We started our day with a 1.5 hr drive through the countryside to the furthest point we go to today. When we got to Lough Hyne the track for the viewpoint we were going to was shut off due to fallen trees. So our hike to see Lough Hyne went to plan B. Besides the tree issue, low cloud and fog might have made seeing things a bit of a challenge. Martin did a quick bit of research and found a road and track that took us close to the mouth, this became our Plan B. It entailed a drive to near the mouth of the Lough. Another tricky one lane road two way traffic, with no built-in passing points just to make things even more interesting.
It turned out really good, the view over the mouth with the incoming tide was superb. We didn’t go all the way down the track to the waters edge, but had great views from halfway.
We then went back into Skibbereen to the Heritage Centre where they had an historical section detailing Potato Famine. Very interesting and sad.
We watched an audio visual presentation on Lough Lyne. In the long distant past it was a freshwater lake but with past rising sea levels it became marine. The inlet to the Lough is 80m long x 25m wide. It flows out for 8 hrs and in for 4hrs every tide cycle due to the shape of the mouth entrance. Very fast currents occur at the entrance. It is Ireland’s and Europe’s first marine reserve, which occurred in 1981. The Lough has been a centre for marine research since the late 1800’s.There are a lot of local myths and legends centred around the Lough.
The cafe we went to for lunch was full, so we headed to the local market. We found a Bacon and Egg Roll stand, got one each cooked to order, delicious. Then we strolled around the market. So much life in local markets.
Our first stop this afternoon was Drombeg Stone Circle. To get there we drove through Union Hall, a small waterside village. Mist rising off the water made it look so pretty. We also passed through Glandore Village, and it to was covered in mist. Glandore had lots of people at the local pubs having drinks outside overlooking the bay. It gave the village a festive feel.
The Drombeg Stone Circle is around 4000 years old. It is appropriately named using Gaelic, Drom = stone circle and Beg = small. It is the smallest stone circle we have seen. It was only about 10m in diameter and excavations had revealed cremated remains buried in the centre of the circle. The circle has Winter sunrise and Summer sunset solstice alignments, a little unusual. What I found even more unusual was the presence of two “bee hive” structures and a Folacht Fiadh (essentially a late stone age / early bronze age kitchen with a stone pit that was used for boiling water and the cooking food in it) in the same site as the stone circle. Both sites could have coexisted in time and may actually make sense to be together. A method of determining the seasons of the year accurately for agriculture and a kitchen side by side.
We called into the village of Timoleague to see the Timoleague Friary. The Friary takes its name from a 7th century saint who established a monastic settlement in the area. The Friary was built in around 1300BC. It was ruined by Cromwell’s forces who set fire to its roof. It is currently being “stabilised”.
Next stop was Old Head, the nearest point on mainland Ireland to the wreck of the Lusitania, the sinking by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915 that led to America entering WWI. The Old Head Signal tower is now a museum to the wreck of the Lusitania. We walked down to the location of the original Signal Tower, which now forms the entrance to a Golf Club. The cliffs and the coast were shrouded in mist that was rolling in off the Atlantic. It gave the whole area a surreal feel about it.
To finish our day we visited James Fort, built in around 1780 by the British. From there we could look across the bay to Charles Fort, a similarly constructed fort but much larger. It was said that in their time a chain was stretched between the two forts and rested on the bed of the bay. If enemy ships came into the bay the chain was raised trapping the ships and making them easy canon targets. When the Irish gained their independence in the Kinsale area from the British both forts were torched in an act of retribution for past atrocities by the British. We have never really tired of looking at the ruins of days gone by, their histories are always fascinating.
And that ended another amazing day in Ireland, tomorrow we head back to Dublin. ?
