The Boat Cottage Café

What a day! Himself wanted to do a long haul hike and asked to be dropped off in Carriganass and collected some 6 hours later at Gougane Barra. No point in going home so an exploratory itinerary had been devised last night. I couldn't tell you where I've been but it involved going through Kilmichael several times and not even a stop for a coffee for there was nothing nowhere.
I have visited five wells, three grottoes and an ambush site. The landscape was rugged and the colours fantastic. Two interesting and humorous human encounters - I ended up sharing my reading specs (blue with sparkles) with a farmer as he tried to interpret the paper map and the GPS and then sent me off in completely the wrong direction. The complications of trying to find your way down these very small lanes when you need: sunglasses, reading specs, a proper map, the GPS and a large supply of Werthers' toffees (missing, just empty papers).
I've seen some special sites:
a tiny beehive shaped well in a woodland dedicated to St Daniel
a three legged dog wearing  collar of shame, jumping over my new jeans
a monumental memorial to the ambush site, circa 1921, when the Flying Column intercepted the British Auxiliaries (the dreaded Black and Tans) and 5 IRA members seemed to accidentally have wandered in to the fray
a massive grotto illuminated in the October sunshine, a small river running below
a shop selling religious statuary (but nowhere to get a coffee)
a pub painted purple and yellow
another well dedicated to the wonderfully named St Berrihert
the tombstone of a man murdered
Johnny Timmy Johnny's colourful corrugated iron shop
But it was this little café that made me leap out of the car - I wouldn't dream of fishing! It lay right on the side of the road next to the Gearagh - see second extra which was looking extraordinary. Yes, those are trunks of trees popping out above the water for it is the remains of the only ancient post glacial alluvial forest in Western Europe. In 1950s  the area was covered by the water for the Lee Hydro-electrical scheme and is now a nature reserve.  More about it here



The Boat Cottage Café isn't remotely spooky but it's certainly derelict. Don't forget, we're in DS54 now.

And Himself staggered down from the mountain after a 6 hour hike - thick fog and much bogginess at the top of the mountain made the going tough. He's now covered in strong smelling muscle soothers! You can see what he was contending with here