Outdoor Odysseys

Island Allure: A Day Trip from Cork to Whiddy Island via Bantry

My first day excursion from Cork city took me as far as Bantry, drawn by a well known photo of Bantry Bay taken from Bantry House. The bus ride down there took me past such places as Bandon, Dunmanway and Drimoleague. The scenery was pastoral and pleasant, rather than having the drama of what you might find in Kerry. There was a very clear possibility of anticlimax after my time in Killarney.

Once in Bantry, I spotted a passenger ferry serving Whiddy Island, in the process sacrificing any designs on spending time around Bantry House. In any case, the position of the sun in the sky that afternoon may have foiled those photographic ambitions somewhat. The island trip offered more opportunities for viewing Bantry Bay and its surroundings, so that seemed a better bet on what was becoming a warm sunny day when heat haze could have attenuated photographic horizons, though these photos may not show much evidence of that.

My circuit on the island took me around by Kilmore Lakes and the southwestern coastline before I continued towards the Oil Storage Terminal, a place known to many Irish for a fire there in 1979 and not the best sited given the surrounding scenery. Still, picking the right part of the island to be was a way of excluding the more industrial intrusion from your view. Thus, I continued for the north coast on my way back to the quay. As I plied that way, a woman asked me about dogs that were barking; they intruded on her sense of safety more than on mine.

Whether by serendipity or design, I remained on the island instead of using an earlier ferry departure. That allowed for more exploring, especially around the northeast of the island. Any untrodden part of the looped walk may have been traipsed too before a return to the mainland.

While Whiddy Island took up most of my time, there was enough for a brief call to the grounds of Bantry House. That was enough for me to note the prices; they cost enough to make one need to stay a while to get the most value for money. Thus, I circled back to Bantry while making use of a portion of the route of the Sheep’s Head Way. On replenishing myself with some refreshments, I set about awaiting the bus back to Cork. It was as well that I did not trust the Transport for Ireland departures app too much, or I could have missed the bus, marooning myself until the next morning. Bus Éireann sent an older vehicle with no tracking, which did not help with providing information that anyone could use.

Once on the bus, it was time for a relaxing journey back to Cork, not that it ended my West Cork explorations, even if it took the most of two years to return to these parts. This summer saw to that with walking trips to the Mizen, Sheep’s Head and Beara peninsulas. There also is Drimoleague if I fancied a more inland excursion. The hills may be lower than what you find in Kerry, yet there is scenery there to be savoured all the same.