Roberts' Cove, County Cork, Ireland

Day 58, 18th May, 2024

Blarney Castle. It’s more than a stone, folks.

Day 57, Friday, 17th May 2024.

With two cruise ships in Cobh, the decision was an easy one to go back and have an explore around Kinsale. After a bit of a lazy start we were on our way. First stop, Koko, an artisan homemade chocolate shop for a hot chocolate: to die for. They had quite a few yummy chocolates, which had to be tasted. Combined with the hot chocolate, we had the day started right. We had intended to walk to see the Fort but holiday fatigue had set in so we turned back and had lunch at the Lemon Leaf again. Had a slow walk back to the car and drive back to the air bnb. Dean napped solidly….

Having taken a break for a couple of hours the weather at Roberts’ Cove had improved dramatically, from heavy overcast to a bright, sunny and warm afternoon. Given we hadn’t visited the local pub yet, it wasn’t a hard call to make. As always, chatting to the locals is always a good thing, and the co-owner of the (cash only!) pub, Kay, gave us some additional tips on how to spend tomorrow. Seems the warmest it gets here is 28c (rarely) and that’s unusual. Had a lovely cider and Guinness before heading back to our digs for dinner. Also had our first taste of Irish whiskey. Meredith quite liked it.

While strolling back we looked over the stationed Sauna trailer: seemingly part of hot-cold therapy. The sauna needs to be booked in advance and while we were there we saw some hardy souls toasting themselves silly and then calmly ambling directly into the Atlantic ocean. Thanks, but no. I just had my therapy at the pub.

Day 58, Saturday, 18th May 2024.

Today we headed to Cork. Another recommendation from our bnb owner was Scoozi! who did a fantastic gluten free waffles. And they didn’t disappoint, a rare treat for a coeliac.

Meredith’s work colleague, Noelle, who used to live in Cork suggested a visit to Fitzgerald park. A great excuse to walk off the brunch and head into a green space outside of the city centre. It was a lovely space with families out for picnics, some local young girls doing a dance concert and then in another corner a group doing tai chi. A little bit of serenity within the city of Cork.

Back to the car via the English market. Similar to our Adelaide central market but probably about a quarter of the size. We do love to wander through local markets and check out prices and produce.

Next stop, Blarney Castle, however we soon discovered there was much more to this place than a castle with a certain well-known stone attached to it. As we bought our tickets, a tourist bus pulled up so we decided to wander through the gardens and leave the Castle to them for the time being. We are not known for our gardening prowess nor could we identify any kind of green living organisms but off we trotted. It was so interesting.

We saw the Seven Sisters. Not a playground, as one family with kids playing hide and seek suggested, but a rock formation with a myth behind it. Nine ancient rocks had been placed by druids long ago and the story goes that a powerful chieftain with two boys and seven girls in the family went to war with a neighbouring clan after a cattle raid. The chief took his two boys into their first battle & the two boys were killed. As he returned to their property with their bodies, he ordered his men to knock over two of the stones. And that is how they remain to this day.

There were so many of these stories spattered around the grounds. It was a real surprise to us that we enjoyed the grounds as much as we did.

Then on to the castle.

As we approached the castle there were signs stating the wait is two hours, 90 minutes, 60 minutes. Thankfully today the queue didn’t start until we were actually in the castle. The castle is actually the third structure on the spot. The stairs to the Blarney Stone were original to the castle and like most stairways in these old castles they are spiral, uneven & steep, to make it harder for intruders to attack. Thankfully there is now a thick rope attached to the wall to help us to climb the stairs. The higher we went the steep and smaller the space got. Eventually to the top and then before we knew it, we were on our back, hanging onto some kind of handle fixed to the wall with a guide there to help us flip our back and to hold us as we kissed the Blarney Stone.

We were there. We had to do it. By now it was still early afternoon so we made our way to Cobh. We had mixed reviews on this coastal town. It is a bit like Victor Harbor. On the coast with lots of cafes and restaurants and bars. It was also home to the White Star Line service shipping company as well as Cunard.

This was the last place that passengers boarded the Titanic before it left for its voyage. We had been told the Titanic experience rivalled the experience in Belfast and was even better. We both agreed that we enjoyed Belfast and if you have the opportunity to do either, our choice would be Belfast.

Time to pack our bags for our last stop tomorrow, Dublin, before we make our way home.