Wow! You are really packing it in. Have fun at Ivy Bridge Cottage. How is the weather?

Another very full day - ticked everything on the list - plus an extra castle, and Abbey!

We picked up some friends (young folks from ABQ studying the fall semester at University College Cork City) and headed out. First stop was Charles Fort. The doors had just opened when we arrived. We were actually the first visitors of the day. Really well presented and a lot of restoration work happening. Seriously got a lot of exercise in that huge place! Next stop Desmond castle, Kinsale - ok, but not a very big deal in my opinion, unless you are as much into wine as castles.

Next we headed west toward Coppinger's Court. The Garmin was kind enough to take us along the coast road - what a beautiful route. After a bit of driving we came upon Timoleague Friary - not on our list, and well worth the visit, beautiful! After a good stop to look around at the graves, the friary grounds, and take lots of pictures; it was back on the road.

By this time we were all a bit hungry, so we stopped for a quick meal in Roscarberry. As we hopped back in the car we wondered which way to head out to Coppinger's Court and Drumbeg stone circle. Then we decided to look at the signage right outside of the car - a lovely little map of the area, showing the town and surrounds, including the two sites we were looking for! A kind gent sitting on the bench with his wife and daughter showed us where we were on the map, and then let us know we were only about 5 minutes away from our destination.

Having two extra sets of eyes in the back seat really paid off. Marc & Julia spotted Coppinger's Court from the road above. We had expected it to be a bit hard to spot, but once we got down on the road it was quite an easy, and worthwhile find. A herd of yearlings in the field were a little amused to see this bunch invade their yard, but not enough to stand still for Julia to pet them.. Next stop, just up the road was the Drombeg stone circle and cooking pit.

Next we were off again in search of more castles and Friary's. It took us a bit, but once we made it to Ballynacarriga we stopped and asked a young lady at the Spar store if she knew where the castle was. Oh yes, she told Keith, you just head up the road and turn right (as she pointed a turn to the left) at the garage, with a lot of cars in the lot, and then you go down a bit until you see the church and a pub, "recently painted", and turn left (as she pointed a turn to the right), which made for an interesting translation. We found the garage straight away and turned right (no street to the left where she pointed). We continued down the road looking for the church and the bar, but didn't see them. After a bit we came upon two gents working in a yard. We stopped to see if they might know the way to the castle. Oh yes one said, "go back down to the road and you will see the pub, just recently painted, yellow I think, and turn left, it is right there" Sure enough, just down the road was the pub, just recently painted yellow and brown. As we approached the pub we could see the castle, to the left. Beautiful place, too bad OPW had it closed off with bars and gates. After 50 or so pictures there, we were off again - this time hoping to find Kilcrea Friary. Oh we so love the Garmin. It had us spending at least an hour traversing lovely roads - wide enough for one car, with a lovely strip of green grass growing down the middle. Finally I said enough is enough. We are going to have to leave Kilcrea for another day. We were just outside of Bandon and I said we need to get on the N71 and head back to Cork to drop Marc and Julia back at their apartment. As we waited through stop & go traffic (they were having a game this evening) I took out the OSI map to see where Kilcrea was. Suddenly we found ourselves approaching the N40, the sun was still in the sky, though it was approaching 6 pm; and we said lets followed Bob's notes from try to find it.

We followed Bob's notes from Irelandtravelkit.com and found our way to Kilcrea. What a lovely Abbey - and so glad we didn't have to miss it. I remembered Bob had mentioned seeing the castle, in a straight line west of the Abbey. After many photos, and walking the abbey grounds inside and out Keith said let's see if we can get to the castle. I wasn't so sure, but we walked over to the block wall across from the Abbey. A lady was walking her dog back toward us down the path from the castle. Mark and Keith said we're here, let's go look. Julia and I, not feeling so adventurous decided to wait back.

The kind Irish lady with her cute little dog came up and asked if we had visited the castle. No I said, though my husband and Julia's boyfriend were the gents that she had just passed. "Oh, it's a lovely castle, and the stairs are intact as I understand." Julia and I knew it would be awhile before the boys got back."You really should go have a look" she said, but we looked at each other and said no, we'll wait here. In another few minutes a gent drove up and parked his truck. His two Jack Russell terriers hopped out and came to say high. The gent came over, picked them up and dropped them over the wall into the field. "Have you been out to look at the castle?" he asked. No, but our gents are out there. "Oh, it's a lovely castle, and well worth the walk" he said. "And you can see the face of the man who designed and built it in the wall" he said, well worth the walk.

I could see that Julia wanted to go see - She had been anxious to climb up in an abbey or castle all day. Ok, I said, let's go have a look. As we walked out the gent was telling us of the carved stone head, that most people fail to see. When we reached the castle he showed us. Take a look at the cross shaped window below, and the arrow slot above. To the right of the arrow slot is a large hole. Look to the top of the large hole, and then follow that line back to the left. At the corner of the building you will see the carved head. Sure enough, there it was. We bid farewell to the gent, rounded to corner toward the door and called out to Marc and Keith. They were inside, up on the 3rd or 4th floor and climbing the stairs in the near dark, as I had the flashlight. They kindly came back down and then, while using the flashlight, took us back up. How amazing it was to be inside this old but untouched structure! Still incredible and strong after all this time, we were thrilled to be able to go in and become intimate as Keith says, with the house. Keith has some great pictures from this one.

Finally we came back down, in time to meet up with a half dozen very large nosey cows in our path. We made it by them and continued back to the car. We took a few last pictures of the Abbey, with the lovely OPW installed lights and then headed on our way. We dropped the young folks back at their university apartment building about 8 pm. and headed back to Ivy Bridge.

It was a long 12 hour day, but what a grand one it was! And the weather was perfectly brilliant all day!

Its a tough job, but somebody has to do it! From the south of the eastern front.

-wc