Sampling Cork’s Allure: Old Haunts, Forts and Harbours on a Single Day’s Journey
Published on 29th December 2024 
Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutesThe day around Clogheen was the main hillwalking trip of my time based in Cork. The Whiddy island excursion was mild in comparison and set the scene for what happened on my last full day around Cork. The idea was to spend the morning around Kinsale, the middle of the day around Cork itself and to close things off with a flying visit to Cobh. While everywhere got visited, the timings were thrown out by how long I was in the Kinsale area. But for how I felt about at the time, the Cobh visit might have been expendable, since I saw less there than I might have expected.
The main lure for my visiting Kinsale was its pair of military forts. The distance between them may have made the main contribution to my spending longer than I had intended. James's Fort, the older and less complete of the two, would be very at hand if there was a bridge across Kinsale's harbour. However, that is not the case, and is probably best for its photogenicity and accessibility for pleasure craft, so a longer walk around was in order.
Thankfully, there is a footway by the side of R600 as far as the crossing over the Bandon River, the Archdeacon Duggan Bridge. Beyond that, I left the main road for a lane leading to Castlepark. Along the way, I noticed how many were parked or parking, and got to realise that a beach was drawing in the summer heat. Beyond Castlepark, I was on the approach to James's Fort, where I ambled about for a while. The buildings are not as extensive as the earthworks that surround them, yet access is free of charge and there was plenty to view across the waterway. Charles Fort was but one of the lures for any pair of eyes.
On the way back, I chose a higher level lane that granted more views. Since this brought me out on the R600 to the south of Ringrone Castle, there was a price to pay: road walking without a footway on a thoroughfare that was busier than I might have liked. The footway on the bridge was not reached a moment too soon. For the sake of variety, I varied my route in Kinsale, a bustling place, though one wonders how so many people occupy themselves around a harbour. It helps that this is somewhere with a culinary reputation.
My refreshment needs were far simpler, and I was soon going again. This time, I was headed for Charles Fort, the better maintained of the pair. That comes with a cost: not sites cared for by the OPW attract entry fees like this one. A tariff means a time commitment that I was not will to make. Even so, I was drawn along the coast first to Middle Cove and then Lower Cove. Lack of awareness of the Preghane Loop stalled by coastal wandering there, so I turned back inland while curious about a path I glimpsed in the long vegetation.
Awareness of the heat may have been blunted by sea breezes, but I really noticed it as I wound my way back to Kinsale along various lanes until I was on the R600 yet again. Signs of cereal harvesting were everywhere to be seen, and tractors and trailers were passing the way too. Since traffic was not oppressing me as much as the return from James's Fort, I simply took getting back to Kinsale one step at a time until I was at the stop waiting for the next bus to Cork.
Once back in the city, I noticed the heat even more; there was not a puff of a breeze as I plied my way from City Hall to St. Fin Barre's Cathedral and University College Cork, the latter being a former alma mater of mine. But for the effects of the heat and consciousness of time, I could have circled around by the Lough to complete a traipse along old turf from my undergraduate days. That had to wait until February of this year, not that it mattered so much at the time.
My next port of call was Kent Station, where I boarded a train for Cobh. This is a train line that has conveyed me numerous times this year as part of different escapades. Fota Wildlife Park, House and Arboretum were among the lures more than Cobh, a place that is more compact than I had thought, though it featured on a primary school tour itinerary many years ago. Since The cathedral is the main landmark, that got a call during what became a flying visit at the tail end of a summer day. That affected the light for photography, and it may make more sense as a morning location anyway. There is a walk along quays used by cruise lines that has its appeal, and I took in a circuit of the island, called Great Island, a few months ago, mainly tarmac traipsing.
If anything, my wandering near Cork on that final full day of my presence in the area acted as a prelude to further explorations that happened this year. The same might be said for the day trip to Bantry and Whiddy Island. As for Clogheen and the Knockmealdown Mountains, the follow up there is more tenuous: a trip to Clonmel with an incursion into the Comeragh Mountains during May 2023, a walk from Cappoquin to Lismore via Mount Melleray Abbey in August of this year and an excursion taking in both Cashel and Cahir after that. In summary, my touring while based in Cork city set me up for what happened this year.
That lay in a future unforeseeable in 2022. Changes were coming to my Irish affairs, and I could foresee how they would proceed back then. As I write these words, I am hauling myself out of torpor to see new sides to other places near Cork, like Blarney and Ballincollig. Climbing out of a lull is ongoing as the year-end gets ever nearer. All this beyond view as I left Cork more than two years ago. If there was any irritation, it might have been the leaving of a hat with a melting drawstring in the hotel room after me. A new acquisition sorted that omission to leave a sense of satisfaction of what else was surveyed. There could be no cause for complaint.
