Eventually we found a place to get a coffee to go.

According to google maps, the drive should take 3 hours (Bridie reckoned it would take longer) and check in at the next place was after 2pm so we had planned to stop in Kenmare (at the end of the Ring of Kerry) to stretch and take a break from driving.

Over a butchers door in Kenmare.

It was a very busy little town and we stopped in at the tourist office to get our bearings. Upstairs was the lace centre. The Poor Clare Nuns had come here in 1860 and taught the local women how to make lace to help support their families. Queen Victoria bought lace from them and their designs became famous.

Its a pretty little town with a lot of old houses

with abundant gardens.

The standing stone circle, a few minutes walk from the town centre, was a disappointment.

They felt "domesticated";  small stones, carefully cut grass and a very neat hedge around them. In contrast Stonehenge felt "wild but caged" when George and I saw it years ago and the one Heather, Don and I saw in the Lake District was truly wild; on a hill top with no-one there but the sheep.

Kenmare was packed with people especially the wool knitting and weaving shops. There were lots of beautiful Aran sweaters, ponchos, hats, mitts, scarves and woven blankets and scarves along with the usual touristy stuff.

We stopped for a quick snack at "Jam" and it earned the recommendation in the guide book we are using.

The only gluten free option for Nicky was a whipped cream and meringue concoction while I had a chocolate eclair. They don't put as much sugar in things here. The whipped cream was only slightly sweetened, the chocolate also and the choux pastry was perfect.

One of the reasons the town was so busy was that there was a triathalon going on.

As we drove out of town we passed some very tired cyclists.

We got to our cottage just outside of Baltimore, on the southwest tip of Ireland, at about 3. It is in a nice garden but there is no beach, no sound of waves, no view of the Skelligs - it took a bit of getting used to. It didn't take us long to recognize the differences in the geography and the approach of the people we had contact with. Its very lush, over run with shrubs, plants and small trees. This restricts the views. The little inlets are full of little islands so you can't see the expanse of the ocean. The people are more reserved, less outwardly friendly. We are adjusting and starting to appreciate the differences.

We drove the 3 km into Baltimore and sat outside to have our wine and lunch (both of us had grilled hake and chips)

As we sat in the village square (actually it's a triangle) we were looking over this busy little harbour.

These sailboats (1720's) were being lifted out of the water and placed on trailers, masts being taken down and rigging sorted. There were some disappointed sailors as it had been a 3 day regatta and today, the last day, there had not been enough wind and too much fog, for a race.

Of course, as everyone was commiserating at the pub, the wind picked up enough for this little wooden dinghy to go out.