Yesterday we vacated our place way out in Corran, Waterfall, County Cork. It was just not what we wanted. All in all we considered it unsatisfactory.
Hauling our suitcases and assorted food morsels upstairs was quite the task. Using those stairs in the middle of the night was too much. We had to move.
This being a long weekend, it was difficult to find suitable accommodations. But we were lucky and found a lovely room at the Carrigaline Court Hotel in Carrigaline. As it happened, that's the place selected by the Keatings for us to meet on Saturday night. Win-win! And our deal includes a lovely buffet breakfast.
So, with our accommodations arranged, we moved out of Corran and back into travel mode. The Airbnb host accepted our cancellation of the last 2 nights and we've already got the refund from Airbnb, and that was a bonus.
Our first destination was Bantry and the drive was wonderful and worth every twist and turn and back road that Ms Google is so fond of. The sun was shining for us again and the scenery was breathtaking. We had a fantastic lunch at O'Connor's Pub and walked off a bit of it around the town. The houses on the main street are brightly painted and reminded us of St John's. The street was quite narrow but that doesn't discourage anyone from parking, facing either direction, wherever they can find a spot, whether or not it blocks the street. Driving is a bit scary. However, we found a good and free spot from which to walk about.
For years I've seen photos of the monastic area of Gougane Barra and absolutely wanted to go there. Well, I certainly wasn't disappointed. I've already posted pictures which you've seen.
En route, which included some pretty narrow but gorgeous winding roads, we encountered a semi-ruined castle and found a place to pull over for a closer look. It was Carriganass castle which has a bit of a bloody history. The information plaque told the story, partly in verse about the gory events, ending with "well it's a good story even if it's not provable." There was a lovely stream running alongside and it was hard to decide where to fix one's gaze on the surrounding countryside. Absolutely breathtaking. And of course, we put the camera apps to good use.
It wasn't a lot farther to Gougane Barra where we briefly paused at the hotel where some sort of event was taking place. After letting a couple of cars exit from the narrow road, I drove down to find a perfect parking spot.
This is a former monastic site, situated on a huge lake among very high hills, maybe even mountains. The ruins included individual cells or caves, in one of which was a sort of shrine. Outside of that site was the chapel featured in promotional material. Inside it was incredibly peaceful, with a few lovely stained glass windows of Irish saints, including St Finbarr whose site it was. I could not quite make out all of the names.
Leaving that behind we headed to Carrigaline for a brief rest, which never actually happened, a bit of supper, which didn't happen either, a shower and change of clothes (both of which did happen) before meeting the Keatings in the bar around 9.
Una gifted everyone with a few of her note cards featuring some prints from her paintings. We were 10 in all and the conversation and conviviality lasted until 1 a.m. I was finally able to partake of a few drinks since I didn't have to drive, only navigate the elevator up one floor to our room.
This morning we slept in and enjoyed our buffet breakfast at about 10:30. It included the best cup of coffee I've had yet on this trip.
It was raining lightly but convinced the sun would shine once we set out, off we went. Given that we'd covered a lot of miles we decided to stay fairly local and go to Crosshaven and Kinsale.
Well, getting to Crosshaven was easy enough, but the rain had not yet realized that we preferred dry to wet, so we didn't go walkabout like some of the locals were doing - without raincoats.
Not far away was Fennell's Bay. Since some of my ancestors were Fennells (but not from Cork) that was next on the destination list. The route was along some lovely and picturesque (read: dicey) narrow 'L' roads. Just before the Bay I turned up an even narrower road because there seemed to be an interesting old ruined church way up there. It was definitely worth a bit of a stroll in the rain. The view was lovely between the raindrops but the photos won't show that.
The rain continued but we shifted on (with our manual transmission VW Polo), and shifted again and again. Ms Google had been given the destination of Bulman's Pub near Kinsale, where I've been a few times. All was well at first until she told me to take the next "sharp right" and I did. Sharp right doesn't begin to define the 160 degree turn up a steep hill on a road just a bit wider than our little car. After a kilometre or so the instruction was again to turn right - back onto the road we'd turned off. Whaaaat? OK - let's try that again. And again we got the instruction at the same place - but we were smarter this time and ignored that turn. Once around the "block" was enough. And we were right and Ms Google was wrong. So there.
Bulman's Pub was found eventually down a very steep narrow street that we assumed was one-way. Hah! Luckily our timing was such that we didn't meet anyone heading up. So we parked and prepared for a nice lunch at the pub. They are closed for dining on Sundays and Mondays - even on this holiday weekend.
How to get to Kinsale town? It is up that same road we'd just squeezed down. Again, luck was with us and we didn't encounter any oncoming traffic. Breathing normally resumed at that point.
The decision to go to Kinsale on a holiday was not a good one. We drove around and around and up and down and could not find anywhere to park. The streets were crowded and we figured we'd never get into a restaurant anyway. So - back to the hotel.
Again we ignored Ms Google once or twice in order to stay on the correct route. No, I didn't remember how to get back, we followed the (rare) signposts to Cork and eventually one for Carrigaline.
Back at the hotel, we did get a table in the dining room for a carvery dinner - a buffet but the portioned were served from the items we pointed to. We both chose the salmon and before I could say "No thanks" I had a scoop of stuffing on my plate. This was the first time I'd had that combo. Chicken had been another option and I wonder if it was missing its stuffing.
I was able to stop the second scoop of mashed potatoes but before I could say No again, a roasted potato landed on my plate, still in the hands of the server, and a large dish with carrots, parsnips and a kale-cabbage-green pea combo were passed over the counter.
There will be no more dining today. Two buffet meals are more than enough.
It's now bright and dry and we have no further adventures planned for today. It's a kind of half-day off of driving for me. Besides, I had my fill of long and winding roads to start the month of May.
My phone is charging. The battery runs out faster than a ball rolling down a hill. Later I will download some pictures and post them separately from this long-winded narrative.
The rain has stopped but it is still not sunny. Maybe tomorrow when we head to Cobh and possibly Spike Island in Cork Harbour.
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