Sunday, June 16, 2019

The Incredible Clonakilty Street Carnival


The Incredible Clonakilty Street Carnival
Volunteers Rise To The Occasion Again!

Volunteers. What would we do without them?

You've just got to hand it to the magnificent community behind the annual Clonakilty Street Carnival who once again provided a marvellous day's entertainment in the West Cork town last Saturday.
Finalising a table in the morning.

Lots of meetings ahead of the big day of course and it all came together in the most delightful way, even the weather cooperated!

Food is an essential element here. And, before the big event, the kids had their Long Table meal, a healthy one as well. Indeed, the children are very well catered for here. Lots of activities for them, everything from face-painting to penalty shootouts, from table tennis to learning circus tricks.

Chefs get ready
And for everyone, there’s so much to see and do. Music, music, everywhere. Brass bands, jazzy bands, solo singers on the side streets, big bands on the stage on the main street. And all of this is free!

You do have to pay for the main event, the long table dinner. Three long rows of tables along the main street have been prepared by those volunteers from early morning. The restaurants, cafés and hotels in the area, all get together to provide the food, a great variety of it.

Volunteer at the carnival stall
For just fifteen euro, you have a choice of main courses (all street food style), a glass of wine or beer (the local brewery did a special for the occasion), and a dessert from Irish Yogurts (a big sponsor of the event). All this for just fifteen euro per adult, half that (I think) for kids.

No wonder the queue for the 3.00pm “eat-off”, began about thirty minutes earlier. But it was all very mannerly and good-humoured, lots of banter and you could still hear the music and take in some of wandering acts.
The superb Clonakilty Brass Band. Well, half of them!

And no big rush once the "gates"opened! Just a few are let through at a time to pick up their chosen dishes from the restaurant stall of their choice. And when you emerge at the other end, there's a smiling volunteer there with a tray to help you to a vacant seat.

After that sit down and relax. Eat that food, sip your drink, listen to the band, chat to the neighbour, watch that stilt-walker go by. Just enjoy. The day is young, the sun is where it should be, and Clon is buzzing.

More photos below and more on my Facebook and Twitter accounts
The big drum proved a major hit

Wind section

"Applause for the band please". Another volunteer in action


Helping out at the children's long tabler.

Children tuck in.

This guerrilla band of would-be chefs, complete with pot lids and wooden spoons, led by a noisy broccoli-biting whirling dervish, made quite an impact!

This volunteer led the queue in a sing-sing!

Tempting!






Clon by the sea

Teaching a juggling trick


Full marks here for this quick-learner

On the first tee

Super stuff from the team at Celtic Ross!

Music. Music.

Diners relax in the sun

Earlier in the day.












Saturday, June 15, 2019

Amuse Bouche


‘I didn’t know you could cook.’
He smiled. ‘That’s probably a bit generous. I can make this and a few other things. It’s like playing the piano, though, isn’t it? You only need to know about five decent pieces you can drag out in company and people think you’re good at it.’
‘So is this your signature dish, as they say on the cooking shows?’
‘One of them. I’ve got exactly four more.’
‘Still, five is four more than some men can make,… Can I turn on the news for a minute?’
Carmen picked up the remote… Falk could see the screen out of the corner of his eye…. The ticker scrolled across the bottom…
GRAVE FEARS FOR MISSING MELBOURNE HIKER.

from Force of Nature by Jane Harper (2017). Very Highly Recommended.

Thursday, June 13, 2019

The Coast of Clare


The Coast of Clare
Bridges of Ross near Loop Head

Before the crow came...
The coast of Clare provided the backbone for our journey in May, beginning on the Clare-Galway border, calling to the Flaggy Shore and the Fanore Beach, a quick trip inland to Lisdoonvarna, then the pier at Doolin, skirting the cliffs of Moher (we had been there a couple of weeks earlier), then a call to Ennistymon and its cascades, roadworks meant we didn’t get near Doonbeg; then we visited Loop Head Lighthouse (just about able to see in the fog) and we did call to the Bridge of the Rosses before continuing on via Carrigaholt and Kilrush to end up at Bunratty.

Lots of good food and good lodgings over the three nights and four days and more on that later. We left Cork early on day one and our first stop was about noon at the amazing Hazel Mountain bean to bar chocolate factory

In Ballyvaughan, I saw a crow walking behind a heron who was stalking prey in seaweed at the edge of water. Each move that the heron made was “copied” by the crow. The heron seemed to get fed up of the unwanted company and flew across a narrow stretch of water to the opposite shore. On the ground, the same scenario happened again. This time though the crow got even closer and the heron flapped his wings at his “shadow”. Still, the crow stayed close. Eventually, the heron took off on a longer flight out over the water and parallel with the shore. The crow followed suit but only for a brief spell before turning back and landing on terra firma. Perhaps he wasn’t too happy with the flight over the bigger expanse of water. I reckon the heron was happy to have seen off his tormentor.
Tea and Garden Rooms Ballyvaughan

