The south (and a bit of the west) coast of Ireland

After Crookhaven the forecast was for a few days of reasonably good weather, so we nipped round the corner into the first “ria” of the west coast and anchored in a bay called “Blair’s Cove” near Durrus. Here I took a photo of the posh hotel/restaurant that Marion and I once visited in the distant past. I still remember that the owner who ran the hotel was German (so everything spotless, neat and tidy, fantastic breakfast) and that her husband who ran the restaurant was Belgian (so wonderful food). And now we were sleeping in their view!

Arnold set off on a voyage of discovery and found out where we could “land” and walk to the village. All very charming, and this time a fantastic burger for lunch. Had a funny chat with the guy selling them, who turned out to be highly educated but had to do every part of the family business, so selling burgers too. He was actually a software developer, so I also got the full story about their software company!

Then it was time to sail to Baltimore. On the way we passed the most famous “waypoint” in the sailing world, the Fastnet Rock lighthouse. This year we happened to be there right around the 50th edition of the Fastnet Race.

The place that gave its name to the big city in the United States turned out to be just as tiny as Crookhaven and Durrus, with a supermarket without an “off licence”. That’s why there are so many pubs, we decided, because you can only buy alcohol in the big towns. 7,000 pubs versus 3,000 off licences. We reckon it’s the other way round in the Netherlands. Like Crookhaven, Baltimore was pretty packed with (mostly Irish) tourists. Here too we were lucky with the weather, fairly sunny, although you do get a shower every day.

Next we called at Kinsale. According to the excellent sailing directions of the Irish Cruising Club, this was where we’d find a big supermarket. And a marina, but there was no room for us because Adela was there. An enormous 55 m sailing yacht, see link, gorgeous, but she does fill up the visitors’ pontoon. Luckily there was a visitors’ mooring buoy free, because it was blowing quite hard.

In the dinghy to the shore again and off to the next pubs! The next day another excursion, this time to “Charles Fort”. Built after the wars of succession, it was a belated response to the Dutch raid on Chatham, where we made mincemeat of the English fleet. That in turn was a response to the attack on Terschelling and Vlieland, where the English attacked innocent merchantmen and the local population. Unfortunately we then went on to lose the 3rd and 4th Anglo-Dutch Wars. You don’t hear the English talk about it much anymore …

Something else that stands out in Ireland: everywhere there’s attention for the struggle for independence from the English in the 1920s, and the English are definitely not popular, even less so since Brexit. Yet meanwhile almost everything is modelled on the English way of doing things, even where that perhaps wasn’t or isn’t necessary. English electrical standards, for example. English food (only then we call it Irish bacon, tea, chips, etc.). And of course driving on the left!

In the meantime we’d arranged with Marion and Ella that they would come to Cork, which is easy to fly into and a good springboard for heading to the Isles of Scilly. We had the choice of a pontoon right in the middle of the city, which looked packed in the photo in the pilot book, or a berth in the marina of the oldest yacht club in the world, the Royal Cork Yacht Club, founded in 1720. Still Royal (so English!). So we went for the latter. Now that wasn’t too bad, the service was actually fine, but the bar was almost empty, the food nothing special either, and the village had just 1 restaurant and 1 fish & chip shop (called Chish and Fips). In short, the marina wasn’t up to much, the club even less, and the village was a long way from the city. In hindsight the wrong choice, because when we later drove past the city pontoon in the hire car, it turned out to be practically empty!

Marion and Ella arrived at the marina slightly shaken by the narrow roads, and we took them in tow to the village. Had a good meal and a few drinks, and over the next few days we were quick to take the car into Cork. A lovely city, with lots of old-fashioned little shops and cosy pubs and restaurants. Highly recommended!

Then it was already time again to dash off to the next country with a new crew. A small depression passed over, and while it was still blowing force 8 in the morning, by midday it had cleared right up and we had a beautiful sail to the Isles of Scilly in glorious weather with a following breeze of 15-20 kn. Everyone, myself included, was a bit wobbly on the seasickness front though, because the waves were still big!

This time my haste paid off, because we’re now in Green Bay between Bryher and Tresco. It really is gorgeous here again, and now Marion and Ella finally get to see it too. Went for a walk on Bryher, a truly adorable little island with around 80 inhabitants. In various spots you can buy all sorts of things, simply with an honesty box, card reader included. We bought some delicious fudge, but you can also get potatoes, vegetables and the like that way.

Right, the blog is up to date again and now we’re off to Tresco!