Day 63 - Kenmare to Cork

I feel a million dollars, 10 hours sleep straight (no interruptions!)

I was intending on a small breakfast as I know I have been eating too much but the hot breakfast options are so extensive, and it is cold and wet outside, so I relented (porridge with honey with Irish whisky cream!)

The waitress was lovely and helped me map out my route for the day.  I was intending on heading inland more but she suggested a better, more scenic route.  I am driving from Kenmare to Cork today – on the home stretch of my Ireland trip.

3 hours into my travels and I have been pretty much just driving except for one stop at Molly Gallivan’s cafe and exhibition of her 200 year old cottage – a woman who had an illegal distillery, was a widow, and had to support 7 small children  (love a woman who challenges convention). 

Scenery is gorgeous coming through mountain ranges and then following Bantry Bay.  I then travelled east along the south coast, stopping at Clonakilty for a wander around and a coffee. I thing the general novelty of the quaint Irish town is wearing off as I’m definitely not taking all the photos I did previously.

Michael Collins

Next stop on the agenda was Kinsale.  I really liked this place – on the harbour, very narrow streets, very arty focus with loads of galleries for art and photography.  I fell in love with one oil painting of a farmer but didn’t dare ask the price.  It was great wandering around the streets for a couple of hours until the misty rain set in. 

I was going to head straight for Cork but caught site of the Charles Fort and went to explore.  It is huge!  The wind was ferocious but the shape and structure of this fort was so unusual, I stayed for awhile.  Luckily the sun came out.  It was built in 17^th century and is star-shaped.  It is one of the largest military forts in the country.

On the road to Cork, and again I was really surprised by the poor quality of the road.  I arrived into Cork at about 4.30pm, checked into the B&B (Crawford House), then headed into the main town for a look around.  The traffic was nuts, people walked directly in front of the car when I had the right of way, and with all the one-way streets, it was hard to get to where I wanted to get to.  I decided to ditch the car at the B&B and head off instead on foot.

I don’t know if I just got Cork on a bad day, or I was in the wrong areas, but I really did not get a good impression.  My B&B was pretty central, so it only took about 20 minutes to walk into town.  I was astonished by the number of boarded up and derelict houses I passed on the way.  I know Ireland is suffering badly financially, but this was the first real evidence I had seen to date.

Maybe it was because Manchester had just won the FA World Cup, or maybe Cork had a local team playing, but there were a number of men who were visibly drunk and in some cases drug affected.  I really did not feel too safe walking the streets, despite the day light, so cut my losses and got take-away for dinner.  I was given a room at the B&B with a spa bath so thought a night in would be good for the body.  It was a pity, I really did want to see the place but was not prepared to do so if I was not feeling confident of being by myself.