Lazaway Life

  Our views today have been dominated by the Mweelrea Mountains  to the north (and then the east) of us.  It has been a wonderfully scenic day. The morning brought with it a Met Eireann yellow Small Craft Warning for Slyne Head northwards - on route to our destination.  We looked at various forecasts and decided that the force 6 winds wouldn’t arrive until about 16.00, so we set off with an ETA of 13.45 - a couple of hours to spare.  No problem. We motored west in calm seas, visited by Common Dolphins, in stunning weather, not a cloud in the sky, and the Mweelrea Mountains to our north.  Gorgeous. Slyne Head, with its all black lighthouse, is known for its rough waters and is key headland to get round. Shortly before we got to Slyne Head we got an updated weather forecast that had brought forward the Small Craft Warning to “imminent “, and indeed as we rounded the headland the wind picked up and the sea got rougher.  Fortunately we were motoring direct...

  1st landmark - Kerry Head The first headland we came to after leaving Fenit at 08.00 this morning. Our plan for today was to leave at 08.00 (we did) and travel north for 8 hours and arrive at Rossaveal at 16.00 (we did), passing a whole series of landmarks along the way.  The forecast was excellent - though the NNE breeze was a bit cool for much of the day, but by the time of our arrival it has become roasting. 2nd landmark- Loop Head with its set-back lighthouse (from this angle) Along the way we were visited by another small group of Bottlenose Dolphins.  The stiff breeze we were motoring into along with water splashing over the bow of the boat meant that photography with one’s precious mobile phone, was tricky - as the results show: Tails, fins and mirages of Bottlenose Dolphins Next on the tour of landmarks was the Cliffs of Moher, with Hag’s Head at the south end.  We deviated from our set route to get closer, still about half a mile away, to enjoy the spectac...

  Today we have said goodbye to Dingle after a brilliant visit.  Dingle is vibrant, busy, pretty well off, well kept, lovely.  There are really good shops, grocery, hardware, clothes, craft, and all just a little up market, not tacky (except that pub).  Strangely, the marina fees  are nearly half what we have been paying everywhere else.  Before we left we arranged to get fuel - this was our first experience of having to pull over to a commercial pier and get refilled by a tanker lorry.  It all went well, and we paid the cheapest of anywhere else so far (£1.30/ltr). McSweenEy Oils delivering fuel to Lazaway We left Dingle at 11.00ish and it wasn’t long before came to the end of the Dingle peninsula and the Blasket Islands - home of the famous Peig Sayers.  The run along the south of the peninsula was glorious - calm and sunny.  The scenery fabulous. The Blasket Islands.  Far left is Inishvickillane, then Inishnabro, and then the main isl...

  In celebration of Fungi - the maker of Dingle. There is also a small bust of Charlie Haughey who apparently siphoned a lot of support Dingle’s way (not only Dingle’s way!) Our plan was to go for a walk from Dingle to somewhere - so we set off for Eask Tower on top of the hill on the south side of Dingle Bay and overlooking the town.  We only got a short way out of town when we were thwarted by the busy, fairly narrow road with no pavement.  We had to come back, and could not find an alternative. Dingle is geared up for eaters, drinkers and boat trips, but it is not geared up for people on foot wanting some exercise.  We went into town for lunch and a look at the shops. At the west edge of town is the Dingle Distillery - making whiskey, but not open to the public due to renovation work.  We don’t know what the whiskey is like but the buildings certainly need renovation. Another landmark is the Dingle Union Workhouse and Hospital - now a doer-upper, this was ori...

  Lawrence Cove early this morning  Flat calm all night, and after a 09.00 start we are now at coffee time and it’s still flat calm.  Warm as well.  Happy days. We’ve been visited, albeit briefly, by Common Dolphins on a number of times, and we’ve seen several Harbour Porpoises. Common Dolphins riding our bow wave. The Cow (left) and The Bull (right) are at the end of the Beara peninsula, just beyond Dursey Island - the only Irish island connected to the mainland by cable car ( though not just at the moment because it’s broken).  The Bull has a substantial lighthouse on it, and the waters are full of Puffins and a big Atlantic swell. Next north were the Skelligs.  Skellig Michael on the left, where some of Star Wars was filmed, and Little Skellig on the right where Gannets have painted it white. There are lots of tourist boats coming and going from somewhere up Portmagee Channel which separates Valentia Island from the mainland. Our trip was 6.75 hours in t...