Tuesday 27 March Galley Head Lighthouse

Most of us were up early in the morning as all but Nina and Louise are off to Cape Clear Island or Oilean Chleire as is called in Irish, for the day. We drove to Baltimore in time to catch the 11am ferry over, it's about an hours crossing from the mainland. We had a mug of tea at Siopa Beag & Caife before setting out to walk around the island. At the summit of the first steep hill, having passed the school and the Priest's house on the way up, we came to the Standing Stones, three in all, but couldn't find any information on them whatsoever. We walked for some time, some of us far more than others. Everything was closed as the tourist season does not start till Easter. Jennifer and I decided at the crossroads on the other side of the island to head back as we were very hot and thirsty, we'd hoped that the restaurant would be open after our long walk. We cheated on the way back as the little island bus appeared. For 2 euros each we were driven the last half mile or so back to the Caife for a welcome drink. When the others appeared we had a late lunch, home made Shepherd's Pie for me, before catching the ferry back to the mainland. We saw several crested cormorants and two seals on the way back, but no whales or dolphins! Back at Galley Head we got ready to go out to O'Donovan's in Clonakilty for the Irish Folk evening, recommended by Judith. We arrived in time to order dinner, and eat before the music began. Andrew rang part way through the evening so I went out to chat and have a ciggie, no smoking in Ireland these days. An old drunk was waffling at me and asking me to marry him, so I cut short our phone call and scuttled back to the others. Other than him, I enjoyed our evening out muchly. Nick, Dave, John and I stayed till the end of the evening, about midnight, everyone else went back about 10 ish. On our return Nina was still up so we had a drink and a chat before bed.