Crookhaven

Saturday, May 10

We left the Cephas house to find our way to Charles Fort, lost Millie and Bill, missed the turn, had to get turned around, passed them going the other way, they missed the turn ...blah, blah, blah. Kinsale is a busy town, even on a Saturday morning. We eventually found the place. This is quite a remarkable building, and we got there early and had the place almost all to ourselves. The views out to the harbor are awe-inspiring. There was an Irish military ship stationed in the bay, which was in stark contrast to the old stone fort. You have to figure that not only did the designers realize the strategic importance of the site, but also must have said “Nice view, let’s build a fort”. It’s easy to wander around the sight and get lost or lose your travel companions, and I managed to do both. I finally found them and myself back at the car.

We took the West Cork coast road (R600) and stopped at the Old Head of Kinsale. This turned out to be quite a disappointment. It is the home of the very high end Old Head Golf Links and there is no way to get out to the actual Old Head. The owners of the golf course have managed to block one of Ireland most spectacular coastal areas and make it available only to those able to pony up the €250.00 it takes to play the course. I had heard in the past the locals were disappointed in losing access to the area, and I can see why. If you travel here, you will be told that if you stand at the top of the hill, well away from the paying customers, you will be able to see the lighthouse in the distance. What a treat!

We got back on the road through Timoleague and on to Clonakilty. This area deserves serious exploration. P.J. MacCarthy, in his book McCarthy’s Bar, covers this area extensively and hilariously and it is certainly a picture postcard of rural Ireland. Green hills and valleys roll to the sea or to the cliffs edge where the waves crash below. Southwest Cork is a spectacular area and though not unknown to the tourists, certainly is off the trail and away from the buses.

We took the road to the Drombeg Stone Circle, which, by Irish standards is very well marked, and found the circle easily. Again, you will find very few visitors. As you approach, you find yourself in an unassuming area surrounded by farmland. The stones themselves don’t appear remarkable and aren’t particularly photogenic. They just are rocks sticking out of the ground. But there is something more mystical about the area. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a collection of crystals or a Ouija Board. Still, as you approach, you will likely experience a sense of the past and of history that we who reside in “the New World” don’t often enjoy. People often ponder the “feelings” they get when they visit the land of their ancestors and it sometimes seems to get a little deep as people claim to” feel the hand of the Celts touching their own”. Still, you can’t help but be amazed at the passage of time as you stand at one of these sites. You think back a month to all the fretting that your vacation was still three weeks away and you didn’t think you could stand it, and now you are pondering time in millennia instead of weeks. It’s a bit humbling.

Glandore is just up the road and has great potential as a jumping off point. We stopped for a view of the bay and the majestic homes that enjoy the view that we had. There are some lovely spots to have an afternoon snack but our plan was to drive on to Castletownshend for lunch at Mary Ann’s. This is a neat little pub in the middle of nowhere and a James Joyce Pub award winner. Castletownshend is a narrow strip of a town and sits on a slope overlooking the water. We had a baguette and some banoffee. For some reason, this pie/pudding is associated with the Irish though it appears it was “invented” at “The Hungry Monk” restaurant in East Sussex, England. It blends banana and toffee in a caloric orgy, which will leave you waddling out of the restaurant wondering how much abdominal torture you will have to inflict upon yourself to make up for this sin. Mary Ann's banoffee is as good as it gets, and the portion size is obscene.

We drove into Crookhaven from there and found the Galley Cove House after the most spectacular wrong turn of the trip, which took us to the top of Brow Head. Unfortunately, there is no B&B at the top of the hill, which commands a vertigo inducing view over the Mizen coast. We drove back down the hill and over to the Galley Cove B&B. To the right is the view from the front porch.

That night, we enjoyed dinner at the Crookhaven Inn. This is an amazing place with 4 star cuisine in a pub atmosphere. We were amazed at what we were being served in this unassuming place. The locals don't know how lucky they are. This is a small rustic pub with food served with elegant style at reasonable prices. Complain if you will about Irish dining, but here, it was fantastic.

After dinner we decided that an evening drive would be in order so we headed out to Three Castle Head. There is a small community out that way and you can take a moderately lengthy walk to the point, which we decided not to do because of the lateness in the day. At the end of the road, there is a tiny cove that has a ramp of some sort with a winch at the top to pull something up a very steep incline. The cove looked a bit dangerous for landing any sort of small craft, but I’m sure that it was done.

With a long day behind us we headed back for the Galley Cove. Our room was just high enough to see the light from the Fastnet lighthouse warning ships away from it’s dangerous rocks. I always find myself mesmerized by those distant lights that had to be a happy sight for those who had been on the water for weeks at a time. Land was near.

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