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| The pilot boat has just dropped off the pilot! |
We saw the Irish coast shortly after dawn, but it seemed to take forever before we could see the break in the coast and were greeted by the pilot boat and the guy who would bring us into harbour. Roscoff harbour was right on the tip of a peninsula, but Cork harbour goes deep into the coastline – in fact for the deepwater ships, it’s usually Ringaskiddy where they dock rather than Cork. Before we got there we eased our way past Cobh and the Titanic memorial, and then revolved and backed, inch by inch into the berth.
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| Cobh |
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| The Titanic Memorial |
Martin and Eileen were waiting for me when I came through Customs, and it was so lovely to see them again. There was lots of news to exchange as we drove – not directly home, but southwest, along the Cork coast road, through Clonakilty and then right to the coast at Owenahincha, where Eileen was persuaded to go wading a bit. Given that the next stop across the ocean was probably Canada, it was a little chilly for me so I explored the dunes a bit and then joined Martin to watch Eileen collecting stones.
We went on to Rosscarbery for fish and chips at Nighthawks – apparently it has a reputation for The Best, and today’s lunch lived up to that – light batter and wonderfully flaky haddock, perfectly cooked.
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| Sailing school from Unionhall |
From there we went on to side-roads to Unionhall to buy fresh fish, and on to hunt for Drombeg stone circle. Google sent us on something of a wild-goose hunt, but Martin managed to retrace our steps, and we finally found it. The place is minimally signed and maintained, but retains that lovely wild feeling. Martin stayed in the car – rough walking is off the books for him, but Eileen and I took the path to the site, through hedges of fuschia just humming with bees. It was lovely to have time together there.
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| The Drombeg stone circle |
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| One of two huts for cooking |
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| Looking out to sea from Drombeg |
I’d thought we were going to go on round to Bantry, which is their favourite market town, but instead we turned back to Clonakilty for some grocery shopping, and then cross-country to Dunmanwy and over to Inchigeelagh – twisty roads with no sense of planning or engineering, but just trails that happened to have been surfaced, and with many corners where we had to wait for oncoming cars because there’s not space for two to pass.
Back at Tir Na Spideoga (The Land of the Robins) I was able to get a laundry on, and we settled for an evening of watching Wimbledon (I can see how my evenings will be spent next week!) and on family catch-up. My nephew Michael got back from performing a concert and was full of plans for a music event next week.
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