Sunday evening - The Story teller

We went to Cotters to have a quick dinner before going to see the storyteller at the social club. Maureen’s dinner of chicken, potatoes and broccoli was late in coming but tasty when it got there. I had a bean and rice salad and my 1/2 pint of Murphty’s. Cotters is a nice little pub. It was open when we first got on the island but they do have a kind of monopoly on the local and tourist folk as they seem to be the only pub that is open.

O’Driscolls pub is being renovated and painted and might be open tomorrow.

After dinner, at about 845, we toddled on down to the Cape Cliere Social Club which is above the store. There was a bar so after we got our seats we each got a drink. There was quite a few people there already as the storyteller was scheduled to start his story at 9. we got to talking with a couple of them.

It seems the island is 1583 acres as measured in the survey of 18 something and the Gentleman Sam Gustafson of Toronto is also a story teller that these people knew.

Our storyteller tonight was Dominique who was a Choctaw Indian from the states. His story was actually not so much a story but a of how the famine in 1847 affected his people and connected them to the Irish of the times. He was a good storyteller but his physical position in the hall was a matter of concern to me for a couple of reasons. He was not on a stage but was in a kind of semicircle of chairs and tables around him and immediately behind him were the steps to come into the hall. As he talked he would take a pace this way and that way and he seemed to be working his way ever so slowly backwards. I thought that he might take a tumble down the steps. The second thing that occurred about 15 minutes into his talk was when Ed the blind goat cheese man and his seeing eye dog came in. Ed just stood there for moment with his dog until someone came and got him and gave him a seat fairly close to the door. His dog lay down beside him but being a large dog was a little out into the floor and I was then concerned about the storyteller stepping on the dog. Once my concerns for his and the dogs safety were assuaged I could focus more on the story. The Choctaw nation, who were a hard put upon people themselves, when they heard about the famine got together and gave a donation of some considerable amount of money for the time, through the churches of the day. The story was very interesting and one line that he used stood out in our minds. “People were brought to the brink of their humanity”.

After the story teller there was going to be music. Earlier in the day I had lost a bet with Maureen so I owed her a beer. We split a pint of Smidicks (Smithwicks). The music was so much fun. Three young men started it and soon everyone was tapping their feet on the wooden floor. At one point the stopped playing and it was announced that Ed was going to sing. Well he was marvelous. He did a song, acappella ,‘Remember me’ might have been the title. After that was more traditional Irish music.

And we didn’t pay for anything except the beer. Michael from Cork joined us for a bit and walked us home at around 11.

There are very few or no street lights on the roads and the sky was cloudy so there were no stars or moon to light the way. It was very dark. We were all having a good time talking about the island, the weather, our plans for the next day and the next week. Only one or two cars went by us. The hostel was very quiet and we each settled into our separate rooms quickly although I think Michael may have gone back to the club. The beds were actually pretty comfortable for bottom of bunk beds.

Sunday - The Hill from Hell

We left the church and headed into town.

There was a steady breeze off the water that kept us company. If the sun had not been shining it would have been very cool. We strolled along the road enjoying the scenery. As we past the goat cheese store, I told Maureen of my adventures and purchases. We past houses and farms and we finally saw cows, possibly the ones that Archie had warned us of but they were in a different field.

We saw a tower down the road and out on a point. I was hoping that we could get out to it. There was a considerable amount of car traffic on the island considering that only 120 people lived on the island and I was pretty sure that not all of them had cars. Most of the cars that we saw were in an interesting state of repair. Lots had dings and bangs on them and most were older models.

We thought that they must bring only so many to the island by barge and then recycle them until they die.

Our walk brought us to a road that seemed to disappear in front of us as we walked. We realized that the road had turned onto a hill that was unbelievably steep and long. It was amazing. It was actually scary because

if anybody was driving that road while someone was walking on it.

I think that there would be victims on both sides.

The road comes down just behind the social center and gift shops. Maureen stayed for a little break at the picnic tables and I went exploring to the other side of the dock.

