Over the last
two Saturdays I have undertaken two walks with my Camino buddies around the
wonderful West Cork coast to get ready for walking the next section of the
Camino in October. On both occasions we were blessed with that most elusive of
Irish blessings: hot sunny weather and even had to use suncream! The sky was
blue, the Atlantic sparkled and there were expansive views in all directions. A
warm, sunny Irish early Autumn day is hard to beat!
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| Broad Strand |
I undertook
the first walk on Saturday 29th August with my friends Ben Jonas and
Matt McCullagh. Ben is walking the first half of the Camino starting on the 19th
September and Matt is returning to Estella on the 26th to walk to
Belorado (and hopefully meet up with Ben on the way). They then will walk with
us for five days from Belorado – Fromista.
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| Ben & Matt |
I stayed
overnight at Ben’s house in Cork and then Matt joined us for breakfast (I have
now realised that Ben doesn’t know how to boil an egg!) and we drove down to
Courtmacsherry and walked 26.7 km around part of the Seven Heads Walk.
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| Barry's Cove |
The entire
walk is 42.5 km and starts at the town of Timoleague and goes round in a circle
clockwise to Courtmacsherry, Broad Strand, Ballymacshoneen, Dunworley and back
to Timoleague. Within this there are other smaller walks that can be taken
without walking the full distance including the Lusitania trail which
commemorates the ill-fated liner which was torpedoed by a German U Boat and
sank off the coast on Friday 7th May 1915 causing the deaths of
1,198 passengers and crew and resulted in the United States joining the First
World War. The whole area provides some of the finest coastal scenery in
Ireland as a counterbalance to this grim history and the walk is to be highly
recommended.
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Patrick Keohane Monument
- he was part of Captain Scott 's Antarctic expedition |
After morning
coffee with a homemade scone for me and almond croissants for Matt and Ben at
the excellent Travara Lodge B&B and café in Courtmacsherry, we drove to
Broad Strand and started our walk. At Travara itself near Ballymacshoneen, we
stopped and ate our packed lunch before walking on to Dunworley and then back
to Courtmacsherry via Butlerstown and Lisleetemple. After a pint in
Courtmacsherry we completed the circuit back to Broad Strand through the
ancient oak woodland at Wood Point.
Last Saturday
(3rd September) I undertook my second walk; this time around the
Sheep’s Head, also in West Cork, but further west around the coast. On this
occasion I walked 15.8 km with Matt and another friend, Matthew Watson, who
will also be walking the Camino with me in October. The reason we were walking
was because the charity Christian Aid Ireland organises an annual fundraising
hike around Sheep’s Head every September and this year was using it to raise
money for projects in Ethiopia. We had agreed to do the sponsored walk on
behalf of the Church of Ireland Parish we belong to – Carrigrohane Union.
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| Matthew, me & Matt |
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Matthew, Matt & other walkers
with the Mizen Peninsula in the background |
One again the
weather and views were spectacular. The sky was blue, the Atlantic was flat
calm and we had forgotten to bring any suncream! Matt who has some Burmese
ancestry tans nicely but as Matthew is a fair skinned red-head, he had to bow
to the ignominy of having to wear my Camino sun hat to stop being burned to a
frazzle!
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Sheep's Head Lighthouse
with the Beara Peninsula in the distance
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The weather
meant that there was a record turn-out and 220 attended the walk, which was
great for Christian Aid. However it also meant that the walk was a bit slow
going at times as we all tried to crowd along the narrow path and there were
other places where it was very boggy and rocky.
Nonetheless a
good time was had by all and both walks have only made more eager to get back
to walking the Camino!
