Sunday, 3rd August

            BALLYDEHOB - BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Robyn writes: Cork is absolutely FULL of people this long weekend - in fact, we've decided that Ballydehob is about the only place which isn't, because unlike the other towns around the bay, it's not having a festival at the moment. The perfect sunny weather is bringing them out in droves everywhere else!

This morning we both managed to sleep in until quarter to nine - must be the good, fresh country air! So it was a very slow start to the day, but we managed to get out the door by about ten thirty with the aim of finding the last of the local burial grounds that we didn't visit yesterday. We followed the map carefully to where it should have been, but there was no sign of it. To make up for it, the scenery was quite stunning around the bay, and the water dazzingly blue. Even better, across the bay was a castle, and I realised that it is the one just outside Ballydehob owned and renovated by the actor Jeremy Irons! Sadly it was too far away to see if anyone was home.

Jeremy Irons' castle across the bay from Ballydehob

The view of Ballydehob from our driveway!

Then we set off towards Mizen Head. We headed first for Schull, a nearby village, to see if they had a tourist information centre, but got there to discover that the Sunday Markets were on and the town was absolutely packed - bumper to bumper cars, people everywhere and not a park within miles! Of course the very narrow old streets just add to the traffic nightmare as only one car at a time can get through, so you're constantly reversing or getting up on the footpath to get out of the way of oncoming traffic. Lex dropped me off at the tourist information centre and fought his way around the block while I ducked in to get some info, then we got out of there!

Stunning scenery at Toormoor, where we found the prehistoric tomb/altar

We kept driving towards Mizen Head around the bay and saw a sign for a prehistoric site - a wedge tomb/altar which dates back to 3000BC in yet another picture postcard perfect inlet, so we stopped to explore around it. We continued on and went through the little town of Golleen, where we saw a tourist information centre with free wifi, toilets and tea and coffee, so we found a park in the yard of the shop next door, went in to pick up some groceries, then into the information centre where I was finally able to send yesterday's emails, blog etc, while having a cuppa. Very handy! The girl there was very helpful and told us about all the things in the area you can do. At that stage we were still intending to drive on to Mizen Head, but we came out to discover that there was now a stationary line of cars bumper to bumper right through the village going in that direction - apparently everyone else had the same idea!

Right about then, we decided to leave Mizen Head until another (non weekend) day, so we turned left and headed back home to Ballydehob, where we had lunch before setting out again. This time we went to the Gurtnagrough Folk Museum, about 3 miles out on the Bantry Road, where the old couple there have a huge collection of all sorts of wonderful historical items (like a genuine huge 1760s bible and a child's penny farthing bicycle) interspersed with all sorts of junk, old clothing, ancient farm machinery, books, historical photos, newspaper clippings etc etc. It was exactly the sort of place my dad would just love! I have to say I was so glad we are in Ireland - if it was in Australia I would have been terrified of snakes the whole time...Old Tom showed us around and is very proud of his collection. We had a lovely hour or so poking around, then gave him ten Euros (he was most impressed) and continued on to Bantry.

Amazing original penny farthing

Sooooo much stuff!



Cemetery with views - Bantry Bay



Old church and cemetery at Bantry

St Finnbarr's at Bantry

Bantry is a really pretty town right on the bay and was in festival mode, so there were fun fairs and street singers and barbeques all over. Lots of Irish music too. Our first stop there was the cemetery, which was HUGE and up the hill, so we spent quite a bit of time there and did find a lot of Connolly graves, including that of a Daniel Connolly born about 1840, so he's nearly the same generation as Lex's great-grandfather Daniel Connolly, and others from that time. We found so many Connollys that Lex is now thinking they hailed from Bantry, rather than Ballydehob originally.

Then we went into the town centre for a look around - the man at the tourist information centre told me about the ancient church ruins and graveyard, so we went there for a look. It's the old Garryvurra Church of Ireland (Protestant church) and dated back to the 1400s. During the potato famine, it was the site of several mass graves of both Catholics and Protestants. It's a very evocative place to visit - striking and a bit spooky. I couldn't work out where the mass graves were - there was nothing to identify them. Then we visited the Catholic Church on the hill, St Finnbarr's, which dates back to 1825. It is a huge, impressive building and is just beautiful inside. Lex's great-great-great grandparents were married there.

Following that we finally headed home - Lex went out for a walk up the hill while I cooked tea (chicken pasta) and did another couple of loads of washing. It's been brilliant drying weather (this is very good for Ireland!) Here's hoping that the perfect weather continues on for the week.