Drift wood in Ireland -Saturday-copper mines, peat and stunning scenery

The Beara Peninsula is one of the most Southerly peninsulas on the west coast of Ireland. We spent a good portion of today exploring the patchwork of green, grey craggy ridges, and stunning seascapes of this area - taking the roads less travelled. One of the great things about this tour has been the open ended nature of it. Each driver has some opportunities to make their own plans based on the time available , their own preferences, and the wishes of the tour participants. Today Henry took the opportunity to travel further and go a little more afield than usual - which suited us fine.

In the morning Trev and I took the chance to run into the nearby oak forest near the town. It turned out a longer run than expected, which meant that we were pushing to be ready in time to leave.

You can drive over a narrow pass called the Healy Pass by taking a narrow switchback road. As we headed up the road a way helpful Henry jagged a bonus for us. He pulled in to let us have a bit of a closer look at some peat in the bog. The great thing was that one of the locals who has rights to this particular bit of bog was on site turning his peat rows over to let them dry. He was happy to chat to us about how the turf is dug and dried. He actually has a machine to dig his, and lay it out, then he dries it, turns it ,uses some, and sells some.

There were beautiful views from the Healy Pass of the corkscrew road on one side , surrounded by the craggy mountains , and beautiful Glenmore Lake and the valley nestled leading down to it.

As we came down from the pass and could view the bays below us again we spotted many rows of barrels in blue, pale green and grey floating in rows in the bay. These are growing mussels. Mussels occur naturally here, and when they hang netting from the barrels and leave it the mussels attach themselves, and grow there. In about three years the barrels hang lower with the weight, and they know that it is time to harvest. Most of these delicious little beauties are sold to fine restaurants in France. Both shellfish and seaweed are flourishing industries here.

On the bus is a special instrument that Henry call a tachometer. Each driver  has a card which they insert into the machine. It records the speed that they travel at and how long they are driving for. They take the card with them from bus to bus, and upload the data to the powers that be, who then can monitor conmpliance with the regulations. The bus is also speed limited.

Everywhere we go there seems to be groups of cyclists on the road. Apparently cycling has boomed in the last ten years. Running and adventure racing are also gaining in popularity.

At the western end of our trip down the peninsular we stopped at the little town of Allihies with its multicoloured buildings lining the main street and sauntered into the little snug in the pub, stressing their kitchen staff by putting in our 13 orders for sandwiches or soup. After filling our hungry tummies we headed up the hill and strolled around  the abandoned copper mines. I couldn't help wondering if it was men from here who came out to South Australia's own copper triangle. There were a good number of copper mines in this area. Now they all stand quietly grey stone against the grey hillsides... Resting and remembering. the heather and gorse is flowering beautifully in pink and yellow, hanging onto the tiny soil layers gathering between the rocky ground.

Then it was on via the last of the wild Atlantic way and Inland. Tonight is the last night of our tour. Tomorrow we will be in Dublin again on our own.

Tonight we are staying in the most remarkable place. Gougane Barra is this lovely quiet location by a lake. There is hardly anything except a hotel and a church. The church is one of those wonderful places that just feels like God is right there, and the adjoining area with the stations of the cross is amazing.