There were two natural caves in the walls opposite of the dock and just past the dock was a wildish kind of area with quite a few water channels running up to where I decided was a great place to take a few photos.

With only a little effort I got a few photos. went exploring around the dock area. then came back and searched out the Church of St Cieran.

It was more than a little overgrown and made walking around difficult. I was never sure exactly where I was putting me feet. At one point I realized that I was walking through the graveyard. Maureen came over as it was not very far from the cafe, and we poked around there for awhile.

I was actually surprised to find that the outside of the little church with no roof was all gravestones

. I walked slowly, a little worried I might fall into a grave because the grass was so high I could not see where I was putting my feet. There were a lot O’Driscalls buried there. I did not see even one O’Brien. I guess it might be the only part of Ireland where we are not from.

We then went back to the little store and picked up some bread, potatoes, wine, crisps and orange juice. We thought we got a great deal, all that for only 11.92 euros.

We walked back to the hostel. Maureen went onto the computer and I cooked up a quick snack of potatoes. This place was so clean and quiet. Archie said it was because it was not a weekend and it was not summer. They had taken over the ownership of the hostel about 6 years previous and had put a lot of work into it. When they got it, it was in sad shape, all falling down and moldy. But to look at it now you’ld never know. Our room had bunks but we were the only ones in there so we each took a bottom bunk and enjoyed the space.

The layout of the building was interesting too, lots of stairs and hallways. The guys wing was separate from the girls. We met one of the other hostelers, Michael from Cork. We talked about Cork and where we were going next. The Skelligs and he said that you pronounce Skellig Micheal as Skellig Veheel an old irish name for Michael.(the spelling of veheel is most assuredly wrong, I'm using my phonetic interpretation of his pronunciation)

We had our snack of potatoes and goat cheese and wine. It was good

Tonight we are going to the social club for a storyteller. How exciting.

The short cut to church on Cape Clear and goat cheese

We headed up the road indicated by Archie. Maureen asked What is a turnstile? and I happened to know so explained that it was like a small wooden or stone ladder or stepping stool on both sides over a fence so people could come and go without opening and closing gates but cattle or horses could not. It would be my first turnstile so I was excited.

As we walked along we saw to our right off in the distance what we thought was a castle and maybe a lighthouse.

I knew that I would be walking over there before leaving the island. We passed two houses on the left that were not yellow but about 100 yards later the next house was yellowish. We went past and looked for the turnstile but it was not there.

Concerned that we had

misunderstood our excellent directions we did continue on down the road discussing the giving of directions in Ireland. We saw a house on the left up on the hill about 100 yards away from the

road that was yellow but thought why would they put the

post office so far away from the road.

We persevered and went the 200 feet past its road and low and behold there was a turnstile!

It was a charming turnstile, small and efficient and we were over the wall in no time. The path that we had to follow was good but narrow and parts were covered by some pokey, prickly, bushy plants. We did not see the bull or any cattle at all for that matter so we thought Archie was kidding.

Over the first hill we did see goats.

Over the next rise we saw the other side of the island and the church. When we arrived, with minutes to spare, Maureen went in and I went down the road to see if I could find the Goat cheese place I had seen a sign for.

Now we were on the other side of the island and there was a strong breeze off of the ocean or the channel and even though the sun was beating down on us there was no fear of overheating.

Cape Clear Island is the southern most tip of Ireland and has a warmer climate that the rest of the country. It is gaeltacht which means that Irish is the first and main language spoken. With its long history there are lots of historic sights to see and is a great place for bird watchers too. Something for everyone. But right now I was on the hunt for cheese.

I proceeded down the road and wondered how much some of the old stone houses would cost to buy and for some how much would they cost to fix. the views were marvelous. I walked for about 10 minutes and met a young girl walking down the road who, when I asked, told me it was just down the road. I kept going and eventually came to the house with the sign that said Goat cheese and Ice cream.

At first I went to wrong door. There were a few men sitting at a table inside and one gentleman came to the door and told me that the store was on the other side of the house so I went up and around to the other side of the house. When I got there I knocked on the door the same gentleman who had told me to come to this door came to take care of me. He had his dog with him a beautiful big german shepherd.

