Old quayside, Bantry

The old quayside in Bantry is next to the main road and opposite a severe new hotel block but it retains a sense of antiquity. The swans intrude into nearly every shot here, hoping for tit-bits if food.

This was once a place of activity and toil - landing the catch, mending nets, loading carts, hoping for a good sale. Now ancient cobblestones are slippery with seaweed and flotsam. Rotting boats collapse into silt and oily rainbow slicks. A few still go out from here - old men, the last of their kind, soon to be replaced by a new marina for rich men's yachts.