Posts In The “Ireland” Category

Sherkin to Crookhaven

Sherkin to Crookhaven

Leaving Sherkin Island, we checked out the tiny harbour on Cape Clear Island, then did two laps around Fastnet Rock before stopping for the night in beautiful Crookhaven Harbour, home of Ireland’s most southerly pint. En route we saw another castle and two ancient watchtowers, plus plenty of dramatic scenery. Trip highlights from June 16,…

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Baltimore, Ireland

Baltimore, Ireland

The 55-foot Baltimore Beacon, known locally as "Lot's Wife", marks the entrance to Baltimore Harbour atop a 300-ft cliff. James knew from the moment we arrived that Jennifer, who suffers from the extreme inability to resist a good view, would find a way to reach the Beacon. So he wasn’t at all surprised when she…

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Sherkin Island

Sherkin Island

Sherkin Island in Baltimore Harbour has ruins dating from the 1400s, including a castle and a friary. The island also has some excellent walking trails with views to Baltimore Harbour and the Atlantic Ocean, and two pubs, also with water views. Trip highlights from June 12th through 14th at Sherkin Island, Ireland. Click any image…

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Kinsale, Ireland

Kinsale, Ireland

Kinsale was a wonderful place to make landfall into Ireland. As is often the case, the original idea to go to Kinsale was passed on by a blog reader. The town is considered the gourmet capital of Ireland, which is one of the reasons we decided to enter Ireland here rather than at Crosshaven on…

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Old Head of Kinsale

Old Head of Kinsale

The Old Head of Kinsale was a welcome sight for us at the completion of our 2,800nm passage from Newport, RI to Kinsale, Ireland. With a sunny weather forecast, we took the opportunity to make the 8-mile bike ride to get a closer look and take in the sweeping view from the restored signal tower….

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Two Laps Around Fastnet Rock

Two Laps Around Fastnet Rock

Fastnet Rock is the most southern point in Ireland and the light on it is known world-wide, partly because it is the turn-around point of the classic ocean sailing race of the same name. We’ve now had Dirona at the location of several notable offshore races, including Vic-Maui, Transpac (San Pedro to Diamond Head), Sydney…

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James Fort

James Fort

Construction began on James Fort in 1602 after the English victory over the Spanish and Irish in the 1601 Battle of Kinsale. The fort fell into neglect, and became known as “Old Fort”, once contruction began in 1678 on Charles Fort across the harbour. While James Fort isn’t nearly the tourist attraction that Charles Fort…

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Kinsale Pub Crawl

Kinsale Pub Crawl

Despite our best efforts, we didn’t come close to visiting all the pubs in Kinsale, let alone all the restaurants. The problem seems as challenging as in Halifax, NS, despite Kinsale having a population of only 5,000 compared to Halifax’s 316,000. We’re told that at one point Kinsale had 38 pubs. And we didn’t have…

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Charles Fort

Charles Fort

Charles Fort was completed in 1682 at Kinsale and is one of the largest military installations in Ireland. The fort is open to the public and receives over 85,000 visitors a year. It’s an easy 45-minute waterfront walk from the marina, with two pubs along the way. Trip highlights from May 27th in Kinsale, Ireland…

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Cork, Ireland

Cork, Ireland

Cork is Ireland’s second largest city and is about a 45-minute bus ride from Kinsale. The main reason we went there was to pickup a SIM card for cellular data, and after we we had a great time touring around this urban but historic river city and, of course, checking out a couple of pubs….

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Newport to Kinsale

Newport to Kinsale

We completed our Fastnet-to-Fastnet run and arrived into Kinsale, Ireland after a 17-day, 2,801 nm crossing of the North Atlantic. And we shared our first pint at an Irish pub—we’d been looking forward to that from almost the moment we left Newport. This was by far our most difficult passage we have done, with three…

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