Last Day .....Navigating the Sheeps Head Way

For my last day in Ireland we planned to do some gentle strolling into the countryside.
The day had bloomed into a lovely intermittent sunny with clouds one…….just fabulous after yesterdays deluge….(which I also liked very much).
After brekkie we went to Dooneen headland….it started off rather civilised for the first part….and then we climbed over a style……..I think it was then that Amanda and Peter donned their mountain goats personas….and I just followed …..over and up rocks …traversing sheep shit beaches up to the top where it was like being on the moon. An infinity lake met me  (extra) when I finally got there and as I looked up there was Amanda resplendent in her orange mac sitting amongst the rocks at the top  of the world surrounded by the most incredible yellow lichen covered rocks………I had another moment…it was all so beautiful against the cloudy sky with the ocean and hill behind……it really is something ……hard to describe…I will try to post an extra.
Coming down was a bit tricky and I was so grateful to Peter who helped me navigate with landing on my arse.
After that we drove to The End of the Sheeps Head Way…right at the tip there is a cafe run by a very friendly woman Bernie….we had tea and apple pie with cream for a little fortification for the next leg of our journey …which I was told was just going to be a short one…hahahahahahahahha.

I did have to put in an extra of some nosy parkers.......I know now why it is called the Sheeps Head Way.

A trip across the North side to Crimea…… which was the name given to the deserted settlements there….it was a bit of a walk to get there from where we parked the car. The Foxgloves were just a lovely splash of colour in the landscape…it just gave everything a walk through the meadow type feel. One of the settlements had been done up a bit and we stopped there for a while to talk to a guy from Holland. I pushed on and went to the other ruins to take some pics…by this time the clouds were really doing some gorgeous things. Peter asked us if we wanted to push on to the Miners camp ruins and the Cove and he would go back to the car and pick up up the other side. I thought it was a great idea…mostly because I didn’t know how far it was…..I also had no idea that skimming the cliff edges holding onto a rope was on the agenda… ( have been suffering from a bit of vertigo of late) walking down a hill ..walking up a hill (over rocks) walking down another hill and up another (over rocks…thank goodness Peter had come to collect us and help me over the tricky bits)…walking down another hill and up another…get the picture.
Well what to say? It was all worth it……( I can say that now I’m all warm and cozy…sitting down) the views were just magnificent.
Before we got to the car (I really like Hector) we went down to the waters edge …which was rather feisty and not to be messed with……the waves were high.

Into the car and up to the Whtehouse art gallery for a cup of tea then back to the homestead.

I started the bag packing…collecting my stuff from around the house (I did spread out a bit). Peter cooked another delicious meal…….Amanda and I did the dishes quickly so we could watch episode 9 of Game of Thrones………it was gruesome…….Amanda and I are traumatised by now…I hope I can get some sleep before the 3.30am wake up call…..Amanda is driving me to the Airport for a 7am flight to Edinburgh…….I can hardly believe that a whole week has gone by so quickly…..my legs and hips are feeling the fast pace of the folk in West Cork though…hahahahahaha…never a dull moment.