Castles, Churches and Stone Circles in County Cork
Trip Start
Apr 05, 2006
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13
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Trip End
Apr 27, 2006
Kealkill, Munster, Ireland
Monday, April 17, 2006
Picked up Allie and drove up to the Kealkill Stone Circle. The girls got chatting to an Australian family (the husband being ex Irish) from Sydney while I photographed aligments between the stones. Allie got her boots stuck in a bog, but I was too worried about getting her out to take a photo. Such would have been very funny. Back on the road, we tried to find other stone circles nearby but soon gave up. Headed instead for Dunmanway and Ballincarriga Castle; a large sqaure fortification overlooking a hamlet. The Castle is reasonably intact but not safe to enter. Lots of plants growing between the stones of the walls and birds roosting inside. Only one turrent tower of four still remains.
Down to Skibbareen and Ballydehob, where we briefly stopped off at a Catholic Church, and on down the coast through Schull, Toormore and Durrus on our way back to Bantry. Although the coastal peninsula is pretty, the countryside is rather barren for farmingm being mainly brambles and gorze and rock. However the land from Dunmanway to Skibbareen is more promising and like the valley below Jim's. Most dairy herds throughout West Cork seem to consist of less than a dozen cows, though I did see one that mat have reached 25-30. We noted the highest mountain in the region with two observatories on its peak.
