South and West Ireland - Ged and Lynne 2017: Day 3 Groleen

An unexpected treat today as the sun shone on us all day. We started out from Heron's Cove a little late as breakfast didn't start till 9 and everyone came down together so we ended up leaving 10:25 for Mizen Head at the end of the peninsula that we were on. It took us less that 10 mins to reach the almost empty car park surrounded by brilliant yellow Mizen Gorse and Purple Heather only just after opening.

Mizen Gore and Heather

Mizen Head was anticipated as a fairly brief visit but, with the sun shining on us, we ended up not leaving until 12:55 and both loved it. The whole place has been lovingly executed with lovely displays and incredibly pleasant young people staffing it. I can't really explain what captivated us so; we only followed some of the paths in that time and looked down from the bridge to watch a seal in the bay as well as seeing another off the headland, we stared out to Fastnet lighthouse and learned how it had been built, watched waves spill over rocks in all directions, moved through interesting exhibitions including about Marconi's early trans Atlantic radio transmissions. We could have stayed longer.

Fastnet lighthouse 9 miles offshore

Fastnet centre shot without telephoto

bridge to light

Seal far below the bridge

Lynne at the end of the promontory

Another seal off the headland

Already hours behind schedule, this re-affirmed my comments yesterday about not being able to follow the Wild Atlantic Way religiously and so it continued through the day using the Way as a vague line but breaking away from and shortcutting sections.
We left Mizen Head and backtracked past Goleen before turning north on the R591 to the neck of the next peninsula. The 'fingers' of land projecting into the Atlantic are to tops of folds in the rock strata dipping under the sea then rising between so whenever you cross one you climb to height before descending again. As we left the southern coastline we climbed with beautiful views down to the sea.

We were not planning to explore the next finger, Sheep's Head, but drove out along it's southern shoreline as far as Ahakista. The road is right down by the sea and, especially with the sun shining on it, the vistas along the shoreline with islands and inlets were stunning. Ever since arriving in the southwest, many of the smaller roads are skirted with flaming orange flowers occasionally with purple spiked ones amongst them and this road continued this. We stopped just short of Ahakinsta village at a memorial to those lost in an air disaster in 1984 which was a lovely garden path leading to a stone beach where we settled to enjoy a sandwich and quiche we had bought earlier in the day.

View from our picnic on the rocks

It is somewhere near this village that Graham Norton lives and he's certainly chosen a lovely part of the world. They have a carnival in the next few days and in the town the ladders were out to hang bunting.
We took the high road over to Glanlough on the north coast which was narrow and winding with grass growing down the middle. A beautiful road and as we turned inland along the north toward Bantry hills around continued the pleasure.

Wild Atlantic Way signage

We passed through Bantry which was having it's Friday market. We didn't have time to stop and check it out but it was a proper market with toolstores spread on the road and poultry being sold; it looked a big deal.

After Bantry, we headed for the next peninsula, the Beare Peninsula. We had decided there was no way we could get out to the end and see Dursey as it was now getting late but decided to get as far as Castletown and then return to go up and over the Healy Pass. Here we meet out first disappointment; the southern road is largely just a fast wide road, heavily wooded and viewpoints have been allowed to become overgrown so that the views are now blocked. The sections not as wide and fast were very closed in with growth around and only occasionally were sea views appearing. The road was for some reason a hard drive and no pleasure for the driver. We arrived at Castletown to find it not particularly pleasant and with traffic chaos in the centre. We did park for a while by the still working fishing port and did a quick circle thinking we may have a coffee somewhere but found nothing to like and returned to the car to head East back to the pass. In truth, the road was nicer W>E than it had been E>W due to hill backdrops.

Fishing boats at Castletown

Orange and purple flowers along road edges

Turning into the Healy Pass road I was unnecessarily worried by tall hedgerows for a while as it opened up to a spectacular drive up and through a pass fit for the Alps or Pyrenees (on a smaller scale) with views to the sea both North and South from the top. We would strongly recommend a trip over the Healy Pass. Early on at the start of the pass a shepherd had waved us down near a bridge and we thought there was a problem; actually, he just wanted a chat and asked us how our holidays was going and how long we'd been together and what children we had,; lovely fella but we were glad to point out the queue now forming behind us. As we drove off, we saw him go to chat to the next car!
We eventually dropped into Kenmare at 6pm and found our lodgings quickly which are right in town with parking - result! I really can't believe I only drove 112 miles today, it certainly felt like 200 plus.

Healy Pass

Dinner was in a pub in town but we left before any music got going, largely because the driving, late nights and far, far too much food is killing me. And now I'm still writing this at 10:30 and I haven't even got any of the photos off yet. Must sleep soon; wish I had the willpower to say, "No", to a full Irish in the morning but I probably won't.