Sláinte

Wow its been nearly a week since my last blog – we’ve just had 3 days off grid with no electric so limited Wi-Fi. We stayed at a beach site at the tip of the Beara Penisular called Allihies that had only basic facilities so very cheap!

Another field owned by a farmer who turned up every day in a Kubuto Quad bike with his collie dog running behind him, asking if we were staying, if we had paid and how many of us are there? This happened several times each day and his quad bike had an enclosed visor that he only opened a crack to take the cash!

Before that we were staying on a golf course near Castletown-Berehaven, right next to the sea for 2 nights in what looked like a car park but was a really great location. From here we could take a small ferry smaller than the Sandbanks Chain Ferry to Bere Island. (One thing to note there are a lot of little islands off Ireland) We walked 4 miles to the other end of Bere Island to catch another ferry back, grab some fish n chips (mediocre) and walked another 3 miles back to the site. A quick dip in the sea from the stony beach next to the campsite was the perfect pick me up after that long day.

From the site Bob was able to go fishing off a pier and caught some mackerel for supper the following day whilst I went off for a 15-mile bike ride up into the mountains – easy peasy with an electric bike. Stopping along the way for a visit to my first Stone Circle where I touched each warm stone to see if I would be transported back in time (Amazon Prime series – Highlander) but no luck…..

Stone circles are from the Bronze Age and are around 3000 years old. They usually have an odd number of stones from 5-17. There are two large stones marking the entrance and the rest go down in size – the stones have been shown to have alignment with solar or lunar events or with some of the brightest stars. Ireland was a hugely pagan country before the British came over and occupied and converted them into Catholicism/Christianity. There are over 100 stone circles in Ireland mostly in mid Ulster and southwest Munster (where we are currently) and often have many features in common. This type of thing fascinates me….

I must also mention – Garinish Island – known for its architecture & design by Harold Peto and its richness of plants within – many from Australia and New Zealand and only able to be grown in temperate rain forests. The island is only reached by a boat trip that passes a colony of sleepy seals. Garinish Island is a stunning place to visit with a Walled Garden, Grecian temple, Italian Garden, Happy Valley walk (?) and a Martello Tower – of which I had never heard of before but have now seen two in Ireland. They are round coastal forts, about 40m high built by the British Empire. They would usually have a single piece of artillery mounted on the flat roof with the ability to rotate 360 degrees. (sorry no pic of tower)

Back to the Allihies site – Niamh and Louis joined us for 2 of the nights and we all went for another breath-taking (in more ways than one)  walk up to the old copper mines that are 250m up the mountain but were dug deep into the ground to mine the copper up to 300m below sea level before they were closed down. Allihies was a very colourful town each house painted a different bright colour, which really stood out against the mountains. Here Bob and I went to the local pub and I had my first half pint of Guinness – well you just have to in Ireland don’t you! The beach at Allihies is called Ballydonegan, its another white sand beach with a steep tide so the crystal clear water gets deep quickly which makes it good for swimming.  You get in quickly which is a real bonus as the sea here was particularly cold. I still managed a morning swim and a couple of afternoon swims…..these sea swims are just the best way to revive sore muscles after a long walk…..