Clonakilty & West Cork
 

I think I need some reassurance. We'll be in Ireland next month, spending one self-catering week in Clonakilty. Previous trips have taken us primarily to the west coast, from Kenmare up through Donegal. Since we wanted to see more of the southern coast this time, we decided to plant ourselves in Clonakilty for a week. As the time draws near, I try to remember why I chose to spend a week in a place I've never seen and know so little about. Does anyone else remember?

I must have had the same lapse. A frequent traveler to the west and southwest I also decided to spend sometime in Cork. I chose a self caterring unit in Clonakilty because of its cental location for day trips..Cobh, Kinsale, Beara as well as its proximity to beaches. the amount of accomodation in clonakilty leads me to believe that there will be plenty of amenities (pubs, food, shops)
My family and I will be arriving St Stonewood mid July.

Cavan,
Thanks for refreshing me! We'll be there the week of July 19-26. You?

I'll be moving out when you arre moving in..we'll compare notes later.
I used the AA route planner to verify times and milage from clonakilty to destinations on our list and determined that
Killarney is 1.5 hours
Cahir, Tipperary is 2 hrs
Blarney 1 hour
Kinsale 30 minutes
etc.

Mary, Make sure you travel to Schull for a lovely daytrip.. It's a fabulous little fishing village.. Drive out to Mizen Head... When in Schull, eat at The Waterside Inn - fabulous food..! Another lovely trip is the Beara Penninsula.

Mary:

There is plenty to do there. Visit Mizen and Sheepshead Peninsulas. Go to Castletownshend and have lunch at Mary Ann's. Order the banoffee. It's huge and amazing. Glandor is a beautiful little town. There are islands off the coast to visit. The list goes on and on.

You also must read PJ McCarthy's "McCarthy's Bar". He spends a great deal of time on that area and the book is hilarious.

Bill

MaryZ:

I guess I most have read about your lookng for a place in Clonakility because it so rarely comes up on this board!
I also picked out a self-catering home just outside Clonakility back in 2000.

Clonakility is a large town with just enough to keep it interesting.
I agree with Bill on Maryanne's It is one of those rich, rural Irish Pubs!

We drove along the coast and did the usual stops.Kinsale, Blarney, Cork City and ventured out to Ring of Kerry (long day trip) and up and back from Killarney.

I have some memories that I can share if you like!
JOHN

We just returned from a week in CourtMacSherry - a tiny village quite near Clonalkilty. We had a wonderful week - our 3rd in this little village in as many years. But I would suggest you don't drive all over the place. There is a Millenium Walk on the 7 Heads penninsula (it comes to within 5 or 10 miles of Clonalkilty). I broke it into 3 segments - walking about 7 miles per day. It was breathtaking - diverse, lovely. Every night we went to the local pub. Two of the nights our friend, a professional pianist, entertained the bar with some good old fashioned 50s music. We've become very good friends with the locals - and we talk to them each night at the pub (and have over the years). We took one "long" day trip near Cork - and I didn't bother with Kinsale this year (though I do love it). My experience is the entire area is lovely, driving is hard, and it doesn't make sense to drive around seeing every lovely area. My husband did take a day trip to Bantry Bay and thought that was well worth it. We thought Mizen Head was dissappointing (last year) in that it was a longish drive and very similar to where we started! Just one person's opinion. Another opinion is I wouldn't stay in, but rather near, Clonakilty. I just find Clonalkilty to be a bit too big and busy to appreciate the most wonderful treasure of Ireland, it's people. (And we are planning trip 4 to CourtMacSherry next year!).

Thanks to all of you! I'm feeling very reassured.
John, I would love to hear the memories! Feel free to email at [email protected] if you'd prefer.