Travelled: 75km Wild Atlantic Way from Baltimore to Clonakilty
Visited: Lough Hyne, Toe Head, Drombeg Stone Circle, Timoleague Abbey
Stay: Harbour View Beach parking neat Kilbrittain N51.6503 W8.6782
Leaving Baltimore this morning we back tracked until we came to the turnoff heading to Lough Hyne. Once again the roads were narrow and we were happy that is was early and we didn’t come across anyone going the other way.
It was a beautiful calm and sunny morning and as we parked up, a man was taking off on his canoe and a couple of ladies went off for a swim, mind you they were wearing wetsuits! We enjoyed the lovely view of this salt water lake surrounded by hills.
There were many dairy farms around the area and so it was inevitable that we would get caught once again by a herd moving to a field.
We had a brief stop at the Toe Head WAW sign where the cliffs meet the Celtic Sea and we read about some ship wrecks along the coast.
We drive through Unionhall and over the 5t limit bridge.
Then through the small harbour town of Glandore with its grand mansions.
At the Drombeg Stone Circle we had to park outside the carpark due to the height barrier. A short stroll brought us to, it is said, one of the best standing circles in Ireland.
On the site there was also the remains of a ‘cooking house’ (experts assume).
We stopped in Lidl in Clonakilty, did a bit of shopping and then watched the Bombers unfortunately loose in the elimination final against the Westcoast Eagles. We continued on and had a look at the remains of Timoleague Abbey, built in 1290 by Franciscan monks. Unfortunately it was another catholic building destroyed by Cromwell in the mid 1600’s.
Courtmascherry Bay was once a viable deep water port but a tsunami caused it to silt. Now the mud flats are a very important bird sanctuary.
View of Old Head Kinsale Lighthouse.
A little further around the coast we decided to stop on the shore of Harbour View Beach. It is surrounded by sand dunes and lush green hills where cows graze.
Selfie of the day...Bluey is photo bombing.
At low tide the remnants of the old pier stand out.
After a stroll along the beach we returned to Bluey to enjoy an early dinner whilst awaiting for the tide to come in.
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