Having met up with Hugh & Tammy in Georgia & Armenia, it was now time to join them on a revisit to Glengarriff and catch up once again with Russ & Gail after our visit in search of the "Piano Man" in '22. Ireland '22 explains the history.
As expected in southwest Ireland, the weather was a bit mixed with some "grand soft" days (drizzle) that underpins the wonderful green scenery but, importantly, some very fine weather as well that enabled some touring to enjoy it. We had picked some options that could be fitted to the weather and it worked out very well.
Jean and I had an overnight stop in Waterford after taking a ferry from Fishguard to Rosslare. After the disappointment of finding a very fitting bar nearby, we discovered food service had stopped at 7:30, so it was back to our hotel! A pleasing surprise was that the restaurant had been refurbished since my last visit in '22 and a band turned up, probably because of the coachload in the hotel, so all was well in the end!
En route to Glengarriff the next day, we took a tour of the Midleton Distillery in, yes, Midleton. It was one of the businesses of the Murphy brothers, Hugh's ancestors, started in 1823 and later became part of Irish Distillers, including Jameson, Powers and a few others, the largest distilling group in Ireland and now part of Pernod Ricard. Although initially ambivalent about the visit, Jean enjoyed it, mainly because of Sam our guide and his jocular delivery style! The tour was in the original distillery, now a museum and very well organised, while production is in a much larger and automated arrangement on the same site. The triple distillation process, unique to Irish whiskey, is the same in the new facility but there is little to see beyond the pipework.
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| Old truck by the grain/barley store A year's supply was delivered all at once! |
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| Water wheel, still working, used to drive all the machinery |
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| Original pot still |
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| Micro distillery Used for product development Also offers much sought after graduate places |
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| Maturation process, minimum 3 years before it can be called whiskey |
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| Jean enjoys her cocktail |
It was a very interesting stop on our way to Glengarriff and I came away with a bottle of Distillery Edition Jameson for later enjoyment!
As Jean had missed it on the last trip, Tammy and I revisited Garnish Island with her. It is a short boat ride from Glengarriff and includes an Italian garden and Martello Tower with a panoramic view of Bantry Bay.
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| Seals nearby |
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| Italian Garden |
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| Across Bantry Bay towards Russ & Gail's place from the Martello Tower |
A lot of seals congregate in Bantry Bay, which has depleted fish stocks and they, in turn, encourage Orcas from time to time although we didn't spot any. Whales are often seen.
In the evening we visited Castletown-Bere for a pub meal brought over from a new restaurant run by a friend of Russ's who did the lamb bbq at his place on our last visit. Afterwards, we had a walk around this very active fishing port.
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| Dinner at Donemark West a fine small eatery towards Bantry |
Heading onwards to the northern coast, we stopped first at a quaint roadside pub for coffee, then carried onwards to Helen's Bar & Restaurant by a very pretty harbour with pier, for a spot of lunch and an inevitable Guinness for me!
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| Quaint pub with old signs |
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| The Mussel House |
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| Helen's Bar & Restaurant |
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| And battered scampi with it! |
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| Sailor and dog returning to their yacht in dingy! |
Heading onwards towards Kenmare on the Wild Atlantic Way, we cut the corner to return to Glengarriff and ended up for a long time on a narrow road with grass growing up the middle, fortunately encountering nothing coming the other way - there were no passing places!
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| Tis Ireland after all! |
The Blue Loo pub opposite Casey's Hotel had some live music on several nights, but we only made one of them, once because of a particularly indulgent dinner in the hotel that adjourned to its bar afterwards.
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| So many glasses! |
Complimentary post-dinner poteen, on top of our other indulgences, added up to a subdued following day!
Russ had booked us a Bantry Bay Marine Wildlife boat trip, the weather was terrific and Niall, our boatman and guide, was great fun as well as competent.
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| More seals |
Niall set up a number of rods and we had a bit of fishing too.
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| Niall fileting the mackerel even when not looking! |
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| Next thing, he had cooked them in the wheelhouse! Can't get much fresher than that! |
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| Assistant to Sales at Bantry Bay Charters |
To round off that fine trip, we were then treated to curry at Russ & Gail's, which was excellent.
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| Russ's Bar |
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| Overlooking Bantry Bay |
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| Russ's 355lbs Blue Marlin, landed after a 1h battle years ago, mounted above the fireplace, complete with photo and the hook he caught it with! |
A terrific evening, starting with that great view of Bantry Bay, followed later by rain pounding on the conservatory roof in the darkness! And, a few drips didn't spoil the occasion.
Jean and I visited Bantry House, home of the Earl of Bantry. It is still occupied by his descendants, but is in need of some restoration. Efforts are being made to restore the gardens to their intended design and the house itself is in need of some major renovation. But, it was a pleasant sunny day and we beat a cruise crowd who got there after us.
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| Lovely fountain surrounded by wisteria |
It has a B&B offering, does wedding receptions and historic tours, but more income needs to be generated to meet the refurbishment needs.
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| Harringtons Pub |
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| The Blue Loo pub |
Stories abound of late night drinking, the Garda calling by, and miscreant patrons racing upstairs when the 'signal' was given!
We had a final farewell dinner at Eccles Hotel in Glengarriff, sadly missed by Tammy who was unable to attend.
Returning to Rosslare, we headed first via Kenmare to Moll's Gap, where we stopped for a coffee in rather drizzling conditions. But, it was a fine view in the 'grand soft' before we descended via the Lakes to Killarney itself and the onward journey to Rosslare and the ferry home.
It was another memorable visit to Ireland's southwest with some great company as before, with some craic and decent weather making the most of it.
