Day 4 - Skibbereen & MORE Rain

Woke up after 7.00am having had the best sleep for a long time. I did my blog whilst everyone else took their time in getting up. Breakfast consisted of Weetabix, toast & bagels.

Around 11:00am, we were all finally ready & we set out in the car to Skibbereen, primarily to visit the Tourist Centre to plan our week with places to visit. Luckily for us it doesn’t open on a Sunday or on Bank Holidays, which it is tomorrow. We walked down to the Skibbereen Heritage Centre, but it was also shut. The Heritage Centre has an exhibition about the Great Famine of 1845-47, but that would have to wait for another day!

It wasn’t a wasted visit though. We had a walk around the town centre of Skibbereen, that one guide book described as a traffic-choked market town. A bit harsh! The girls went in to a Church of Ireland church that had just finished a morning service & were thanked for coming by the Deputy Rector. Chris & I sat outside.

The posh looking Church Restaurant had opened, so we went in & booked a table for Friday evening to celebrate Jackie’s Birthday. Next we visited Field’s Supermarket, where the girls bought food for a Sunday Roast. Chris & I had a coffee. We returned to the car & it started to pour down.

We then drove 12 miles south, down to the village of Baltimore, with it’s ruined Dun na Sead Castle that overlooks the harbour, to sus out boat trips. The boat & ferries didn’t seem to be running, but the pubs were heaving & lots of yachts were competing in a race.

Baltimore was raided by pirates from Algeria in 1631 & they carried away 200 of its inhabitants. The remainder fled to Skibbereen. One of the pubs in Baltimore is named the Algiers Inn. It requires a visit on a sunnier & less crowded day.

The weather was just holding out, so we returned to the car & drove down a ridiculously narrow lane to The Baltimore Beacon. The Baltimore Beacon is a white painted stone beacon at the entrance to the harbour, that was built at the order of the British Government following the 1798 Rebellion. It is known locally as ‘Lot’s Wife’, after the Biblical woman turned into a pillar of salt.

We somehow avoided the easy route to The Beacon, but instead chose a path that led us a ‘near’ rock face, resulting in at least one of us resorting to scrambling up on hands & knees. At the top we were afforded fantastic views of the rugged coastline, which made the tricky drive & climb well worth it. We took an easier route down!

Next stop was Lough Hyne, which is a landlocked salt water lake that has been a marine reserve since 1981 and apparently has many unusual species. There were 3 kayakers & one hardy swimmer, but it was lashing down with rain so from the shelter our car I just took a photo of a Shag. This caused me some difficulty later when I tried to confirm its identity on google & for the record it turned out to be a Great Cormorant! Lough Hyne is surrounded by steep wooded shores & I’m sure it would be beautiful on a nice sunny day.

Afterwards, we decided to head back to the cottage for a bite to eat & have an early Sunday dinner. Before doing so we drove past our turn off to the end of KilKilleen to Cunnamore Pier to sus out the ferries to Heir Island. We are planning on doing one, maybe two, boat trips when the weather improves. We also passed our local pub, Minihanes Bar, which looks more like someone’s house.

We returned to the Cottage & the girls set about preparing dinner. After a sandwich, Chris & I had a stroll down the road to the mussel farm, where a fisherman was preparing the floats for the mussel beds.

At 5.30pm, we had a delicious roast beef dinner with all the trimmings, washed down with a nice bottle of red. That evening we played various games:- we reminded ourselves of the rules of Cribbage, played Tenzi & Balderdash. During the excitement (& alcohol consumption), I somehow accidentally managed to ring the Emergency Services on my phone. Luckily we terminated the call before it was answered.

It was a fun packed & laugh a minute evening to end a good day.

Song of the Day - Rain in the Summertime by The Alarm

Bonus Songs of the Day :-

Skibbereen by The Dubliners
Gravelwalks by SkibbereenRead more