Day 2 Start line: Wild Atlantic Way

Tolls and Roaming Charges

Well, the news from yesterday is that a €2.60 charge has arrived in my eflow account for using the M50 which is good because I didn't even look until after the 20:00 deadline for unregistered payment and the less good news is that I incurred £1.84 roaming charges on that 'Maritime' network before I noticed and hit Airplane mode to cut it off.  If you don't know what I'm talking about and you plan on using a ferry from mainland UK to Ireland have a read of yesterday's post.
Occasional sections of motorways incur tolls, we paid 2 lots of €1.90 between Newbridge and Cork today.

Heading South

Chatting during check out we mentioned heading toward Cork and the, very Irish, receptionist warned us that even she couldn't understand half of what was said in that area where she says they speak hardly opening their mouth and string one word into the next speaking so fast. She insisted that no Irish people take offence and we should just tell them to speak slower!

After an excellent breakfast at the Keadeeen in Newbridge we headed South on clear two lane motorways toward Cork at 120kph (approx. 75mph). The first 80 miles are pleasant flat countryside then hills appear ahead and to side reminiscent of the Northern Lake District or the Scottish Borders which adds a little variety. With the smooth travel we had skirted West and South of Cork with over 100 miles done a little after midday.

We were unsure how we wanted to proceed in the afternoon and had settled on an Information point shown on the map on the N71 near Ballinhassig as where we would decide and hopefully find some lunch nearby. We drove straight through and saw no sign so decisions were made in a layby a little further on. Our destination for the night was Goleen in the extreme South West and we were now to make our way West toward it. Lunchtime now drifting late, we decided to head down South to the coast and Kinsale only 13 miles away as a likely town for lunch and the novelty of being the Southern start/finish of the Wild Atlantic Way.

Kinsale

We were delighted with the decision to add Kinsale to our itinerary as we found it a lovely town, an odd mix of old market town, fishing village, marina, seaside in feeling with lots of proper shops, greengrocers etc among bars and tourist tat; something for everyone.
We called in the excellent Information Centre which was like Christmas for Lynne with a plethora of free maps and guides for the area we were about to travel. The public toilets behind the centre initially proved challenging only labelled FIR and MNA which from observation proved to be Gents and Ladies respectively.
We purchased sandwich, quiche and coffee from a lovely bakers and headed off to eat by the car.

Heading West

Now on the South Coast we needed to follow the coast West and this is the route of the Wild Atlantic Way marked with a \/\/\/\/ type symbol which I will get around to photographing. Initially, we were tempted to follow the route but soon realised that it would be impossible to progress toward our destination following all the diversions out to headlands and around bays. We settled for using the route on the R600 where it was progressing West and otherwise moving to the N71 to move along.
Passing though several small nice towns, we ran along rivers and occasional open sea views with varied rolling countryside eventually moving into rolling limestone country with exposed white pavements and lush green slopes. Some higher darker moor land appeared and with the height the mist settled on the higher ground. The whole day had been temperate at about 17C though warmer in the sun but rarely a hour went by without some misty rain passing through and sometimes windy periods around the rain.

Coves



A fairly calm Wild Atlantic

Purple Heather on the hillsides

Burial Chamber

We arrived at Heron's Cove B&B about 5pm, just on target then, after booking in, took a 3 mile drive out to an amazing beach at Barley Cove so we could stretch our legs after days in the car and try to work up an appetite for dinner. Barley Cove is near where Marconi carried out the first trans Atlantic radio transmission.

Heron's Cove from slipway

Barley Cove beach

Barley Cove beach

Back to the B&B to freshen up and enjoy a fresh fish dinner and a bottle of wine. During dinner, we watched a Heron in the cove from our table; sort of explains the name of the place I guess. A good day.

Statistics (from Dublin):

Miles today: 233; Miles so far: 275; Fuel added so far: 0 litres;

Track since Journey Start: