Circumnavigation of The British Isles 2011: RR2 Ireland

We are now in Islay in Scotland, having spent a month sailing round the west coast of Ireland. While the trip was somewhat gale ridden, we thoroughly enjoyed it. It is a wild coast with magnificent scenery and excellent sailing. It is sparsely populated with people whom we found to be very friendly and helpful.

The biggest regret we have is that, with the 4-month window we allocated to getting round the British Isles, we did not have enough time to explore more places than we did. We certainly left Ireland with a very favourable impression of that part of the British Isles, which we previously knew little about. So much so that the thought of visiting again, for a longer period, is an attractive proposition.

Initially we arrived in Crosshaven, Co Cork, in the middle of the south coast of Eire, following a fast overnight sail from Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, Wales. We had left Ipswich at the beginning of April and had travelled to Wales along the south coast of England and via the Scilly Isles – in the hottest April since records began. On that section of our trip we took the opportunity to meet up with friends en route and to explore some locations, such as Chichester, Salcombe and St Mawes, which we had not visited before.

While gale bound in Crosshaven and with the weather having broken, we moored on a “free” buoy upriver in Drake’s Pool where we were totally protected by the surrounding hills and trees. We were only a 15-minute dinghy ride from the Royal Cork Yacht Club whose bar and facilities we made good use of. From Crosshaven we visited, by bus, Blarney Castle, where we kissed the Stone, the old Jameson’s distillery in Midleton where Mike was selected to join a tasting group, and Cork City, where among other things we toured the famous English Market. We did not unveil a plaque there to commemorate our visit – although the Queen did on her visit a week later.

After the gales subsided we sailed south around the Old Head of Kinsale before turning and tacking our way steadily west against a F6 wind in order to eventually get round the south-west corner of Eire. This, however, took several days’ sailing to achieve.

We mostly day-sailed, leaving at dawn and pulling in by the evening into one of the many beautiful natural anchorages on this coast. A few years ago the EU contributed towards the establishment of quality yellow Visitors Buoys in such anchorages in order to attract visiting yachts to the west coast. Although in the present economic climate these have not been regularly maintained they are generally sound – and free (as compared with the south coast of England where one ends up being charged £20 a night – even at anchor)!

While tides are light on the west coast, the currents in the principal rivers, round the many headlands, and through the sounds between the islands and the mainland can, at certain states of tide, be very strong and in these circumstances there are often lively overfalls, eddies and, in some cases, whirlpools. Timing of a passage past such obstacles is therefore fairly important.

After moving from Cork to Baltimore, a small fishing village and yachting centre, we left early the following morning in order to see the Fastnet Rock, the turning point for the biennial Fastnet yacht race at the end of Cowes Week.

Once round Mizen Head we surfed 20 miles down Bantry Bay to Glengarriff, a very sheltered and famously beautiful anchorage. It is called the Madeira of Ireland on account of its mildness thanks to the influence of the Gulf Stream and the surrounding mountains which protect it.

We visited Garinish Island where the gardens have been developed over the last hundred years and are now owned and maintained to a high standard by the State. It is a formal Italianate garden set within a Robinsonian wild garden, inextricably blended with it by architectural features [quote!]. Plants from all over the world flourish in this protected climate. On the way to Garinish Island we passed Seal Island – said to contain the largest colony of seals on the west coast of Ireland. The seals looked fat and happy – not surprising since salmon netting is now prohibited in Ireland and the seals have an unlimited supply of food.

On the way out of Bantry Bay we anchored behind Bere Island in order to let some bad weather pass and to wait out the tide. Castletownbere, the principal town behind the island, is home to a large deep-sea fishing fleet which looked impressive by any standards. Surprisingly, after the Anglo-Irish Treaty in 1921, the British retained Bere Islands and anchorage as a naval base until the 1950s.

From there we sailed to Dingle in Co Kerry, passing round Bray Head and Valentia Island, and across Dingle Bay. On the way we took a shortcut by motoring through the very narrow sound (35 metres wide) between Dursey Island and the mainland. As we were exiting the sound with a strong current in our favour, our diesel engine coughed, stalled and refused to restart. We immediately put up all the sails faster than we’ve ever done before in order to sail our way through the rocks and large confused seas where the current from the sound met the Atlantic swell. This we managed but not before our heart-rates had soared through the roof. The problem was clearly fuel starvation. After changing the filters and testing the engine we continued to sail in a F7 across the mouth of the Kenmare river and Dingle Bay into Dingle Marina. This passage gave us our first experience of the fabled Atlantic swell that dominates the west coast of Ireland.

