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Published: August 28th 2016
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In the pink
Artistic seat in garden of Lismore Castle It is getting warmer here in Ireland, not necessarily drier but definitely warmer. Summer here is a state of mind. They don't rely on the vagaries of the temperature and the presence of the sun to dictate a season. This post comes from down the bottom – County Cork, Kinsale, Cobh, Cork, Ardmore, around to Waterford and up to the Rock of Cashel.
The Wild Atlantic Way comes to an official end at Kinsale. It is officially 2,500 kilometres. We have followed it reasonably well, although not religiously. It has been a very good guide to some of the most beautiful places you will find in Ireland and through some of the special towns that make Ireland a great place to visit.
Before you get to Kinsale though you go through Clonakilty. A nice little place to walk around and have a feed and, more importantly, the birthplace of Michael Collins, a man who was assassinated at 31 years of age by those who disagreed with his leadership of negotiations for the freedom of the southern part of Ireland from British rule. So it is a famous place and rightly so. There is a chance though that we will
Inspiration
Giant vegetables at Lismore Castle tend to remember it as the place where we lost the car. Normal thing. Drove into town, hunted for a car park, spotted one down a road behind a pub, walked off enjoying looking around. Turns out that Clonakilty isn't that small but we did find the car after a time, after we came to understand that there is rather a lot of some Irish towns that have a degree of sameness about them.
Kinsale is popular. A great place, we believe, to visit in the cooler, wetter months, when more sensible people stay at home by the fire, or perhaps you really need to stay there for a night or two rather than just go for a day to visit. In any case, we drove in, found a park relatively easily, took close note of where we had parked, and walked around. It is a pretty place with an attractive harbour full of boats on the day we were there, and plenty of other people doing just what we were.
Cobh is the port for Cork. It is the place where a few of my ancestors embarked on boats for Australia and we were interested to visit
Useful art
in the square at Waterford the Heritage Centre at the Quay in an old railway station. A good exhibition focusing on the role of Cobh in the mass emigration of convicts and Irish generally to the USA, Australia and the Caribbean, and the story of the Titanic and a number of lesser known major disasters that were visited on ships that had sailed from Cobh.
This part of the coast is different from the west. A little quieter and gentler. Ardmore is typical. On the day we were there it was warm – although not so warm that it impressed my lovely wife who insisted that the breeze was definitely not warm – and there were people all over the large, sandy beach engaged in beachy type things. Running about and wandering into the water, some even swimming. Our first experience of Pokemon Go people. Took me a little while to work out what these young girls were up to. Strange behaviour indeed, standing in the middle of an intersection tapping on their phones.
In Ardmore we solved the puzzle of the flowers. Many Irish towns deck themselves out in spring and summer in flowers, as do many places in Europe and the
Circles
Lismore Castle UK. In Ireland though, there are patterns. The flowers in the window boxes and around generally follow themes or match. Colours and types of flowers are different in different towns. We had been noticing this for a while and finally found out that the flowers are grown by the local council under glass and distributed by the council to window boxes and more generally. They do follow themes because it looks good. It really wasn't that hard to solve. We just asked the lady in the post office.
Waterford is the first town in Ireland established by the Vikings. They settled, or set up winter lodgings, in nearby Woodsport in 830 about 5 miles away and established Waterford in the early 900s. Reginald was the first chieftain. They battled with the locals initially and clearly ended up trading and becoming more comfortable with them to the eventual end result that there are rather a lot of red headed Irish around.
The crystal factory was an interesting tour. I suppose that, in due course, it will become even more uneconomic to make and shape glass largely by hand but it will be a pity when it does. I can't
Berlin Wall Sections
art in Lismore Castle gardens say that I have ever been that impressed with fancy crystal but, seeing it made and watching the work and skill that goes into the final product, I have new appreciation for the stuff. We came away with some samples and their shipping service was successful.
Cashel is to the north of the place we were staying at Villierstown. The Rock of Cashel is what people go there to see. This is a 12
th century building, that was commissioned by the king of south Munster, Cormac McCarthy. It is, apparently a great example of Irish Romanesque architecture. An impressive building built to last with massive walls that were not going to be knocked about by the winds howling across the plains. It has stood up pretty well over time and is currently being restored, particularly to protect the chapel which is of special significance.
Villierstown itself is very pretty, with a shop and a pub and a school. We were in a very well appointed apartment on the main street, a short walk from the River Blackwater, and a good base for day trips.
We tend not to spend a lot of our time wandering about castles
Supplementing succulents
new use for hoses and cable ties and churches but we did check out Lismore Castle or, more accurately, its gardens. People still live in this castle and it isn't open to visitors but the gardens are and they are worth a visit if you enjoy having a look at the way a garden can be developed over many years and without too much concern about the cost. We spent a lovely afternoon wandering around the gardens and the town. Much quieter than some other places in Ireland at this time of the year.
And now it is on to Dublin again to spend a few days, catch up with some friends and catch a flight home.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Kinsale is one of our favorites!
We spent a few days here and found the local pub music venues to be two of the best we found while touring Ireland. Great musicians into the night. Thanks for the memory.