Wednesday night at Charles Fort was a bit blustery as we were high up but it was still a peaceful one. We left around 09.30 on Thursday to make our way down towards Old Head of Kinsale to visit the Lusitania Museum. The sinking of the Cunard passenger ship in 1915 by a German U Boat was instrumental in the USA joining the First World War as there were many Americans on board. No one survived. The ship sank very quickly when a second explosion occurred soon after the first. At the time it was thought the U Boat had fired a second torpedo. The more likely reason is that it was carrying ammunition for the British Army! The museum itself is in the old Signal Point that had been established during the Napoleonic Wars to warn of imminent attack along the west coast of Ireland. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty miserable so the views weren’t great!

We went from there to Clonakilty as we wanted to visit the Michael Collins House Museum. Michael Collins was instrumental in the creation of the current Irish State in 1921. He was assassinated in 1922 during the civil war by those opposed to the establishment of Northern Ireland. Really interesting story and a lovely town. We managed to park in the cathedral car park for our visit.

From there we drove to an eco campsite called Mountain Forge Escape (P4N#322881). The weather was still pretty miserable so it was good to be somewhere out of the wind with showers and toilets. This allowed us to get rid of waste water and refill our tanks. Bizarrely, they were charging for rubbish disposal but not recycling. Dinner on board again before playing cards and watching the weather!

After a hearty breakfast in the van, including black and white pudding from Clonakilty, we spent the next day, Friday May 1, mooching around Galley Head. We visited or tried to visit the lighthouse of the same name, several beaches (all of them glorious but especially Inchydoney) before a swift half at O’Donovan’s Bar at Fisher Cross. Then back to the Fish Basket at Longstrand beach for an early supper before making our way back to Redstrand Beach for the night. We parked up literally by the beach (P4N#51141) looking out into the bay and we were rewarded with two basking sharks. Maria took the photo as it was difficult to see with the naked eye. Unfortunately, the beach sauna was running otherwise we might have been tempted!

Another stormy night but it was relatively clear the next morning for our trip into Skibbereen. The Famine Heritage Centre wasn’t open on Sundays so we decided to go on the Saturday (May 2) with the added bonus of a Farmers Market in town as well. We parked in Lidl just outside of town to avoid the mayhem further in and walked back into town.

The Famine museum was very enlightening as well as poignant with so many dying in the area. A single family needed 25kg of potatoes a day to survive. It was their only food and most of the population were subsistence farmers, renting small areas of land from absentee landlords.

At a local graveyard, between 8,000 and 10,000 are buried in mass graves. They believe over a million people died in the Famine of 1847-1852 with a further 1.5 million emigrating. Even the Poor Relief Works didn’t help as the money the labourers should have been paid was late coming. People were pawning their clothes in order to eat and then getting ill and dying anyway. All because of potato blight imported from America and indifference from the British Establishment and local landowners. The population never recovered as the pre famine number was 8.5 million and today is 5 million.

It seemed a bit disrespectful to go from that to our lunchtime stop at Camus Farmhouse where we enjoyed a locally grown lunch of Braised Lamb Shank and a filo mascarpone dessert. It was delicious though and they even let us stay in their car park overnight so we could enjoy a boozy lunch.

Miles since last blog: 101

Miles this trip: 605