At the entrance to Dingle harbour we were surprised by an enormous dolphin surfacing alongside and continuing to “guide” us into the bay. He was so big we thought at first that he was a pilot whale. He turned out to be Fungie, a bottle-nosed dolphin who has been guiding boats in and out of harbour since 1983. A whole industry has grown up around him, with regular boat trips out into the Bay to see him leap, and no end of tatty memorabilia.

Dingle is famous, as a small town, for having 52 pubs. In one of them we had our first taste of Irish music. On another occasion we went into a pub to find the locals all glued to the TV watching a commentary on the Queen’s visit to Cork which appears from our observations to have been generally very well received in Ireland.

The local fish was outstanding. We ate it both on board and in the excellent small restaurant on the marina quay. Just as we were about to leave in the afternoon we were joined by a Canadian yacht. John had been returning to Canada but had given up after six days sailing into a westerly gale. He was fairly exhausted.

We left Dingle, seen out again by Fungie, before sailing overnight the 130 miles to Inis Mor, the largest of the three Aran islands, in the mouth of Galway Bay. It is a Gaeltacht island – where Gaelic is the everyday language. The wild mountains on the mainland provide a stunning backdrop to that part of the coast. We, however, kept well offshore to avoid, while sailing at night, the powerful ebb tide out of the Shannon and the rocks, islets, eddies and overfalls that proliferate along the coast. On arrival in Kilronan Bay, an open but well-sheltered anchorage, we picked up a yellow Visitors Buoy, had lunch and caught up on some sleep.

Four hours later Mike Williamson, from Wales, in his Westerly Tempest “Jacqueline”, and Jean Francois Brodin from L’Orient in his Hallberg Rassy “Papy Boom”, came into the bay. We had first seen them briefly in Dingle before they left before us, although Jean Francois remembers seeing us anchored in the Scillies. That evening they came over by dinghy to us for supper. To our surprise, we saw only five yachts in total at sea or manned in harbour throughout our whole time in Ireland. This was supposed to be the best time of year to sail in those waters although we’re told many more boats come during July and August.

Next day Mike bought a very nice Aran sweater, before we hired bikes with Mike W and cycled the length of the island to Dun Aonghasa, a prehistoric ring fort overlooking the Atlantic. It sits on the cliff edge with a 300ft sheer drop to the rocks below. The semi-circular fort is now a World Heritage site. It is also testimony to coastal erosion since it used to be circular and inland! Many of the day tourists who come over by fast ferry from the mainland elected to be driven up by one of the many pony and traps which operate as a means of transport on the island.

For the next two days we were stuck on our buoy in Kilronan Bay in a F11 storm that went through the whole of Ireland and, as we found later, trashed the marina next door to the one we ended up in in Coleraine in Ulster. We didn’t dare get into the dinghy which was almost flying even with its heavy outboard on – let alone try to get ashore in it. Our rope safety line frayed completely through in half an hou rand it was fortunate that our principal mooring line is made of chain – otherwise we would have ended up on the rocks.

Once the wind died down next day, we left the Aran Isles and spent nine hours tacking out to Slyne Head, the most western peninsula of the Irish mainland, before being able to turn north-east and run under sail into Clifden Bay. Clifden, the capital of Connemara, is a colourful bustling town described by a resident as “one large roundabout, which is murder in the summer”. Every other building appears to be a pub.

Next morning we went ashore in the dinghy to the Clifden sailing club’s pontoon where we were met by Damian Ward and his father Jacky who had come from the town specially to see us, who introduced themselves as “your meet and greet committee”. They are sailing club members who personally maintain the three Visitors Buoys with no help from the Council. They could not have been more helpful. They drove us around and in particular helped us get fuel and water in cans from the town and ferried it in the Club RIB out to our boats since the weather had deteriorated again and it was not safe to launch our own dinghies.

