Rineen

A surprisingly cold night followed by a surprisingly cold morning with a heavy frost. But we dethawed the car and ventured cautiously out to Rineen where were joined Conor of Gormú fame on one of his 12 Walks of Christmas. Conor is the chap who enticed me into the sea  earlier in December! One other walker joined us and we went forth into ridiculously beautiful countryside on a ridiculously beautiful crisp day. Rineen is at the end of a long coastal inlet with sublime watery views in one direction and thick woodland in the other. We walked 8km with many stops as Conor regaled us with stories from the local folklore and explained all the different placenames. I had two favourite stories. One where we admired a large 18C house where the owner had married for the second time in his 60s. His new wife was 15 but things seemed to have worked for they had half a dozen children and he renamed his house Castle Anne in her honour! The other story featured Nelson, yes that one.  On hearing of the victory the man in charge of defending the Cork coastline from the French ordered a monument to be built! A triumphal arch was erected a little to the left of the hill in my photo in a record 5 days by 1800 Irish Sea Fencibles!  It was attacked in 1920 but rebuilt and finally blown up in 1966. More here plus photo if you're curious - I was!
We're now wrecked and I think it might be baked potatoes for supper.