One Of My Favourite Walks

I’d like to talk today about one of my favourite walks in the West Cork area, did the walk just today in fact. It’s not all that challenging, and not all that long, and that’s why I do it so often. Because it’s not a huge walk, you can do it when you’re kind of in no mood for anything, and it’ll raise your spirits right up. Or, because it’s short, you don’t be having thoughts about how you might as well get the home stretch over with, so you can stop for a short while in a scenic area. Or a long while. This walk has such beautiful views of the ocean and the distant landscape that I could sit down for ten minutes and it quickly becomes an hour and a half.

So I start at Ramsey hill, and I walk down a small country road until I’m at the entrance to the Fushia Walk.

The Fushia walk has, well, there’s no way to say it without staying the obvious, some really lovely purple coloured Fushias. And has I move down the walk, the ocean comes more and more into view, and I feel a great sense of happiness.

Then I reached the end of the path, and I turn right into the fields. Horse Rock can already be seen, and today I caught some pictures of birds on the tiny island without realizing it, not until I got back to the house and saw the photo on a bigger screen did I realize that there were birds on Horse Rock today.

Then I pass through a tiny wood, but it’s got some really nice trees.

Occasionally the cows make me nervous, not because cows are particularly aggressive, but if any animal responds to me suddenly, I always get nervous, I’ve been that way for years. One time up by the Coolim Cliffs, a group of cows ran full speed towards me. If they didn’t stop I’d be flattened! But they did stop, and they didn’t mean me any harm, but it can be alarming at times!

Then I reach the lighthouse, well, it’s just a light really, I’m at Woodpoint. Woodpoint is one of my favourite places in the world. I will often sit down here for hours. Sometimes I will play my saz (a Turkish instrument), sometimes I will view my surroundings with my binoculars and take pictures, but other times, I will just sit there, or lie there, and let my brain be calmed by the sight and sound of the ocean. Today as I was lying there my brain switched right off.

From here you can see Harbour View Beach, the Old Head of Kinsale, Barry’s Point and you can just about see the top of the Coolim Cliffs.

From Woodpoint I have spent many a time watching the ocean battering Horserock. You can see really see the might of the ocean from Woodpoint. It’s quite a sight to watch, seeing the ocean in a foul mood!

From Woodpoint I have spent a lot of time photographing the birds in flight.

When I can finally persuade myself to leave the happiest place in the world, I walk through the wood. Sometimes as I’m walking through the wood the silence is broken by people blasting out music at a ridiculous volume. At the risk of going on a rant, I am very passionate about the music I listen to, but I never, ever, inflict the music I like on others. I listen to Rush, one of the greatest bands of all time, and I understand that not everyone appreciates the amazing drums of Neil Peart, the ability of Geedy Lee to perform the work of three musicians and still be one of the best bassists of all time, and the unforgettable pinch harmonics of Alex Lifeson. So if I can not force people to listen to the best music ever, could others have the courtesy to not force disposable music you will have forgotten about in ten seconds time on me! I am so old.

There are steps down onto the rocks that you can access from the wood that have a great view of the ocean.

At low tide, you can walk down from the wood onto Courtmacsherry beach.

Then I walk across the beach, sometimes it’s super quiet and sometimes full of people enjoying the sun, but it’s always really nice. Then I walk into Courtmacsherry village, I am often hungry at this point but there are more than enough cafes and food vans so that I can get something delicious to eliminate my hunger, then I continue my walk through the village.

I often like to stop for a rest at the chess board. I don’t know if chess has ever been played here.

And throughout the village are many opportunities to photograph birds.

As I reach the end of the village, I see the anchor from the Cardiff Hall, a ship that sank in 1925, sadly with no survivors.

Also there’s a monument to another very sad moment in maritime history. There is a model of the Luisitania. It sank in 1915, killing 1,998 people. It sank in just 18 minutes, and to make matters worse, the angle it was sinking at made deployment of the lifeboats almost impossible, the lifeboats on the starboard side (the right hand side if you are facing the front of the ship), swung out too far to be boarded safely, and the lifeboats on the port side scraped against the ship as they were lowered into the water, so they would land in the water badly damaged.

On a more cheerful note, in this part of the village there is a noticeboard (I can’t for the life of me think is noticeboard the right word, a thing that gives me information then!) that is very useful for bird watching. I don’t normally bird watch in the sense of photographing birds and knowing what they are, but in Courtmacsherry because I have the right info I’m able to photograph birds and actually know what birds they are. In Courtmacsherry I’ve found every bird on the noticeboard except the golden plover.

Here are photos of the birds from this noticeboard I have found.

I would say there is no more than two miles, maybe three at most, in this walk. I could do it all in half an hour, forty five minutes maximum if I wanted to. But it takes me hours, because there are so many beautiful and interesting spots along the way, how could I possibly want to get it done as quickly as possible? It’s a walk I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of, and it’s such an easy walk I don’t see it becoming beyond my ability for many decades to come.