Saturday 17th; to the Airport.

Clonakilty

Another fine sunny start to the day.  During the morning a drive to Cork Airport to pick up chum Linda who will be staying nearby for the coming week.  Midway along our route we stopped for a while to explore Clonakilty; childhood home of Michael Collins (of whom there will be more on a subsequent post);  source of the celebrated Clonakilty black pudding and venue for the globally unique "Random Acts of Kindness Festival", a festival which aims to celebrate the welcoming and warm hearted nature of the Irish people as a whole. The catchphrase of the July Festival is; "Cut the Misery and Spread the Positivity".

Animal sculptures, Clonakilty

Thursday 16th; Mizzen Head

Close to Mizzen Head, Barley Cove beach and sand dunes were created by the tidal wave which followed the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.

Mizzen head is often claimed to be the most south westerly point of Ireland but it is not quite that.  Early in the C20th Marconi had telecommunications laboratories here and at other places on the Mizzzen Head peninsular including Crookhaven where I had an excellent crab salad and stout lunch.

Crookhaven

 

Friday 17th; Clear Island

Built late in the C19th n the site of an earlier beacon, the Baltimore Beacon marks the one of the hidden entrances to Baltimore Harbour; the other is marked by the lighthouse on Sherkin Island.

On this first dry, still and sunny morning since arriving here in Ireland almost a week ago I took a ferry to Clear Island.  Later in the year, when the sea is warmer than its present 7° there will be whales in these waters; today I saw only birds.  Clear island, Ireland's most southerly inhabited island, lies 13 kms off the mainland coast.

On the island I visited Ed Harper at his remote goat farm.  An engaging character, Ed came to Clear Island over thirty years ago from his native Manchester to establish his goat farm.  A master of caprine husbandry of which he is a willing teacher, Ed is passionate about goats.  He is also a collector and performer of folk songs.  Since he was three years old, Ed has been totally blind which, for me, makes his story extraordinary.

Ed Harper

Sunday 12th May - at home

Photographed Saturday 18th May when the sun came out.

After ten days of travelling, a day settling in to our comfortable temporary home was most welcome.  The foul weather did not matter, in fact, by deterring any desire to go out of the house it was probably an advantage.

10 May, au revoir to France - 11th May, hello again to Ireland!

From Quintin to the ferry port at Roscoff, from where I had a passage booked to Cork, is but a hundred kilometres or so and I had about nine hours in which to cover that distance.  I chose to drive directly to Roscoff and to spend what would be my last day in France for a while pottering about the sunny seaside town.

The huge ferry Brittany Ferries' 'Pont Aven' left on time at eight-thirty and, despite its size (42,000 tons) was soon pitching and rolling through a heavy swell and continued to do so throughout the night.  The restaurant on this ship was far and away the best in which I have eaten on any ship on which I have previously sailed.

The heavy sea did not prevent the Pont Aven from docking on time at Cork but unloading of vehicles, and passing through immigration and customs controls took almost two hours.  I eventually arrived, twenty minutes late, at Cork City bus station, where I had planned to rendezvous at eleven o'clock with Lisi who had travelled overnight by bus and ferry from London.

After a light lunch in Skibbereen and a tour of the supermarket to stock ourselves with food we checked in at the cottage we have rented for the next month and found it to be very comfortable and, in every respect, an ideal place for us to relax and 'take-five' on life.

Towards Baltimore

9th May, to Brittany

The breakfast room at La Couyère

After breakfast in another of the converted farm buildings at La Couyère I pressed on into Brittany to the old town of Quintin where my room for the night was in a rambling old stone building full of quirky ornaments and decorations.  My huge room had a window overlooking a garden across which, several years previously, a tree had fallen but had not been removed.  The house was a delight in which to spend a night but I was less than comfortable in the eerily dead town which appeared to have no life in it whatsoever.  If there were any beings in Quintin they keept themselves very quiet and well concealed.

Garden feature at Le Clos du Prince, Quintin

The breakfast table at Le Clos du Prince where nothing matched but everything looked good.

8th May, largely along the Loire valley

Amboise

In France the eighth of May, anniversary of 'VE Day' when, in 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies to bring WWII to an end in Europe, is an important day of remembrance and celebration.  Sixty-eight years on the consequence for me was to find free parking at Amboise where I tarried for a while for a look around.  As I wandered the old streets sunshine gave way to a shower driving me into a shop where I bought a light raincoat.  As soon as I was back on the street the rain ceased and the sun reappeared; since then I have had no cause to wear my new raincoat.

My 'room' at La Couyere

At La Couyere my accommodation was yet again in a converted farm building this one dating from the seventeenth century.