Monday 15th November 2021

 It was a really beautiful day today.

When I went out quite early the sun was just getting to our parking place next to the dolmen.

The metal pole to the left of the picture is a sign to mark a stop on The Wild Atlantic Way - a long distance road trip which runs from Kinsale in the south to Malin Head in the north (or vici versa) all along the west coast of Ireland. There is lots of signage showing the way - some down very narrow roads. It must cause log jams in summer! 

We travelled west to Mizen Head. There were enormous waves breaking on the rocks here even though out to sea it appeared quite calm.

There is a visitor centre here run by the Irish Lifeboats. It's supposed to be open every day but it was closed today.

Here is the propeller of a ship which was lost on the rocks here in 1908.

From Mizen Head we travelled north east along the shore of Dunmanus Bay then west and up to the pass of Seefin. Here's the view from the pass looking north into Bantry Bay.

After descending from the pass we travelled east and stopped for the day in the town of Bantry. We are parked by the harbour.

There is an aire in Bantry but it costs 20 euros a night to stay there and its a little far from the town centre so we gave it a miss and parked in the free car park in Wolfe Tone Square. 

Bantry seems a nice enough place however our guidebook author reckons it's a bit seedy!

There is a good pedestrian area at the other end of Wolfe Tone Square. Wolfe Tone is considered to have been the father of Irish Republicanism. See Wolfe Tone if you're interested.

We had a walk around town.

This waterwheel at the town library is a replica of one originally used to generate electricity for the town before there was a national grid.

The library itself is a fine modern building with the mill stream running beneath it.

Here's the police station which is just across from where we are parked.

There are lots and lots of eateries in Bantry. We considered going out for a meal but the choice was so overwhelming that we decided to stay in and eat in our van.

It's getting dark now and there are some good reflections in the harbour.

Today we travelled 59 miles (95 kilometres). We are at: N51.6814 W9.4559

Bantry   Street View