Church Cross and Baltimore

Failing for the moment to secure insurance so I can drive my new MB, we opt for a rental for a week or so and hit the road (sort of). Actually Francie decided a little isolation in a West Cork cabin would be good for us, so our destination is Jason's cottage, just down the road between Skibbereen and Schull. This turned out not to be the best. The little Ferringi owner, in addition to charging us way too much for a house in the middle of nowhere, also wanted us to pay ALL the utilities. There was no mention of this during the reservation conversation or on the website. When we told him we weren't staying because of this unannounced expense he was quite put out and withheld part of our money. Can't say we recommend this particular cottage.

On the other hand, it had a peek-a-boo view of the infamous Fastnet light between Heir Island and Cape Clear. That was pretty cool for an old sailing romantic such as meself.

So, once again fancy free and foot on throttle, we set out for parts unknown. Baltimore looked interesting, we could see it across the water from Jason's. It appeared to have a waterfront and somebody told us there was a ferry we could take from there to several islands. Well, none of the B&B's right in town were open, but

Rolf's, up the hill was. Turned out to be OK, once we got through the issue of not being able to rent the "cottage" for less than a week.

The ferry to Cape Clear, and across Roaring Water bay is pretty iffy this time of year, but we were able to take the short ride out to Sherkin Island, home of the O'Driscoll's.

There's an abbey right at the ferry landing that provides some history of the area and lots of grave sites. This is one of the wierd things you see in Ireland - all the abandoned christian religous sites have grave stones everywhere, inside, outside, on the remaining walls - everywhere. Many of the stones are quite recent, 2000, 2001. It must be considered a very good thing to be buried in this hallowed ground.

There were a couple pubs and a little general store and that's about it. One of the pubs was closed, the other larger one served dry sandwiches for too much dinero, but they had good beer. We hiked around much of the habited part of the island, visiting a remote beach and a small country school. Caught the last ferry off the island, the one that waits for the school teacher. Lucky for us she was a little late (the teacher that is).