Dunmore East

Our final day in the South East starting with a mad dash to get past Waterford to Dunmore East to catch the tall ships departing. We parked a mile or so above the little cove of Dunmore getting a spectacular view of the whole bay as the ships hoisted their sails in the open sea.

3-masters milling about in the bay

It took a while for the ships to arrive so we cycled down to the cove. On another day we might have been besotted by this quaint, Victorian village. As it was we settled behind the local lighthouse with grand views looking up the river and out to sea.

As the ships left the shelter of the river banks, their sails unfurled rounding the point in full sail; a glorious sight. It took several hours for all the big ships to pass by when we headed back up the hill to try and chase them round the coast.

 

Our first stop was near Kilmurrin on a promontory poking out into the Atlantic Ocean. The weather was glorious, almost too warm for watching the ships go by in the distant haze. However, it was not to be; turned out the weather forecast was bad for the next few days with strong winds blowing along the west coast. The intended route for the tall ships was round the west of Ireland, passed the Hebrides and round the top of Scotland to arrive at Edinburgh. The forecast was reckoned to be too dangerous for the crews so they turned round and headed up St. Georges Channel instead.