Fri, 20 Jun 2003

author Tim	location Blarney Caravan & Camping Park, Stoneview, Blarney, Cork, Ireland
posted 21:37 BST	section Europe2002/Europe/Ireland/Ireland 1 ( all photos )

Ring Peninsula, Lismore, Lisgoold, into Cork ( 36 photos )
We awoke this morning a little later than usual (we are slowly getting our bodies out of the habit of waking up early), packed up and headed off down the road. Our ever-trusty guidebook pointed us at the Ring Peninsula 12km south of Dungarvan.
This is one of the few Gaeltacht areas in Ireland - which means the primary language is Gaelic, as reflected in the street signs, etc. Elsewhere in Ireland you get both languages or only English, but here it was as if we had finally made it to a completely different country.
Passing only two or so other cars along the amazing drive from Dungarvan, we arrived at the end of the road on Helvick Head. Along with the fantastic views across the harbour, there was a disused monastery and even an Irish language college.
Heading inland for a while, we came to the quaint little town of Cappoquin, where we had some morning tea and a look around the little shops. Running low on cash (as always), we went in to the post office to ask whether they changed cash. The answer came "no, but the bank at the end of town does - you'll have to hurry, they close in five minutes". Five minutes to get to the end of town! And it was only 12:25!
We should have remembered that, as home to only a thousand people, the end of town wasn't far away. About five shops, in fact. Upon entering, we were both totally amazed to be greeted straight away by an amazingly friendly teller, given some postcards, asked about our travels in a genuinely interested way, have our accents picked, and then be given cash out of what amounted to not much more than a pile of money within easy reach over the counter. Try that in the NAB. We were waved off, Euros in hand, and wished a pleasant journey. Total shell-shock. That's small-town Ireland.
About 6km out of town, we came to the Mt Melleray Cistercian Abbey, an amazingly huge thing built by some Irish monks expelled from France. Good place they picked, too. Beautiful grounds, almost totally silent. Only thing which disturbed it was the huge coach-load of school kids, just enough to convince us not to bother having a look around inside.
Back in our bus, we trundled through to Lismore. Twinned with Lismore in New South Wales, this one is far prettier. It is totally dominated by Lismore Castle, and built on the River Blackwater. We walked along the river-bank for a while before returning to have a look at St Carthage's Cathedral perched up on the opposite hill to the castle - a simple affair, we both thought it fitted in just right with a town of 750 people. Not so for the massive castle, which is only viewable by private hire for an extortinate sum of money.
Following some back-roads in the general direction of Cork, we stopped for a general rest at The Thatch pub in a village which we didn't know the name of at the time, but later believe was called Lisgoold. An Omen?
The pub itself was a nice friendly place, where we got chatting with drunk old local men, the middle-age land-lady who has recently taken over with her family and is discovering how little the locals like change, and the young bar-girl with a Melbournian boyfriend. Everyone is interested, and everyone wants to suggest ways of helping out. Great friendly country, this.
We drove on in to county Cork to our stop for the night, Blarney Caravan and Camping Park. From here we plan to explore Cork, Blarney and Kinsale over the next couple of days, and perhaps a little more of this rest we keep thinking a holiday is supposed to be about.

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