Castletownbere in County Cork

Onwards to start out hiking adventure. First, breakfast at the Clayton Cork City Hotel, the best breakfast yet! And food lunch for when hiking. 
 

 Next the bus to Castletownbere, 3 hours along the coast on roads that were narrow, bumpy and winding.  

 Beautiful rhododendrons were blooming along the roadway. 

 Once in Casteltownbere we decided to drop our bags at the Seabreeze BnB, 1.7 km from town. Betting we could beat Heather and Brad (taking a taxi) and Norm and I started walking, we headed off. We lost but it was a nice walk. MacCarthy's is where it was suggested you could find the cab. The most interesting pub. It sold groceries, meals and drinks. And was voted Irish pub of the year in 2016! It first opened in1860 and was granted one of the first liquor licenses in Ireland.

 

 

Looking inside the bar/grocery store/restaurant/meeting place.....

 Lunch was from the English Market in Cork.

 

 We then decided to walk about the town and see where we start our hike tomorrow. In the Catholic Church I lit a candle for Lucy. Did you feel anything Lucy?

 

 

Our hiking starts tomorrow. Here is a map of where we are and where we are going. We head to Allihies from Castletownbere.

 To follow the hiking trail we must look for the bright yellow man. Some hikers we met today just coming down the trail, warned us about low lying clouds. It can be easy to loose your way. So follow the bright yellow man, follow the bright yellow man, follow, follow, follow, follow the bright yellow man...

 Brad headed back to room to read and we thought we would follow the bright yellow man and be ready for tomorrow's start. On the trail we hoped to find the 3,000 year old stone circle. We weren't disappointed. 

 

 Touching the stones, Heather was careful not to get transported to another time.....Norm I'm not so sure.

 Back to our bnb with a few views photos of Casteletownbere on the way.

 And lots of different directions

 

 

The ribs of a very old ship in the harbour.

And here are the Tilley Twins..

 One more walk to town for dinner. It was excellent. Remember that giant ugly fish (monk fish) from the English Market? The meal is monk fish, served as gougons, deep fried pieces of fish. It tastes way better than it looked at the market.

 

 And seafood chowder with salad.