That evening the weather began to ease and we assembled on Jean Francois’s boat, it being his turn it was to make supper. He produced an excellent spaghetti carbonara together with a raw egg yolk, presented in a half-shell, to stir into the hot spaghetti. I swear that Mike W turned white but he manfully gave it a go. As you might expect, the meal was delicious. During the evening we all compared notes and recognised that we had become quite good at distinguishing the various seabirds in their different habitats: Pomerine skuas, black guillemots, storm petrels – you name them. Our joint favourite, however, must be the puffin – in French, as we now know, le Puffin anglais.

From Clifden we again sailed in company round Erris Head to Broadhaven in Co Mayo. With the 4-metre Atlantic swell and a F6 behind us it was an exhilarating sail. In transit we passed Achill Island, which has the highest sea cliffs in the British Isles. The Visitors buoys in Broadhaven had been removed, so we took a private buoy which the owner confirmed was “ok”. Mike W and Jean Francois followed us into the bay. Broadhaven has a Lifeboat station, a few houses and there is a shop – six miles away. It is, however, a well-protected anchorage.

Since another gale was forecast within 24 hours we chose to push on north, across Donegal Bay, to a very pleasant well-protected anchorage behind Calf Island in Arranmore sound, Donegal. Mike W and Jean Francois had elected to take a two-day break in Broadhaven. Conditions turned out to be stronger than forecast. The wind on our aft beam was F7–8 all the way with a 5-metre swell. We surfed along with a spitfire jib and three reefs in the main. As we were picking up a Visitors Buoy off Leabgarrow in Arranmore the engine alarm sounded and we found that the fresh water pump pulley had sheared off. Not good news since one does not carry or expect to need a spare. We spoke to Lindsay and Rob of Seapower Marine in Ipswich. They sourced replacement parts for us and left us to deal directly with the suppliers. After considering our options we concluded that getting a part delivered to a yacht moored off a small Irish island would be problematical to say the least, so we decided to sail on to Coleraine marina in Co Londonderry before the boat’s batteries were completely exhausted.

Next day we had a great sail in hot sun for the 86 miles to Coleraine marina, which we eventually reached at 1 a.m. The Donegal coast is the most remote and least visited part of Ireland although it is spectacularly varied, with its deserted beaches, turquoise water and rugged cliffs.

On the way we got the tides right along the north coast of Eire when passing Bloody Foreland and Malin Head, before turning south-east towards the entrance to the river up to Coleraine. The Atlantic swell eased once past Malin Head and the wind slowly dropped. We therefore put the dinghy and outboard over the side, lashed them to the side of the boat (as a power pack) and headed into the river mouth. I was in the dinghy in charge of the outboard and Mike steered Island Drifter. The narrow river entrance between two training walls, combined with a 2-knot ebb tide and the Atlantic swell (although reduced), was very turbulent and I took one particularly large wave into the dinghy. We managed to crawl through the entrance at a speed of 0.9knots over the ground before making our way somewhat faster up the remaining four miles of the river to Coleraine marina where we celebrated our safe arrival with a very large G&T!

In the morning we could see that the well-organised little marina was in a beautiful rural setting. The town itself, half a mile away, is a working town and not just a tourist trap. Soon after breakfast we had our first real hot shower for a fortnight! [Note for our more sensitive readers: we had washed each day!] I then spent several hours in the University of Ulster’s Student Union launderette coping with a month’s accumulation of washing! Mike sorted out various things on the boat.

Since the engine parts were not due to arrive for another two days, we went sightseeing to the Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland’s only World Heritage site. We also took a conducted tour of the Bushmills Distillery, where during the free tasting the male tour guide took a shine to Mike and plied him with quite a few free drams. The latter sat back and enjoyed it! On another day we went by train from Coleraine to Londonderry, a route described by Michael Palin as one of the world’s most beautiful train journeys. We took a conducted open-top bus tour around the city to get the feel of the place and then walked to the Bogside and visited the ‘Free Derry’ museum. While we were in the city there was a full-scale protest march taking place with many tricolours and placards calling for the cessation of strip searches and release of POWs.

Once we had replaced the water pump pulley (which, incidentally, was made of stronger steel and had an extra reinforcing face-plate, suggesting that there was a known problem with the part), we had supper with our two co-cruisers before setting out the next day on our separate ways. Mike W is now three quarters of the way round his circumnavigation of Ireland and we may yet meet up with Jean Francois again somewhere in Scotland.

We plan to spend the next month or so in Scotland.