Found a really nice 2 storey, end unit townhouse through Sykes Holiday Cottages (www.sykescottages.co.uk). Three bedrooms, large kitchen, front living room, and best of all, carpeted stairs (Lump says yeah!).
Large side yard, fully fenced, which is perfect for the dogs. The off-street parking lot was empty except for us. The house is a 5 minute walk from the main area of the town which has a grocery stores, pub and three restaurants. Oh, and a pizza take out place.
Walked up to the town one night to find a restaurant for dinner. No reservations, it’s mid-week in mid-September, who needs reservations? (foreshadowing here).
Three restaurants (not including the pizza take-out) are open. The first, Jack’s, has a table available, but only takes cash. No problem, there is an ATM at the grocery store down the street… except the ATM is broken. On to the second restaurant, Walsh’s Seafood, completely booked. Last chance, Market House… has a table available and takes plastic! We are good to go, except… not licensed have to bring your own wine. Back to the grocery store, get a bottle, back to the restaurant. Now we are good to go. Good food. Busy place. Nice to see that the local economy is doing well.
Another day we stopped a the local pub for a pint. No dogs allowed inside, but they had a couple of pick-nick tables outside. The pub was packed as we had apparently settled into the middle of a wedding party. Not the attire one expects to encounter in a local pub. We were definitely undressed, but the party had been going for a while, so I don’t think anyone noticed.
The Drombeg Stone Circle (picture above and at top of post), also known as “The Druid’s Altar” was excavated in 1957 and is believed to have been in use from 1000 – 800 BCE. Just a few metres away there are ruins of two dwelling huts and a fulacht fiadh, which is a cooking hut which has an oven/fire pit and a second pit that can be filled with water, hot stones are dropped in to heat the water until it is hot enough to cook in. In the photo below, the fire pit is the round opening at the top, and the boiling pit is the rectangular opening just below the fire pit.
We drove into Clonakilty, a small town about 15 minutes away from Rosscarbery on a Saturday to do some shopping. A very busy main street, with lots of small shops, restaurants and cafes. A nice old town main street.
On a rainy day (if we waited until it wasn’t raining we would never get out at all) we drove to CastleFreke Trails next to the town of Rathbury. Really nice wooded walks, and along Kilkeran Lake. We wanted to see the Rathbury Church, so we walked along a road looking for the trail to the church. And we walked. And walked. It rained. It rained. Then it rained harder. And we walked. We walked until we got back to the town of Rathbury where we first drove into the park. We, and the dogs, were just a bit damp by the time we got back to the van.
On another rainy day (I did mention that it rains more than it doesn’t) we drove to Lough Hyne Marine Nature Reserve,. The lake (Lough Hyne) is a sea water lake fed by a small inlet. We hiked up Knockomagh Hill via a steep trail. The trail rises 197m over 1km of steps and switchbacks.
About half way up the trail we can glimpse Lough Hyne through the trees. Did I mention that it was raining?
September 13-17, 2023