I thought he was blind as when I asked for the cheese he felt his way to the freezer. I picked out some post cards with goats on them that he pointed out were not available anywhere else as they were his goats. The young girl who had given me directions showed up and helped with the change. With my cheese purchases safe in hand, I was not brave enough to try the goat milk ice cream, I went back to the church to meet Maureen.

By the time I got there The mass only had another 5 minutes to go so I did not have to wait a long time. Maureen told me the mass was in Irish but the priest must have known she did not understand because he did throw a little english in. the church was simple and lovely and pink. My favorite church window in Ireland was here. It was stunning in its simplicity. We stayed for awhile enjoying the quiet.

We decided to follow the road back into "town" to see what we could see.

Downtown Cape Clear Island

Upon departing from the small ferry we were greeted by the Cape Clear bus driver who offered to take us or if we wanted to walk, just drop our luggage off at the hostel for 2 euros. Maureen said yes without reservation. I had reservations. What if our things got lost? That would be sad. How far was it to walk? Where the heck were we going? In the end I agreed and we loaded our small bags onto the bus which is actually a van and we explored downtown Cape Clear Island. The first thing you see of course is the dock. This runs into a smallish road and brings you past St Kieran's Well and Holy site where his hand print is in the rock and he had a well. It is marvelous. Every where you go in Ireland there is another new saint that you have never heard of. St Kieran was born on the island in the 4th century. How long has this island been populated? Just a little farther around the bay and down the road was the Store on the main floor and social club upstairs. Outside the grocery/liquor/hardware and cafe store were picnic tables that were at the moment full of people getting ready to either depart the island or go exploring it.

The Island has a year round population of about 120

with the summer months bringing tourists who might be only day visitors or who might be staying for a while. Today there were a few but it was not too bad. Our next stop was the gift shop where we purchased postcards of course.

Continuing up the road past the smallest mailbox I had ever seen, about one foot tall by 8 inches deep, was Cotter's pub and restaurant.

A little further on up a steep narrow road was a most charming building with green windows. I found out that long ago they had a 'window tax' in Ireland and the bigger the window the higher the tax. That explains why there are so many buildings with small windows.

About five minutes further down the road was O'Driscolls pub

and restaurant and about five minutes further was a great view of the bay on other side of the island.

The road that we had just walked was the narrowest point on the island in between the two bays. the whole island is only about three miles long and one and a half miles wide.

It was a lovely hot walk as the sun was out and we were sheltered from the wind.

The hostel that we we staying at was just over the hill and around the corner. It is an old coast guard station that the current owners have fixed up wonderfully. Archie or 'just call me Henri' was a real comedian. Lots of fun. Our luggage was there! Good old reliable Cape Cleire bus people.

Once we got shown our room and shown around, he gave us very explicit instructions on how to get to the catholic church who had a mass at 2 pm, in about 45 minutes. only a 30 minute walk away by his reckoning if we took the shortcut.

Just up the road, about 200 feet past the yellow house that was the post office there was a turnstile. Go over the turnstile, through the field and over the hill following the path. Just watch out for the bull and you'ld be fine.

Bull?! We thought he might be kidding as he was a kidder. We sallied forth on our quest for the Church.

On Our way to Cape Clear

The sun was shining and the road was yellow. A sign said Skibereen 8 miles. We passed the turn off for Russagh Mill Hostel and Adventure Center on R596. We wondered what kind of adventures. Farming, maybe boating as they were close enough to the bay for a quick drive and then sailing or kayaking? We knew we were getting closer to Skibereen when we noticed that there were lines on the road and a sidewalk. We navigated a small traffic circle and then we were through Skibereen. Well actually the outskirts of Skibereen. On our way to Baltimore we passed through Carrigfadda and Gortshanecrone before we came to Loughine which is about half way. The road narrowed and we passed a pretty little golf course. The sign said Golf Club. You would think you would need more than one club. Why, I know people who have a whole golf bag full of them. We entertained ourselves. Maureen actually groaned when I said the golf club line.

