DAY 1: Galway to Killarney (via a break for lunch in Newcastle West in Limerick - we were glad we didn't wait to eat in Killarney because it was HOPPING and the traffic was unrelenting); part of the Ring of Kerry to Kenmare and on to Bantry taking the N71.
DAY 2: From Bantry we drove to Mizen Head and Barleycove beach, before heading to Skibbereen via Schull. After stocking up on supplies in Skibbereen we (eventually) found our way to one of the Great Lighthouses of Ireland, Galley Head, near Clonakility. We stayed for two nights in the lightkeepers' houses down at Galley Head, which really was a dream come true for me... more about this further on.
DAY 3: This was spent hanging around Inchydoney beach, just down the road from Clonakilty, and bothering the lighthouse (walking around it, looking in all the windows, taking photographs from a million different angles, etc.).
DAY 4: After a fantastic tour of the lighthouse from lighthouse attendant Gerald Butler, we said our goodbyes and made our way to Kinsale, via the Old Head of Kinsale and Ballinspittle. From Kinsale we soldiered on up north to Cork city, Limerick, and finally, home to Galway.
In summary, we had one night in Bantry and two in Galley Head and we drove about 800km in total - we couldn't walk or talk for about two days after returning to Galway but it was TOTALLY WORTH IT. I've written all about our West Cork expedition below...
The Mizen Head Signal Station was also great; this is on an island connected to the mainland by a bridge suspended 45m in the air - it looked scary and I was a bit wary at first, but I managed to power across by not looking to my right or left, and it was actually fine. There were loads of interesting bits and pieces at the signal station and we spent a good hour meandering around, looking at the exhibits and the views out to sea. We then had lunch at the visitor centre before driving down to beautiful Barleycove beach. This was STUNNING but our stay was cut short by some hardcore thundery showers and we had to retreat to the car. We didn't have time to visit Crookhaven and Brow Head, which comprised an important communications hub back in the day (Marconi's wireless telegraphy station operated from Brow Head in the early 1900s), but hopefully we'll get to see these the next time we're in this part of the country; the Beara Peninsula and Dursey Island (accessible by Ireland's only cable car!) are also on my list, along with Cape Clear Island...
On our way to Kinsale we stopped at the Marian Shrine in Ballinspittle, which was the centre of the Moving Statues phenomenon in Ireland in the mid-1980s (see here for a thoughtful, balanced account of this). I had never been here before but it felt peaceful and gentle, and I was reminded of Ireland's Catholic past and the deep devotion to Mary that persists here - although Ireland now considers herself a modern secular society, shrines such as this in Ballinspittle are still very important, with religious ritual and prayer so ingrained in the national psyche. Although there has been a lot of anger and hurt directed towards the Official Church in Ireland, the Catholic faith is strong here, much stronger than liberal commentators and outsiders would believe or accept. Ireland is a deceptively complex country, and I for one love this faith - in my opinion, it's essential to acknowledge the good that it does and how it helps people in times of need...
The final leg of our holiday brought us to Kinsale, a pretty, colourful harbour town renowned for its yachting crowd and its gourmet food and drinks scene. It's also the termination (or beginning, depending on how you look at it) of the Wild Atlantic Way. Kinsale was wall-to-wall traffic when we got there, with throngs of people everywhere... it was actually quite stressful trying to find parking and battling our way through the hordes was exhausting. We gave up after about 20 minutes and escaped into the nearest cafe for sustenance. Our lunch wasn't particularly memorable, and my opinion of Kinsale was rapidly going downhill, until Anthony spotted an ice-cream parlour called Sundays and we called in for some dessert - now, this was excellent! It was a fairly compact, diner-style set-up but we were lucky enough to get seats, and we thoroughly enjoyed the '60s-Americana ambience and our home-made waffles and brownies and ice-cream... after this I loved Kinsale and was in much better form as we took a wander around. Suitably fortified, it was back into the car and the R600 up to Cork city, and on to Limerick and Galway...