Fri 22 Aug
We had a long walk to Charles Fort to stretch our legs and spent about an hour exploring the ruins. It was very quiet with only a few tourists – we were expecting a lot more people, but it seems the wet summer is affecting Ireland as much as the Scillies. We had lunch in the Bulman Pub in Summer Cove and were very impressed with the menu as we’d been expecting bog standard pub grub. Mark had his first Irish Guiness of the trip – I tasted it and it wasn’t nearly as bitter as English Guiness and much creamier than I had anticipated but I was happy to stick with lager and lime.
On our way back, we met up with a couple who were doing some gardening close to the path. Irish hospitality is legendary and after reading books like McCarthy’s Bar, I always suspected it was somewhat exaggerated. So I was more than a little shocked less than an hour later to be escorted around the home of a multi-millionaire who mainly lives in the USA – Ray and Joan are the caretakers and are justifiably proud of the house and gardens that they look after.
Sat 23 Aug
After a relatively dry day yesterday, today the rain was back with a vengeance. We headed over to James Fort on the opposite headland but it is a very small ruin and it was all fenced off, with nothing to see. Since we were already wet, we decided to take the dinghy back over to Kinsale to stock up on some shopping.
Sun 24 Aug
A lazy day strolling through town with lunch at The Spaniard. This pub is allegedly where the gastronomic reputation of Kinsale originally started, leading to several highly regarded restaurants being set up in town. We keep hearing reports of the weather being about to improve, and the winds are easing a bit after picking up again so we’re planning to move on tomorrow.
We had a long walk to Charles Fort to stretch our legs and spent about an hour exploring the ruins. It was very quiet with only a few tourists – we were expecting a lot more people, but it seems the wet summer is affecting Ireland as much as the Scillies. We had lunch in the Bulman Pub in Summer Cove and were very impressed with the menu as we’d been expecting bog standard pub grub. Mark had his first Irish Guiness of the trip – I tasted it and it wasn’t nearly as bitter as English Guiness and much creamier than I had anticipated but I was happy to stick with lager and lime.
On our way back, we met up with a couple who were doing some gardening close to the path. Irish hospitality is legendary and after reading books like McCarthy’s Bar, I always suspected it was somewhat exaggerated. So I was more than a little shocked less than an hour later to be escorted around the home of a multi-millionaire who mainly lives in the USA – Ray and Joan are the caretakers and are justifiably proud of the house and gardens that they look after.
Sat 23 Aug
After a relatively dry day yesterday, today the rain was back with a vengeance. We headed over to James Fort on the opposite headland but it is a very small ruin and it was all fenced off, with nothing to see. Since we were already wet, we decided to take the dinghy back over to Kinsale to stock up on some shopping.
Sun 24 Aug
A lazy day strolling through town with lunch at The Spaniard. This pub is allegedly where the gastronomic reputation of Kinsale originally started, leading to several highly regarded restaurants being set up in town. We keep hearing reports of the weather being about to improve, and the winds are easing a bit after picking up again so we’re planning to move on tomorrow.
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