Wednesday 23^rd July             KENMARE  -  GLENGARRIFF  -  SKIBBEREEN  -  MIZEN HEAD

Robyn writes: It’s been another huge day today, with a big drive back into Cork County. We got away a bit after nine, after a nice sleep in this morning. The first part of the trip was along the N71, an excellent bit of two-lane road, so we could zoom along.

We stopped several times along the way, of course, to photograph the spectacular mountain scenery. The first time was at Druid’s View, where we also had a quick look at Molly Gallivan’s shop, and headed on. We went through several tunnels which had been blasted/carved into the rock, back into County Cork, and travelled down from the mountain to the pretty little town of Glengarriff, where we stopped for a look around. It had some very tempting shops and a lovely main street, where we found the Sugarloaf Café. All of their goodies were homemade – Lex and Jo both had fruit scones, and I had a very tasty coffee and walnut cake.

                                                          Druid at Druid's View

                                                    Beautiful scenery at Druid's View

                                                                  Double tunnels

                                                Morning tea in Glengarriff

From here we travelled on, and drove around Bantry Bay until we got to Bantry itself – one of my favourite Cork towns, set on a beautiful bay. We passed the statue of St Finbarr there. After that, we headed towards Ballydehob, ancestral home of Lex’s Connolly forebears (or was it Bantry?) At any rate, they come from this district. We stayed in Ballydehob for a week in 2014, and it was so good to see it again. It has definitely prettied itself up; obviously with an eye to tourism.

                                                            Lex in Ballydehob

                                                      Bantry Bay

                                                                  St Finbarr in Bantry

Driving along, we went along the top of Roaringwater Bay, and stopped to admire the view. We could see (on the horizon) both Kilcoe Castle, owned by actor Jeremy Irons, and Fastnet Rock and lighthouse. From here, our goal was Skibbereen. We’d visited the town in 2014, but Jo was really interested in seeing the Famine Memorials there. The Potato Famine was bad in Ireland as a whole, but Skibbereen was the epicentre of the horror and deaths. We stopped first at Abbeystrewrey Cemetery, which holds the mass grave of about 9000 famine victims. It’s built on the side of the hill, and getting around the top graves covered with grass and rocks was really an interesting challenge! Having extricated ourselves without breaking an ankle, we headed for the Heritage Centre in town, and bought our tickets to go in. It’s been upgraded slightly since 2014; Jeremy Irons still presents some of the information, but it’s much better quality video and listening equipment now. It’s really harrowing, and hard to take at times – there was so much death and suffering and misery, and the British government did so little to help.

                                                    Kilcoe Castle, owned by Jeremy Irons

                                              Roaringwater Bay; Fastnet Island on the horizon

                                      This mass grave holds about 9000 famine victims

                                                      Skibbereen bridge from the graveyard

                                                           Heritage Centre

                                           If someone is going to tell you about the horrors of the famine,                                                                                        it might as well be Jeremy Irons.

Once we’d had enough of the horrors of famine, we realised that it was 2 o’clock and we could actually do with a feed. So, we headed across the road to the West Cork Hotel, and had a lovely late lunch there.

                                               West Cork Hotel (left)                                                                                                                        The building on the right was the famine soup kitchen   

From Skibbereen, we decided that we would drive down towards Mizen Head. We’d also done this in 2014, but wanted to see it again. We drove through Schull, another pretty little town on the bay, then stopped at a prehistoric Altar Wedge Tomb. It’s Bronze Age, and about 4000 years old. Cremated human remains have been found there by archaeologists. Interestingly, it was actually used again for religious ceremonies in the 1800s when the Catholic Church was banned in Ireland, and local priests used it and a nearby holy well for ceremonies as they could not use the churches.

                                                        Altar wedge tomb

                                                      Castle from another angle

Then we drove through Goleen, and down to Mizen Head at the very bottom of the peninsula, and Ireland’s most southwesterly point. It was after 4, but we decided we’d go in. It’s the location of one of the first signal stations from the early days of Marconi’s radio messaging, but there’s also a bridge crossing the spectacular gorge and some of the best geology you’ll ever see! The rock formations are amazing. Today the Atlantic Ocean was actually quite calm, unlike 2014 when it whipped up a storm for us. There were a LOT of steps up and down, so we got our exercise in, at least, and had some wonderful views as well. By the time we’d finished, it was 6pm and definitely time to head homeward bound. We were so lucky with the weather today – quite overcast, but no rain!

                                                     Mizen Head views - simply stunning.

                                               Jo and I on the most southwestern point of Ireland.                                                                                                     It was a bit windy!

We went up and down an awful lot of steps......

It took an hour and a half to reach our little house outside Kenmare. Jo cooked tea while I started the blog, and it’s now nearly nine. Tomorrow we head for Limerick, so no doubt it will be another big day.