Often sunlit wintertime rambles around Cork and Waterford
Published on 10th February 2026 
Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutesSunshine can lure one outside, as long as one is not otherwise preoccupied. That has been the story of my life in the last few weeks, and perhaps during the previous twelve months as well. Thankfully, the Christmas and New Year period got some of the clutter out of the way for me to get out and about to explore places both familiar and unfamiliar to me.
December became a time to again see places where I had been before. Some of this was nighttime wandering along parts of the Cork Harbour Greenway, at least while I was occupied with work. One that was out of the way, daytime rambling could happen with Blackrock and Passage West being reached. Later, I would reach Clogheenmilchan Fen and Blarney on what was an overcast day, not that it mattered at the time.
After that, East Cork saw much of me. First off, there was the Youghal to Midleton (nearly spelled that with two d's, which is wrong for this part of the world) Greenway. It took me an hour to get out of Youghal because of all its sunlit distractions, a trend that was to recur on a later encounter. It did not help that there is photogenicity in the area, not that it caused much bother with lack of daylight at the end of my hike.
When I did get going, progress was steady, with Killeagh and Mogeely punctuating the hike through level countryside on a former railway line. There were no hills to halt decent progress as I savoured my surroundings along the way. It was making a decent introduction to the area. More people were out and about between Killeagh and Mogeely than on the other parts, with that last piece between the latter and Midleton not being overrun either. The initial section was the quietest of the lot, though, and that suited me just fine.
New Year's Day came sunny, and even a misunderstanding of the bus departures times failed to stall my enjoyment of what I found there; the extra time in Cork allowed for some added photographic activity anyway. Coastal strolling that I needed to abandon on my previous visit, which came as quite a wrench at the time, was my lot this time around. This took me down as far as Ring Point (Rinn, pronounced ring, is the word for point as a geographical feature in the Irish language, so this is a tautological collision) near Pillmore before I turned back for Youghal again. Light declined on my return via the Greenway and the tide had covered the beach, signalling the passage of time while I was rambling. The initial semblance of a throng of people dissipating all the while I was walking, to leave something more pleasurable. Plenty had been gained, making the journey to Cork a timely return.
The next day, I was destined for Ardmore, only for Youghal to detain me again. Its medieval side was part of that, as was a spit of land shadowing its Mudlands and the River Blackwater. While that last jaunt left me wondering if I had overdone things, my onward to travel to Ardmore had not been endangered. Once there, I made for the church ruins and associated (and well-preserved) round tower, the first time that I had been so close to an example of the latter; this is also one of the termini for St. Declan's Way, a long-distance walk from Ardmore to Cashel inspired by a journey once made by the saint. Cliff top walking ensued, a promenade inspired by one of the Hike Life books that I had been reading during December. That was followed by saw shoreline walking before I continued to Dungarvan, taking in sights around Rinn (the same word I mentioned above) and Helvick Head in the Waterford Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area). After some strolling around there, I commenced my return to Cork after a satisfying day packed with so much winter sunshine and sightseeing.
My traipsing had me passing through Castlemartyr that it felt wrong not to have a stopover there. There are forestry looped walks to savour as well as the grounds of the Castlemartyr Resort, a very busy place by all accounts and blessed with castle ruins as well as the Womanagh River. There was even time to reach Lough Aderry via country lanes and learn of the Ballintotis network of looped walks, something that you might never realise while passing on the main orad by car, bus or coach. All this made use of yet another sunny day.
Since the forecast promised one more of those, I returned to Dungarvan, However, an encroaching rain attenuated what I could get. Sunshine was momentary rather than continuous on a walking loop that fitted in part of the Waterford Greenway. Thus, another return visit sounds apt, and the Greenway also has me thinking of other prospects too. Two days starting at Kilmacthomas, one headed for Dungarvan and another destined for Waterford, tickle my fancy. Though Greenway walking may seem monotonous to some, it does allow you to survey an area while getting to know more about it. My county Waterford incursions have not been that deep so far, making the Greenway wandering look like a good way to do just that. After that, other ideas may emerge.
