Bantry Bay and Washday Blues

 

The day was grey as we clambered onto the tender to take us to the quay. We had struggled through storm force winds and towering waves on our way from Tresco to the western tip of Ireland. (O.K. I exaggerate, but it was quite stormy). A coach was there on the quay to take us on “Leisurely Drive through West Cork Towns” – but no one told the driver. He hammered his way down the narrow lanes as if the Devil was on his tail.

It's all very watery around there. I took my waterproofs and a life jacket – just in case. This part of Ireland is famed for its artistic pursuits and the British “darlings” who pitch up here. There’s Jeremy Irons and his pink castle and Lord Putnam – who is now an Irish citizen and that annoying Graham Norton who has a holiday home.

We were heading for Schull farther west on the coast of County Cork. On the way we passed a disused railway bridge – Schull once had its own railway station, but the line closed to passenger travel the year I was born. Schull was closed – it was recovering from the Fastnet Film Festival over the weekend. It doesn’t have a cinema so local pubs and restaurants are turned into them and over the signage are hung banners like “Odeon”, “The Regal” , “The Granada”. We stopped there for about an hour. A few of us went to a local café and chewed the cud. I was talking to a lovely Italian lady who was on the cruise because family bought it for her – except she hates cruises. Another lady has been on eleven cruises since her husband died. She sold her house in Boston Mass. and now lives in a granny flat over her son’s garage in Ipswich, still in Mass.

A couple of days ago I asked if the kitchen had any kefir, they did but asked how to serve its grains. I explained the grains needed to be fermented, so they went away to do that. This lunch time I was told their attempt hadn’t been a success. It would have been nice if I had (successfully) introduced a new drink to the breakfast menu.

We have a self-service laundry on board. I have just loaded 3 days of dirty clothes and am typing this while I wait for the washing to finish. It all very professional. You don’t have to put any detergent in – it does it for you and on top of the 3 washing machines are three tumble dryers. Such excitement!

This evening Douglas Caldwell an ex-NASA scientist – now with SETI will enlighten us about all the aliens surrounding us in space. I’m hoping for some WhatsApp pics.

I could have gone into Bantry after lunch to do some shopping, but frankly sitting on a coach for an hour two and getting up at sparrow’s fart has taken all my will to move. I’ll watch a movie while my washing spins and then it’s off to supper. (see below)

We leave at 7 pm tonight for Dingle and more excitement.