Tragumna Beach - 23 April 2023

23 April 2023 - Kinsale to Tragumna Beach (near Skibbereen)

So - I finished my first book of the trip about 11pm - was fast asleep, but by 12.30 I was upright asking Tintin what that noise was, in my - at first sleepy state, in the darkness I thought he was opening his bedroom blind a crack to look out - but no. He was asleep, I thought we were being broken into as I felt Dave being rocked - but couldn’t work out why the alarms weren’t going off if someone was trying to get in - turns out that when a sleeping Tintin turns over heavily - Dave rocks! Took me a while to get back to sleep!

Tintin had received a lovely email from some people living in Antibes who are enjoying our blog. That brightened up our day - thank you Gaye and Philippe. 😊

There were quite a few people dipping in the sea this morning - again, have been thinking about it…

In some ways it’s been quite a fraught day, with us questioning how much of the WAW we’re actually going to drive around.

On the map the first point of interest was Timoleague Abbey. I thought it was great, as there was a little cat there following us around. They also provide leaflets about the place free of charge - we just read about it, but placed the leaflet back for the next person. Quite interesting that they’re using it as a cemetery.

We bypassed Clonakilty as it was offering lots of information about Michael Collins, a distillery, a model railway village or a black pudding visitor centre (which neither of us like!).

From there the next purple discovery point was Inchydoney Beach. Again, was lovely, people surfing, a few swimming, people dog walking, bet it’s packed in the summer.

The Galley Head View was lovely, and we stopped off for lunch (in Dave).

From there, the roads became narrower, with potholes and areas where there wasn’t any tarmac left - also the drop off on the left hand side of the road would cause the end of the journey if your wheel went in!

At one point we stopped to ask a lady the way to Castletownsend, she was warning us that the roads were steep, narrow and windy! Also said it’s a good marketing ploy to call it The Wild Atlantic Way - the roads have always been here, but the advertising people have added points of interest along the way.

We were already thinking what was the point of all these virtually single lanes when in a motorhome you can’t enjoy the scenery as you’re constantly looking out for the next obstacle! We might use the N71, then dip in and out of where we’d like to go!

And from there, it got worse! Tintin remained calm! We drove down a road, with an interesting old phone box, petrol pump at the side of the road, pub etc - then had to mount the pavement to get around the circular stone obstacle with trees growing in it! Around the right corner at the bottom - and we were on a pier with nowhere to go but the sea! Oops - at least there was enough space to turn around.

At the top, we found out why we’d gone wrong - the signpost was hidden under the trees!

I’d like to say the roads got better - but they didn’t. At one point we met a convey of trucks and quite a few of the front driving bit of trucks - happy to say there was a convenient place to pass near the start of the road, if we’d met them a few minutes earlier, might have been very different!

I feel that it’s the kind of trip that eventually when asked about it, we’ll say it’s fine to do in a motorhome - personally I’m not finding it that relaxing at present, maybe I’ll chill out!

We spent 5 hours driving on and off - to go about 45 miles! By 3pm we gave up and now parked up at Tragumna Beach. Very pretty little cove, and now at gone 7pm is nearly empty.

So, how’s Dave faring I hear you ask! Well, the tap in the bathroom sink is leaking - it has a microfibre cloth wrapped around, which we wring out periodically - job for Tintin to fix at home! The catch on the bottom kitchen drawer isn’t holding, and flies open around particularly tight corners. Tintin thought the dash cam wasn’t working - but that was operator error! The fridge doesn't now work on 12v when driving, the reason is probably a burnt 20amp fuse on the pcb. Tintin replaced the fuse before we left and it was really burnt, needs a new fuse holder  soldering on, job for at home. We have ongoing data issues - we’ve eaten up nearly 50GB of our 200GB in just a few days - haven’t watched iPlayer, or videos etc - but have FaceTimed our children and done lots of research! In the grand scheme of things, all trivial 😊

As for what is rattling loose when driving, only time will tell! It’s just not that pleasant bumping around, very noisy - but that could just be our van - don’t have anything to compare it with - and maybe some people don’t tell the truth about theirs! Also, Tintin - take note when opening overhead lockers that food items don’t hit your wife on her head! Twice!!

Jamie sent us this link about a Landrover Defender doing the WAW, a bit more appropriate than our van.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p19LE5erMTM&t=2s

The one place we did want to visit tomorrow is the Skibbereen Heritage Centre to learn more about the 1840s famine. Just our luck, it’s closed on Mondays - so have copied this from their website:-

“The Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s is now recognised as the worst humanitarian disaster of nineteenth century Europe. In 1841 the population of Ireland was over 8.5 million people. By 1850, at least one million people had died in terrible conditions while more than 1.25 million emigrated as refugees. It is estimated that a further c. 400,000 births did not take place as a direct result of an Gorta Mór.

Ireland lost more than its people. The Famine fundamentally changed both the land and the people of Ireland, distorting the course of Irish history. The social, cultural and psychological effects of the Famine lingered on long afterwards and emigration became a part of Irish life. Fifty years after the Great Famine, the population of Ireland had almost halved.

Skibbereen played a very important role during the Great Hunger as reports from the area focused worldwide attention on the disaster. Skibbereen became synonymous with the Famine and many sites in the town have direct links to this tragic time, each with its own story to tell.”

We’ve already decided that we won’t be visiting all 159 Discovery Points along the way - there are also 15 Signature Discovery Points (higher rated).

Tea tonight was a bowl of Huel (uk.Huel.com) - essentially everything you need nutrient wise in a quick dish - add a couple of dry scoops of chosen product, add boiling water, wait 5 minutes - and job done!  Pasta bolognese tonight - tasted ok, but still getting harder bits of pasta - maybe leave it ‘cook’ a little longer. Maybe better than crisps and chocolate?!

Hopefully by tomorrow I’ll have my positive head on!