{"id":18464,"date":"2022-09-06T13:07:15","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T17:07:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/?p=18464"},"modified":"2022-09-06T13:07:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T17:07:15","slug":"southwest-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/?p=18464","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

After literally years in planning, it was with great excitement that we first spied the shores of Ireland on July 11, 2022. Well, actually, we spied a towering wall of fog that began about 5 miles off shore. Thanks to radar, GPS, and a friendly open entrance, we slowed down and proceeded into Baltimore Harbor without drama.<\/p>\n

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Our first stop was Baltimore Harbour. We chose this spot for several reasons. First, Baltimore is an official port of entry where we could legally enter the country. Second, the Harbour is well sheltered and can be entered in most weather conditions. And third, it is well situated in the far south west of Ireland and a perfect place to start our journey around the Island.<\/p>\n

Our first order of business (after calling customs and immigration of course) was to seek out the pub and have a pint of Guinness. Wow, that one tasted good!<\/p>\n

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\nWe spent a couple of days in Baltimore, moved to Schull for a night, then continued to Crookhaven.<\/p>\n

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\nCrookhaven is a very popular resort area for visitors from Cork and other more urban areas of Ireland. The harbour is very well protected from the sea and home to an active sailing club. It is so great to see all the kids learning to sail<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We took a couple of great hikes from Crookhaven. One up to Brow Head and a second to Mizzen Head which would be our first big headland to round in Ireland.<\/p>\n

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When the weather was right, we left Crookhaven to continue on up the coast. We timed Mizzen Head so the current would be with us. Easy trip around this one.<\/p>\n

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\nWe made 3 more stops on our way to Dingle Bay.<\/p>\n

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First was Castletownbere<\/a>. We found a very pretty anchorage just outside of town. We didn\u2019t spend much time in town, but did manage a pint of Guinness.<\/p>\n

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Next stop, Darrynane<\/a>. We picked this stop because it was very convenient to our route and also home to stunning beaches and the home of Daniel O\u2019Connell<\/a>, an important figure in the path towards independence for Ireland.<\/p>\n

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As the weather remained favorable, we took advantage and planned out last segment that would bring us to Dingle Bay. There are a couple of intriguing islands visible from Mary\u2019s relative\u2019s homes across the bay that we have always longed to visit. The Skelligs<\/a> are beautiful, mysterious, and have only become more popular over the years. Although you are not allowed to visit on a private boat, we absolutely loved doing a slow pass.<\/p>\n

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Our last stop on this portion of the journey was Knightstown on Valentia Island<\/a>. Finally we are in sight of the Dingle Peninsula. Knightstown has a very nice marina at the foot of the town with several nice pubs. The town was also the terminus of the first trans Atlantic telegraph cable and at one time had hundreds of people working there.<\/p>\n

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We\u2019ve had an incredible time exploring West Cork and have been blessed with mostly excellent weather. Although one could spend months exploring just this little corner of Ireland, it\u2019s time to move on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After literally years in planning, it was with great excitement that we first spied the shores of Ireland on July 11, 2022. Well, actually, we spied a towering wall of fog that began about 5 miles off shore. Thanks to … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2y1a7-4NO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18464"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18813,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18464\/revisions\/18813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}