Car and Two Hills

My first trip to Corcaigh (also known as ‘Corwk’ in my accent, ‘Cark’ in my bad Irish accent, and ‘Cork’ in Ireland) was straight from work on a Friday in September, until the Sunday evening. I flew with Irish budget airline Aer Lingus, mainly for the convenience of flying in and out of Heathrow airport. I am not a fan of flying so I was pleased there were no delays to stress me out, and the hour between check-in and departure was easily killed with the brisk walk from security to the Aer Lingus departure gate, located several miles away, out the back of Terminal 1, by the bins. Nice. Aer Lingus gives all the perks of a budget airline, such as no checked luggage or seat selection unless you are willing to pay, without the cheap price tag. You are almost guaranteed a lovely cramped aisle seat over the wings, so you can eagerly watch them over the head of another passenger and anticipating them bursting into flames. I really do recommend the airline (to people too poor to fly with BA who, therefore, have no choice).

Cork International Airport is small, and passengers need to do a short death-dash across the runway from the plane (with a fairly minimal actual death risk, but I am sure it is still there…). The border control man then efficiently processes EU arrivals, concentrating hard on the middle distance whilst giving each passport a nod and a wave. I am told that this shiny new airport recently replaced an old one, which now stands abandoned just down the road. Poor old airport! Maybe they’ll find another use – suggestions here. I was obviously a little nervous arriving, but it was unnecessary. I was met off the flight for a drive back to the village where I would be staying at for all my visits to Cork, located about 25 minutes from the airport. The scenic drive was a nice change from the traffic in the big smoke. The village consists of a pub, a greengrocer-come-post office, a small super market and a Chinese take-away…. and that’s about it. Bizarrely though, the main road from Cork city runs right through the middle of it, so it also has one set of traffic lights. Ok, so it’s a little smaller than my home town, but its nice and I like it!

My first outing in Cork was a walk along some lovely cliff tops and into a fishing village called Ballycotton – all in sunshine that I had been assured did not exist in these parts. The coastline is very rugged and pretty and we admired the view from the little fishing harbour in Ballycotton. It was a perfect place for me to get a good first impression of this place. That evening we went for a meal at a restaurant called The Barn, where the waiters take your order from a set menu in the bar before you’re seated – great not to be interrupted or have to catch anyone’s attention! The dining area is like an oversized kitsch front room with a grand piano (just like at home then...), and the waiters are all relatively old. I don’t mean we were served by grey-haired shufflers in slippers pushing trolleys of food ... they were just an older generation than us, and it gave a nice family business feel to the place. I had a duck confi starter and ostrich for a main, both delicious. I have since learned, incidentally, that the largest ostrich farm in Europe is located in Ireland. I was unaware I was enjoying local Irish game at the time – maybe that’s why it was so tasty? Not something I expect to see running about the Irish countryside anyway… The dessert was brought around on a trolley – ok, so the waiters did push around one trolley – busting with far too much choice. Yum.

On Saturday morning we donned our walking boots and headed west to Co. Kerry. We were aiming to take on the biggest mountain in Ireland – which, after being told repeatedly all morning, I eventually grasped is called ‘Car and Two Hill’... well, that or thereabouts ... it is spelt ‘Carrantuohill’ (see, Carr-an-tuo-hill. I was exactly right!). The weather was cloudy but very warm and we had a nice walk-in along a craggy valley. About half way up the mountain we walked into mist which quickly disappeared, and looked back to see that we had passed right through the clouds. So, we sat down to enjoy a rest by a mountain lake in clear beautiful sunshine, looking back at a blanket of inverted cloud that reached as far as we could see. The white fluffy clouds were only broken by the odd high peak poking through. At the top of Carrantuohill there is no ‘trig-point’ as I would expect to find on any British mountain I’ve trundled up – instead, there is a huge cross. It’s massive … and I have to say, it made me laugh out loud to see it there. Seemed like a bit of countryside stereo-typing from Ireland! The view really was stunning, and we sat enjoying it with several other groups of walkers for a while. There was very little wind so a few pesky migdies had made it up with us, and I found out later that they also accompanied us back down inside my new camera! (Evil little beasties.) I was informed that the lady with the clipped accent in the very short skirt (seriously, like a tennis skirt… to climb a mountain in September?) was from Kerry, as were her moustachioed companions in skimpy shorts. Apparently these are called ‘O’Neills’ shorts and fetching... they are not. Yikes. We descended the mountain down the worn tourist route, passing back through the clouds to the overcast day back in the real world. It was a long walk back to the car, and long drive back home, but worth every minute for the view!










That evening we went out with friends to a nice little place called Rosie’s, where I tried local cod from Ballycotton, the village we had wandered into the previous evening. By a mile, it was the nicest fish I have ever eaten – it was amazing. So far in my view Cork was definitely living up to its reputation as the culinary capital of Ireland! I was also very pleased to find that, even after a few drinks, I could still understand everything being said to me in racing Irish accents. Hurrah!

Sunday was another lovely sunny day, and we headed to Cobh (pronounced ‘Cove’). Cobh is an old seaport town on a hill, located on the Great Island in Cork Harbour, which is connected by bridges and another island (Fota) to the mainland. I am told (jokingly of course...) that if you are from there, you will never leave… is this a good or a bad thing? Well, it makes me think of the League of Gentlemen, but we ventured there nevertheless. It is worth pointing out that historically a lot of people left from here (ok, so not people 'from' Cobh necessarily…), as it was one of the main sailing ports to America in the Famine Years; it was also the last port of call for the Titanic before she sailed off into an iceberg.

I have to say, I really liked Cobh. It has a beautiful cathedral up on the hill called St Coleman’s, and as we walked up to it at about 4pm, the bells began to play a lovely tune. This turned out to be from a 49-bell carillon, which is played a bit like an organ by someone called a carillonneur using hand and foot pedals, who sits half way up the bell tower. This means the bells ring in quick sequence and sound fantastic. After a walk around the cathedral, we wandered back down through the town, via a town monument to those lost at sea on the Lusitania – a passenger ship on its way to New York that was sunk by a German submarine off the coast of Kinsale in 1915. The promenade is quite small, with a little band stand and a few sculptures, and there were several people enjoying the sun like us. Amongst the old couples and families, this included a few
characters enjoying a midday can of special brew, and a policeman wandering about eating an ice cream – busy day then? It was a lovely, peaceful afternoon, but soon it was time to head back to the village to collect my belongings and get to the airport. Boo!





(Please excuse this clip of the cathedral carillion/view being sideways - it was taken on a new phone and got wrong! Ooops!)



I had a great impression of Cork from this first visit. I was sorry to leave, and went away looking forward to my next visit, collecting some Clonakilty black pudding and some Butlers chocolates from duty free on my way... omnomnomnom...