It’s the last leg of the Wild Atlantic Way

---

Well it’s the last day of the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW) so we set off from Baltimore back to the town we came through Skibbereen and made our way to Tow Head Bay. Now previously I had told Mike that this was going to be the easiest day driving - well this proved to be totally wrong and started off not very well. It appears that for this leg of our journey we are not getting much help from the WAW signs as they are honestly few and far between and the towns we are going through, well the Irish like to keep their town names a secret because they they don’t tell you the name - even google maps could not help so it was just guess and go and sometimes turn around and go back again.



We get to Galley Head View and the Atlantic is truly wild and there are a lot of surfers out - really in the Atlantic on a misty, drizzly day but there were lots out there. We are on the last part of the map now and making our way to Old Head of Kinsale which is our last discovery point.



So we get some lunch and then make our way up to the Signal Tower at the Old Head of Kinsale (number 25 of 81 such towers erected in Ireland to provide advance warning of invasion forces) and find it has been restored. It is the only one restored in Ireland. Now why would they restore this one,well I am going to tell you!! It was to mark the centenary of the sinking of RMS Lusitania. I found out the Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U Boat during WW1. The Lusitania was a floating luxury ship just like the Titanic but they were not sister ships nor built in the same shipyard - interesting fact. Now here is another fact I have only just found out. One gentleman George Beauchamp (he was a sailor) is the only person to escape alive from the two worst maritime disasters of the 20th century, both Titanic and Lusitania - wow some lucky man there, I bet his family wished there was the national lottery in those days!!! Out of 1962 passengers and crew on board only 761 survived. One lady Alice Middleton was rescued but they thought she was dead and took her to the morgue and then she woke up - poor lady she could have sold her story to the Sun newspaper and made a fortune.



Anyway we have made it to Kinsale and I am having a bit of a mare to be totally honest. I found out there is a nice place to stay near the old fort so we go there and it is so busy we hardly find somewhere to park which is flattish so I say I have found another place. So we find a park up but you have to pay before 6pm and as we take 3 bays we do not have enough change to pay for this as it does not take cards - so I say I have another place so we go there in a car park. We have a great spot but my gut feeling is not liking this so we go back to the paying park up but then back to the fort. It is still really busy but we park up and it is really windy so I say let’s move back down to the road. As it is now just after 6 we should be okay. To be honest this was a great move as we were nearer town and after many refusals found a fabulous place to eat call Finns’ Farmcut. This place turned out to be the best, yes the best, meal I have eaten in Ireland since we got here - so tripadvisor here I come. We have both agreed that we are going to a campsite tomorrow and probably staying for 2 nights (well that’s the plan). We desperately need to take on some clean water and empty the toilet cassette - now emptying the toilet cassette is a man’s job which makes me really happy to be honest.



Set off early this morning and I promise Mike it will be an easy drive until I see a coastal route and hey ho we are back on the back roads of Ireland with no passing places but County Waterford is quite pretty, here I go again. We have found a nice campsite near Waterford which is also really clean and you can get a bus into Waterford so hey ho 2 nights or maybe 3 before we have to get the ferry back to reality again.

---

Photos

Old Head of Kinsale
Ha ha ha

The end of the WAW
fabulous book