October 9.

We spent the day in County Cork driving from Skibbereen around to Baltimore and Union Hall, and then onto Kinsale via the Drombeg Stone Circle and the Timoleague Friary Ruins. 

First to the salt lake Lough Hyne, as recommended by Liona, the young barmaid we had met in the pub  the previous evening. A bunch of dogs accompanied by a bunch of ladies in terry cloth bathrobes having a natter – it appeared that some of them had been swimming and the rest were there to let their dogs run. 

The primary sights in Baltimore were this odd beacon out on a rocky point……and this lighthouse across the water.It was a blustery day and Al wanted to get going. However the rock formations of the crumbling shale cliffs had me racing all over the place taking way too many photos of rocks. The town itself is described as being ‘all about the sea’ and had some interesting pubs but unfortunately it was a bit too early in the morning to drop in and hear some salty tales. A tiled mural on a building showing sail boats.Two kitty-corner doors – both interesting.Our next stop was at the fishing village of Union Hall. Hmmm, another pub to tempt us but it’s still too early in the morning.Union Hall and Glandore were highlighted on this Lonely Planet map as being ‘unspoilt fishing villages’. On the Lonely Planet map I have written ’10-foot-high hedgerows’ which signals to me that I couldn’t see anything from the car other than hedgerows, and we had to stop the car and get out to see anything!A map on a sign of the same area with quite different highlighting of towns and sights.More on our 2015 trip to Ireland.