The Long & Winding (Irish) Road

The Old Presbytery

Tuesday morning in Kinsale - slept in and just made it to breakfast at The Old Presbytery. Smoked salmon and eggs for me, fresh fruit pancake for Peter - definitely the best breakfast we've had - in fact the best accommodation we've had. The Old Presbytery was just that but hadn't been used as a presbytery for 40 years. It was a lovely place to stay - four poster bed and all, after such a lovely meal at Zuul's - a new restaurant in Kinsale.

Typical Kinsale shops

We headed west (not sure where we'll be laying our heads tonight). Very light mist but not enough to prevent us from enjoying the spectacular scenery - I love the black faced sheep and the cows in the meadow (really!) On our Dublin walking guide's recommendation we stopped into Clonakilty, close to where Michael Collins was born (it's a bit like 'our Cadel' - every town he had any connection with him claims him as their own! Clonakilty was a delightful little town which won the tidy town for 2011.

We drove on to Skibereen. Its claim is that it was one of the worst hit towns during the famine.  It was obvious straight away that it was more a town of battlers. Next stop was Bantry, a lovely town on Bantry Bay. We stopped in for a drink to a tiny put which had a little general store at the front. Very quaint and the last pub of its kind in Bantry.

Mary at Eccles Hotel, Glengarriff

From Bantry we went on to Glengarriff, a little village about a half hour south of Kenmare. We stated at a nice hotel on the bay.  Apart from a bus load of old folk, I think the hotel was fairly empty but it had a lovely warm atmosphere - quite traditional. As it was quite foggy with a light rain falling, it was an ideal place to stop (Glengarriff had also been recommended by a Canadian couple in a pub in Dublin). After a half hour walk through a nearby forest, the foyer with an open fire was very inviting. We had dinner in the bar - I had seafood chowder which was yummy and then retired to the lounge in front of the fire.

Peter relaxing at Eccles Hotel

As the weather was pretty awful we took our time leaving Eccles. When we finally ventured out we got talking to a couple from the Lakes District who didn't seem to notice that it was raining, admittedly quite light but even so..  They were kind enough to offer to take a photo of both of us: 

Next destination - The Dingle Peninsular.