We had provisionally noted Ballyvaughan for a lunch stop but were in no mood to eat anything after all that delicious chocolate! The Tea and Garden Rooms were closed for the day (May 1st) but the Monk seemed to be getting takers for its lobster offering (49.50) and its promise of a taste of Irish beers.
Monk's

At the Flaggy Shore, we had a view of Galway across the bay, not the clearest as the day was getting duller. Does anyone know how it got its name? I couldn’t see any reason to call it flaggy. After passing the Black Head we arrived at Fanore Beach. Here, there is no shortage of flat rocks. The dunes are of some importance though that doesn’t seem to hinder the congregation of caravans and mobile homes. Some fine walks around here also, starting in the beach car park. The River Caher, the only river in the Burren to run its entire course overground, enters the sea here.
Fanore

As we drove down the coast road (R477), we thought we’d make a visit to Lisdoonvarna to see the Curtins. Birgitta was not at Burren Salmon when we called. Here, all visitors have the chance to see a short video on how they produce their famous smoked salmon. We enjoyed that and the tasting that followed. Couldn’t make our minds up between hot and cold smoked so we bought both along with some trout and mackerel.
Mural in Burren Smokehouse

Since we were so close, we decided to walk up to the Roadside Tavern to see Peter and who did we meet on the way only Birgitta. Had a small tasting of their amazing no-hops beer and then a wee chat with Peter who was asking for Jack Lynch, his fellow micro-brewer from Mayfield (Cork). More on Peter’s beer here.  
Roadside Tavern

Back then towards the coast and our base for the night, the absolutely splendid and very highly recommended Sheedy’s B& B in Doolin. And also highly recommended, for dinner, is the Oar Restaurant (a short walk from the B&B).
Doonagore Castle, with the islands in the distance

The following morning, after a delicious multi-choice breakfast at Sheedy’s, we spent a short spell on the pier at Doolin, watching the ferries coming and going from the Aran Islands. Then a narrow road took us high into the hills, past Doonagore Castle, and eventually we had great views of the three Aran Islands. Soon we passed the Cliffs of Moher (again, we had been, as we had been in the Doolin cave, a couple of weeks earlier). See account of earlier trip here.
Poet Brian Merriman in Ennistymon

Time then for a bite to eat and we thought of the Little Fox in Ennistymon. Seating and tables are fairly basic here but the food is the luxury. Some lovely dishes on the menu including Campfire beans with garlic yogurt, basil oil, Inagh Free Range Sausages, with fried egg on Hugo’s Sourdough. Another dish to catch the eye was the Mohammad’s Flatbread, with roasted squash, crème fraiche, fried egg and garden greens. Alas, breakfast in Sheedy’s had been so good, we could only manage a cup of locally roasted coffee and a delicious lemon cake.
Cascades in Ennistymon

We almost forgot to check out the town’s famous cascades, just a very short walk from the main street. The water pours down a series of natural steps. Spectacular stuff in the middle of the town, well worth a detour. Speaking of detours, the next one took us well away from Doonbeg and the west coast, even down to Kilrush before heading back towards beautiful Kilkee. With the weather closing in, we headed for the Loop Head Lighthouse.
Loop Head

The rain stopped for a spell and then it got a bit brighter but the improvement didn’t last and it wasn’t at all good when we paid our fee (a fiver, I think), for the tour. We were told what we could have seen! Very tantalising, having climbed over 70 steps. But that’s nature! She doesn’t have to perform just because the tourists are in town. The weather had eased somewhat as we walked, on a hard path mostly, over by the Bridges of Ross, a spectacular coastal landscape, amazing rocks and at least one big arch.

Back then to village called Cross where we had booked into the Old School B&B. Here again we had a great host in Ian and also his wife Teresa (whom we had met earlier in her part-time role as lighthouse guide!). Headed up to Kilkee for the evening meal and the crab claws were the highlight of our meal in Naughton’s Bar in the town .
Carrigaholt

The following morning found us on the road east, close to the north bank of the mouth of the Shannon, the giant stacks of Aughinish Aluminium visible at almost every turn. Our first stop was to see the ruins of Carrigaholt Castle. A man was busy in the seaweed below, working hard shifting and shaking bunches of seaweed. He told me he was foraging for periwinkles and seemed to be quite successful on the sunny morning.

The sun stayed with us as we arrived in Kilrush to visit the Vandeleur Walled Garden (no charge). The Vandeleurs, planters in the 17th century, were well established here for hundreds of years but their reputation was severely damaged with mass evictions during the famine period. Now though, this is a peaceful colourful community place with that historical garden, a bistro, a garden centre and woodland trails. Well worth a visit.

After that, we headed up towards Ennis on our way to Bunratty where we spent the full afternoon enjoying the Castle and its Folk Park. . Our base for the night was the nearly Bunratty Manor. Here we enjoyed a superb dinner and a fine breakfast too before heading off home on the following morning. It was a terrific trip to Clare.
Naughton's Kilkee