Mizen Head, the most southwestern point in Ireland

We were up and on the road early Saturday morning. Sunrise is now just after 5:30am, so we can easily start driving when we get up at 6:30am. The narrow Irish roads are much more enjoyable at that hour when there's not much traffic on them!

We were headed for Mizen Head, the most southwestern point in Ireland. 

We would hate to be driving through some of these little towns during busy season! I know the local drivers are used to these things because heavy trucks pass through at times as well and so it's usually the smaller, more agile vehicle that has to move enough to make room to pass.

Driving through Ballydehob
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Two people swimming at 7:40am!

Driving through Ballydehob.

Ruth took a video while we were driving through Ballydehob. Remember, this is a two way road. So glad we did it when there is no traffic!

Watching the video, it really doesn't look that bad. But that's only because there was nothing coming the other way.

Scenery along the way.

Just after that, we came across a large motorhome headed the opposite way. With the lane barely wide enough for one motorhome, there was no way we could pass each other. I backed up enough to be able to turn into another laneway and let the larger motorhome pass by. 

We made it to the Mizen Head parking area at just after 8:00am and were surprised to find about a dozen other vans and motorhomes parked up. I hadn't realized that it's such a touristy spot. We've seen quite a few motorhomes with Irish plates, but not really that many from Europe. Until now! Many here were from Germany, with a few from Belgium and Netherlands. 

We decided against paying the €7.50 ($11 CAD, $8 USD) per person entrance fee to walk out to the signal station. 

Fellow motorhomers and bloggers Jason and Julie from Our Tour had been here ten days ago and paid the money. They enjoyed it, but I guess we're just too tight with our entertainment dollars sometimes! You can read about their experience here.

We've been following each others blogs for years now, and have never met up. They're about a week ahead of us heading north up the western coast, but we are about to cut across country up to Dublin, so perhaps our paths will cross when they come around the top early next month. Otherwise, maybe we'll see them in their hometown of Nottingham, England when we pass that way in July or August.

We did go for a walk through this farmer's field to get a view.

Ruth is the horse whisperer!

Looking up at some of the motorhomes still parked. 

Max is on the right.

Mizen Head signal station.

Ruth, looking for whales.

The coast, looking east.

Rough seas down below.

On our way back to Max, the horses wanted to follow us.

We found a wonderful secluded overnight spot by an old cemetery...

Max, parked up at GPS 51.478436, -9.771803

With a nice view off the left side.

The skies cleared a bit after lunch and it turned into a nice afternoon. We left Max there, and walked over to Barley Cove Beach.

Barley Cove Beach.

A little further down is Chimney Cove Beach.

Looking out to sea.

Interesting rock walls up there.

Zoomed in on an old ruins.

Ruth looking out to sea.

Back at Max, we were surprised when two more motorhomes pulled into our nice quiet spot. But, there was lots of room and they parked far enough away from us. They were also very quiet, so it was no problem.

Here's our map of yesterday's drive.

From Galley Head View to Mizen Head.

This is such a nice peaceful spot, we're going to stay another night. Besides, there's an 11 km (7 mile) hike we want to do to a castle ruins!

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