Our trip to the Castle Townsend

March 19 – Monday – The sun is out this morning, although it is very cold. They are calling for sleet and hail later on today. Most of the day is spent taking it easy, my sinuses are still acting up, we do a bit of grocery shopping, I update my photos and blog, Lisa does some laundry getting ready for our side trip to the castle. We do go down to Muddy’s after dinner though, Lisa wants to listen to the group that is playing, someone we haven’t heard before, a group called “Poles Apart”. Ends up being a five piece jazz band from Poland, therefore the name. The music is great! Talking to John the owner, he said they came down from Cork last year wanting to play, he hired them on spec for one night, and they have been coming down regularly since then. I can see why, they are good and have a great selection of tunes. We leave before they are done, about 11, so I can get some sleep.

March 20 – Tuesday – Today we drive to the castle. 9:15 finds us on the road, the weather cooperates, sunny even if it is cold. We take the R600 to Clonakilty where we start following a “By-Ways rather than Highways” article from a Ireland of the Welcomes magazine. These are great for telling you about places you wouldn’t normally see. It is basically a coastal route to Skibbereen through places with names like Ardfield, Red Strand, and Galley Head. Got some great pictures along the way, including the beach at the aforementioned Red Strand. The article also told us about a one lane track to take back to the Drombeg Stone Circle. A rather small stone circle, but one of the finest of it’s kind. At midwinter a line drawn between the two tallest stones points to the setting sun. The drive took us back to N71 at Leap where we stopped at a wonderful little coffee shop called the Horseshoe Café, that would feel at home in any big city in the States. Back on the road, I saw a sign for Castletownsend so I drove to the castle.

Arrived early but our wonderful host Anne was more than happy to show us to our room. After a brief look around we drove on to Skibbereen, had lunch at Annie May’s pub and made our way to the Skibbereen Heritage Center. It has two displays there, one on the Great Famine, Skibbereen was affected quite badly during this time, lost a lot of people to disease and death and to emigration. The second display centered on the Lough Hyne, which is Ireland’s first Marine Nature Reserve. The lake is feed by the sea through a small tidal channel, and is home to a rich and varied range of sea life, some quite rare, that can be studied very easily.

We left the center and drove to Baltimore, which is a cute little seaside town. It feels rather “new” though, and nothing for a town center to walk, so we drove over to Lough Hyne and walked along the shore. Lisa gets to feed a swan that is there. Back at the castle, we walked up the road to Mary Ann’s pub for supper. I had the poached salmon, Lisa the goat cheese salad, both were excellent. After supper we drove back to Skibbereen to see about some music. I had written on one of my notes that “Corner Bar – session on Tues.” so we stopped. Needless to say, there was no music there, or anyplace else in town on a Tuesday according to the bartender, sigh. So back to the castle, we made some coffee and went down to the great room to watch a little TV before crashing for the night.

March 21 – Wednesday – After a 9:00 breakfast in the castle, we take on the peninsulas today. Leaving Castletownsend we drive through Skibbereen and on to Ballydehob were we start the Mizen Head peninsula drive. Staying on the south side, we make our way through Skull, Toormore, Goleen and into Crookhaven where we stop for coffee at the O’Sullivan’s Bar. Back to the road, we make our way to Mizen Head signal station and visitor center. The weather is not helping today, it’s very foggy, with misty rain, but we decide to walk out to the signal station anyway. I got some really neat pictures, it is quite a walk out there, you have to cross a bridge over a crevasse to get there. Even with the fog, the view was spectacular, I can imagine what it is like on a clear day! We are not able to see the lighthouse through the fog, it being out a few miles.

We take the north side of the peninsula on the drive back, ending up in Durrus for lunch at the Sheep’s Head pub, hoping for the weather to clear. The drive down the south side of the Sheep’s Head peninsula is still foggy, and as we approach the Sheep’s Head visitor center, we see it is closed. Taking a few pictures we drive back taking the Goat’s Path road this time. I can see why they call it the “Goat’s Path”! You really have to concentrate on your driving skills, all kinds of twists and turns, we climb to the top where there are two postings showing you what you would normally see on a clear day up here. Because of the fog, we can’t see a thing, so we head down the other side. It did clear a little, so I was able to get a few pictures before we hit Bantry which is the end of the Sheep’s Head Way. Nice little town, we explore for a while, and after a coffee, start our drive back to the castle. Supper finds us back in Skibbereen at the Paragon Restaurant on Main St. I try the Scampi, Lisa the goat cheese salad, both are delicious. We stop at Mary Ann’s for a pint before getting back to the castle for a bit of TV and bedtime. The weather didn’t cooperate today, but I would recommend this trip to anyone who wishes to drive it. The scenery was not on the same scale as the Ring of Kerry or the Dingle Peninsula, but you seemed closer to it. Didn’t see any tour busses either!

March 22 – Thursday – Woke to a beautiful clear sky, sunshine filled morning! After yesterday it is really welcome! Anne serves us another fine breakfast, and we explore around the castle grounds. St Barrahane’s church is located on the hill behind the castle, it is still being used today. The graves around it are dated from the early 1800’s, with the newest I saw being 2000.

After checking out and bidding Anne farewell, we start the drive home. A stop at Trag Knitwear nets us a Duiske handmade glass oil lamp. Our next stop is Clonakilty, where we do some exploring of the town. Finally found De Barra’s which has music quite frequently. Pick up a gig guide, maybe we can make it back for some entertainment before we go home to the states. Clonakilty is not that far from Kinsale. We try to take the Clonakilty coastal road back, but miss the turnoff, we did find it on the other end though, so end up backtracking some, through Lislee, up a one lane cow path following a sign to the Coolim Cliffs, which gives us a view of Clonakilty Bay, from Old Head in the east, all the way to Galley Head in the west. Amazing! Lunch finds us at the Grange Tavern, they are remodeling but still put on a great lunch. The biggest bowl of beef stew I have ever seen for 8 euro, delicious. We continue on, finally turning back toward Kinsale and arrive about 4:00.

Unpack the suitcase, Lisa gets some laundry started, salad for supper, and hit the An Seanachai to listen to Liam O’. We drag along 4 other couples we met, Texas, Florida, and Ohio, and Liam puts on a great show. We have a nice talk with him after the show, asking him to let me know if he makes it back to the states, we would like to get him some gigs around our area. Back to the house a little after midnight, we call it a night.