The scenery was very nice, farms and fields, villages and narrow roads and all in sunshine. Then there was this very large blue truck in front of us. I would have been happy staying behind it for the rest of the way but Maureen wanted to try and get by. At one point we came to a corner and realized it was a tractor pulling a very large blue trailer. We waited for a safe stretch of road and passed with out incident. My, we were getting braver weren't we.

After the excitement of the tractor trailer we thought that it might be nice to not have any more excitement like that but the road narrowed considerably and kept us in a state of anxiety for quite some time.

We pulled into Baltimore and found the docks with only a little bit of trouble. Parking was another story.

We had left the castle early so that we could catch the noon ferry over to Cape Clear. We arrived at 1130 in Baltimore so thought that we had at least half an hour to get ourselves arranged and in order before we would have to leave. When we pulled up to the docks there was a ferry there already, so we parked in the one hour parking and went down to enquire what time they left.

They said they were leaving almost immediately which threw us into a small panic as we were not ready.

They did seem most helpful in that they told us that we could park in the area that seemed to be under construction to become a parking lot and was marked no parking. They told us that the town had run out of money and that it had been like that for quite some time and on top of that it was a long weekend and no work was ever done on a long weekend anyway.

Well, we did not know quite how to take this. After all, if we went to the island for two days and came back to find the

car towed away somewhere or with a ticket for some exorbitant amount of money because we had parked in the wrong place which was clearly marked No Parking, would we not be a little upset, inconvenienced and sad to say at the least? But all the other parking lots were full so we decided to live on the wild side, believe the ferry people and just do it. So we parked in the clearly marked No parking under construction parking lot, grabbed our bags and hurried down to the ferry.

One the the ladies who worked on the ferry came to meet us halfway down the pier said we had to hurry as the ferry had to leave as the next ferry was coming. Now this confused me all to pieces but she had already taken my luggage and was climbing into the boat. We jumped on and purchased our return tickets.

Now I say that this confused me as, when I was researching the access routes to the island ,the ferry only ran twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. So what other ferry was she talking about? I thought, maybe there were ferries to other islands and thought no more about it, just enjoyed the views.

The trip took about an hour and was lovely. The Captains of these vessels must certainly know the waters well as in some of the channels that we went through I saw rocks just under the surface seemingly not so very far away from the boat. We pulled into the very sheltered little harbour at Cape Clear island safe and sound. We past natural caves in the steep rock walls on our way to the dock. Once we were moored and off the boat we were so ready to start our first small Irish island adventure.

Sunday Morning In Castletownshend

Woke at 5 am. “Birds”

Dressed quietly and headed down to watch the horse channel but there was only cooking on so tried to sneak around the castle which is impossible with its creaky floors and squeaky doors so ended up going outside for a walk.

The morning was as calm as could be and the bay was like glass.

I walked over to the public dock and ran into the two dogs that we had met yesterday. They are very good company. Tigger the cat was still in the castle sleeping on a chair in the second floor hallway.

The sun came up like Homers rosy fingered dawn except that it was a golden fingered dawn. I got some real nice reflective shots of the castle,the boat house and dock and some of the boats out on the water. It was a gorgeous morning and so peaceful.

Went back inside and had a cup of tea and watched a little TV. There were some great houses, more horses and a bit of news. I wrote in the journal next until I was caught up. Maureen and I had a lovely breakfast of fish and tea on the terrace and then we packed up the car. Tigger was up and about too and caught a shrew out on the patio.

Last night at the restaurant we had asked what time church was in the morning as we were going to be leaving and did not want to have to try and negotiate the hill at the same time as lots of other vehicles. We obviously let enough people know that we were going to be leaving that morning as there was no one on the street when we left.

We found the road to be very bumpy but we made it to the top with no problem! High Five! At that moment we were great!

We swung by St Barahanes, the catholic church at the ‘top of the hill’. Very quiet, very lovely and simple ‘. It had one of the most beautiful paintings of St Teresa I have ever seen. A really nice church.

After that we were on our way to Skibereen, Baltimore and Cape Clear.