Blarney
70 miles
4034 ft climbed
In chatting with our host, Paul , last night we were discussing the small tracks and roads with the central luxuriant carpet of grass down the middle. A bit like a Brazilian for the road. He explained that they are known in these parts as a Boreen.
Apparently boreen is derived from the Irish bothar meaning cow path ( a track where two cows can pass each other). A bothrin is a little cow path, which is then corrupted into boreen.
We decided that we prefer boreens as there is usually very little traffic allowing safe riding with plenty of discussion.
Leaving our hosts Paul and Ginny in the nice home. ( You can’t fault them for swapping central Sittingbourne for rural west Ireland.) we started off on numerous and very hilly boreens as we left the Mizen peninsula. Whilst tough riding it was very rewarding with some good views including the last ones of the Atlantic we will see on this trip.
At one stage we emerged from all these small roads into the attractive small town of Ballydehob arriving at the peak time of around nine when everyone is in a rush.
Carrying on along many small roads we barely saw a car and at one stage made a navigational error missing a left turn because we thought it was an entry to a farm. In fact it was a freshly laid road where the gravel just had not been properly swept or rolled into the tarmac. This was a brute of a climb at one stage reaching 20% on the loose surface. As the steep part ended we stopped in what looked like the farm yard where numerous dead tractors lay littered around.
We were being helped along by a brisk westerly and for this first leg it was mostly sunny but not warm. In fact we did not need to put a rain jacket on all day. A first for the trip even if it did drizzle briefly a couple of times
The views remained good from the top but there was a change in the scenery to more active agricultural farmland
Just before dropping off the last boreen before coffee to meet the camper we came across the lone church tower of Drinagh standing guard over the spookiest graveyard you have ever seen.
It looked as though it had come straight out of a hammer house of horror film and the graves were about to come alive at any moment. The information board even said that there had been a watch room to stop grave robbers lifting cadavers.
As ever Nigel had found a great place to stop for coffee and croissants. This time next to a lake. We agreed that we would look to try to meet up for lunch near the Michael Collins memorial where he was ambushed and killed as by coincidence it was on the route.
Cracking on after coffee we came to the small town of Ballynacarriga which was incredibly busy as there was a funeral taking place Parking had been laid on at a nearby GAA stadium and there were marshals in hi-viz directing traffic at all the entrances to the village. As well as this it had an impressive castle.
Although I had managed to find the occasional boreen it had been necessary to put the route onto some larger roads which were noticeably busier. We did find the Michael Collins memorial but it was at the side of the road where they were relaying the tarmac in the middle of single alternate line traffic so we did not bother to stop. We found Nigel half a mile up the road waiting patiently as ever.
This last leg of the day was the busiest we have had all tour even though I routed away from main roads where possible. We were therefore happy to get to Blarney Castle all together at the end of the day
Monica had decided that there was no point in Nigel visiting the castle so only Chris Nick and I went. Having expected not much we were pleasantly surprised by the castle and its excellent gardens which were well looked after.
We decided as we were here we had to kiss the Blarney Stone and duly queued up with a load of Americans to do so. Whilst not a frightening experience certainly it was disorienting sitting back up after leaning over the edge.
Going back to the camper and campsite dinner was a minimum of five sausages each with only the second appearance of Monica’s beetroot and apple salad. There was nothing left.
As I write this blog Nick has once again wiped the floor with Chris and Nigel at cards. So much so they think he is probably a card shark.
We have a shorter ride tomorrow to Tipperary and hope that the route has more boreen than road as that is a far preferable way to ride. Fingers crossed the rain may hold off too.
nbjtours 