#castlehaven

Things have changed since I last came up the estuary. The non-native spruce forest to the west has been clear felled. I decided to climb up the hill to have a look. While it pretty much resembles a battlefield, I am happy to report that it has been replanted with Oak and Alder. It also has opened up views that have been obscured for the last 50 years or so. While I was on the hill, a sea plane flew over, not something you see every day around these parts.

I snuck along the shore in the lee of the land over to the mouth of Castlehaven harbour. Castlehaven is a tricky one in a northerly wind. It is a long and narrow inlet with high cliffs to both sides. At the mouth of the harbour you tend to get headed on both tacks and that is when the wind is blowing at all. It gets better as you proceed up the harbour and once you get past Castletownshend village the wind starts funnelling down the estuary. This video shows one of the really fun aspects of cruising a small boat. Beating up an estuary, through tight spots, with the flooding tide. As you can see in the video it can be all action. I didn’t even notice the guy standing on the spot as I passed maybe 20 feet from the shore.

So this where I ate lunch/dinner, did some fishing, read a book, put on lots of sunscreen...

gets stabbed more often than I'd like. love of my life. threw the first brick at EnMaProBa.

Sittin' on the dock of the bay #Castletownshend #Castlehaven #Cork #WestCork #Ireland #WildAtlanticWay (at Castletownshend)

A collection of some of the wooden boats of Castlehaven. There seem to be two types of clinker punt, the smaller, flatter-sheered pulling boats and the swoopier-sheered outboard punts. There is also surprisingly, a racing currach. Not pictured are the Ettes. There’ll be plenty of them coming up as I get through my Glandore Classic Boat pictures.

On 24th January 2014 we are hosting a Charity Quiz Night for CastleHaven Community Centre.  The event will be held at Holiday Inn Camden Lock. More information will be published soon. If you are interested in attending, please forward you details to [email protected]