Yesterday, we headed up to the busy town of Midleton, then decided to skip the city of Cork. Friends had been there recently, and said that while it's pleasant enough, we like the smaller towns better. We'll be getting enough city when we visit Dublin later this month.
The main reason we stopped in Midleton was to see the Kindred Spirits Monument. But Midleton is a busy place! Lots of vehicle traffic, and a lack of parking. They have a dedicated motorhome area, but all of the motorhome spots were taken up with cars.
We ended up pulling into a funeral home parking lot that was virtually empty. Ruth went in and spoke to a friendly lady who gave us permission to leave Max there while we walked down to the monument, and then wandered around town.
Kindred Spirits Monument.
The monument commemorates an interesting story.
During the great famine of the 1840's, the Choctaw Nation Native Americans in Oklahoma, who were rebuilding their own society at the time, donated cash to help the thousands of Irish who were starving far across the sea. The Irish have not forgotten, and recently returned the favor. More details here...
We walked up and down the main street.
They have a real lack of parking in Midleton.
Midleton is where the Jamieson Irish Whiskey distillery used to produce. But the cheapest tour they do now costs €26 ($38 CAD, $28 USD) for 75 minutes and three tastings. We've done enough distillery tours for free, that if I wanted to spend €26, I would simply buy a bottle!
From there, we carried on past the city of Cork, the third largest city in Ireland. We made a slight detour to a place where we could fill Max's LPG (propane) at €0.899 per liter. Most places here are well over €1 per liter, so this was a bit of a savings.
Then we headed back to the coast at the town of Kinsale. Kinsale is the official start or finish of the Wild Atlantic Way coastal drive. So for us, it will be the start!
We went for a long walk out to the historic Charles Fort. Entrance is included with our English Heritage card. It's nice to be able to search these places out rather than avoiding them because of entrance fees.
Walking through the town of Kinsale.
Scenery along the way.
Perryville House Hotel.
Looking back at the town of Kinsale.
Bright pub in the village of Summer Cove.
Charles Fort was built between 1677 to 1682. It was used as a British Army barracks for two hundred years, but fell out of use after being burned during the Irish Civil War in 1922.
Everything that was wood was burned in 1922. So there are no roof structures left on any of the old buildings. The site sat derelict for decades, and much of the rubble, such as slate shingles, was used as building material in the nearby towns and villages.
The pretty village of Summer Cove as seen from the fort.
View looking out to sea.
Not a bad visit. They have a small museum and some video displays. We spent just over an hour wandering around, then headed back to Max.
The Spaniard Pub.
This is just a painted wall at another pub.
The doors and windows are all just paint.
I looked up to a real window and saw this!
There's still more of the town we want to see, and it's another sunny day! So we're going to hang around here for another night.
Oh, I've been meaning to publish our route map here in Ireland so far...
You can use the little plus and minus symbols in the bottom right corner to zoom in or out.
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And in Canada...
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