Crookhaven

Lough-side looking toward Lackenacea

Thursday turned into a miserable day with horrendous rains after Baltimore. The only site we knew off was well along the coast past Skull. When we finally arrived at Lackenacea the sky emptied on us.

The next day the sun rose into a clear blue sky with the odd bits of fluff blowing by. And we discovered we were at the end of the world - as far as Ireland is concerned; the site was on a little isthmus - the Atlantic to one side and a crystal clear lough on the other.

After breakfast we parked at another sandy beach by Ballynaul and got the canoe out to enjoy the Atlantic. As we splashed our way about a pair of grey seals came to see what all the noise was about. The male was enormous, as big as the canoe - just as well he didn't take a dislike to us but neither came close enough. As we got back to shore a cafuffle broke out amongst some nearby tourists; a pod of about 10 common dolphins were cavorting in the lough on the other side of the road. Wow, it couldn't get much better than this.

Crookhaven: out to sea

Once we had calmed down, on our bikes to visit Crookhaven, the village further up the lough. Pauline fell in love with this place; a couple of house over looking a little harbour with a light on the opposite headland. Today the harbour was full of youngsters learning to sail. Where they all came from is beyond me, there was very little accommodation about even for summer visitors.

Sheepshead from Dunbeacon

At first we intended to carry on further west but past the campsite the road shrank to barely a track; the single track road was trying enough but this seemed too much. Instead we manoeuvred to join the coast road along the north-side of the peninsula. Our destination for the night was to be a strange little site perched precariously on the hillside near Dunbeacon. A short walk up the hill to get above the tree and shrub line and catch a glimpse of the sun poised to set behind the mountains across the way.