Kinsale 23 May 2023

 

The Blockhouse at James’s Fort,

A lazy start today because we wanted to explore Kinsale.  After breakfast we walked up and around James’s Fort which is right beside the marina we are in. It is a star shaped earthworks with five bastions - the regular pentagonal design enabled all external faces to be covered by gunfire from inside the fort. It was built between 1602 - 1604 following the English victory over Spanish and Irish forces in 1601. 

Then: 

Now:

After our walk, disaster struck.  We came back to the boat for coffee only to find that the coffee machine has broken.  What a calamity!  We fiddled with it for about half an hour, googled how to reset it, how to overcome a recalcitrant machine, but all to no avail.  It has died.  We will have to use filter coffee now (Kinsale does not have a seller of espresso machines).

Next we headed into Kinsale for a cafe lunch, some food shopping, a look around other shops (including looking for a coffee machine shop), an ice cream and generally taking in the sights, before coming back to the boat.

Spotted this sign near the beach close to our marina:


It reminds me of the sign at Harry’s Hole in Donegal.

At 17.00 we were on the flybridge deck just starting to chill, when we were visited by authority.  Two Customs officers arrived, came aboard, and then ran through a long list of questions while they filled in a couple of forms.  While they were formal they were also very pleasant - I suspect we were an easy visit that allowed them to tick off another official duty.  They didn’t search the boat, and said that should any other customs officer approach us we can say we have been done, and all our details are now on their system.

Authority leaving us, after the most excitement we’ve had all trip!

Dining aboard this evening - steak, Mary’s potatoes, and red wine.  Happy days.

Kinsale bird list has 30 species, including Chough!

Our route today: 























































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