Dursey Island to Allihies 16km

Former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick was infamous for having a store of catch phrases he used to trot out at every post match interview. One of his favourites was “It was a game of two halves”. Today we had a “day of two halves”.

Looking out the Velux roof window at 6 this morning it was a stunning, sunny, windless day. Perfect for our visit to Dursey Island. By the time we had finished breakfast the sea mist had rolled in and everything was whiteout again. Calm and cool but just no visibility. The owner of the B & B drove us the 16km out to Dursey Sound in his car. The plan was for us to do some walking on Dursey Island and then walk back to Allihies.

Dursey Island forms the tip of the Beara Peninsular with strong currents racing through the narrow Dursey Sound. The island is serviced from the mainland by a cable car. The only cable car in Ireland and the only one in Europe that travels across the sea.. Before the first cable car was installed in 1969 the island could be cut off for weeks by bad weather. It is said the priest sometimes had to bless the islanders by making the sign of the cross from the mainland. Dursey is the last place where the sun sets in Europe and on 31^st December 1999 featured on worldwide television to mark the Millenium. There are no permanent residents left on the island but there are houses to rent and people have vacation homes there.

There are many stories and legends concerning Allihies and Dursey and it has a tragic history. According to local tradition the Children of Lir are buried in Allihies. King Lir’s second wife, jealous of Lir’s love for his children, changed them into swans. The local version claims the swans spent the last three hundred years of their nine hundred year long exile on the Bull, Calf and Cow rocks of Dursey Island. The spell was broken when they heard bells from the church in Allihies and came ashore in human form. The four stones in Allihies are said to mark their graves.

The Viking Age in Ireland was from 800AD to 1150AD, and during that time they used Dursey Island as a slave “depot”. They held their Irish slaves there until they had enough to fill a ship to go home to Scandinavia.

Dursey was the last refuge of the Irish after their defeat at the battle of Kinsale in 1602. Irish Chieftain Donal Cam prepared the island and garrisoned it with 40 men. The English attacked at the end of 1602. The defenders outnumbered and outgunned surrendered in a few hours. They were all hanged. As a reprisal the English burned the houses and the church and slaughtered 300 inhabitants, mainly old men, women and children.

We took the cable car over to the island but it was pretty hopeless trying to see anything. There is a great coastal walk, many ruins, a lighthouse, signal tower etc. We didn’t stay long and crossed back to the mainland. The cable car operates from 9 -11am and 2.30 – 4.30pm. We didn’t want to spend hours wandering about in the mist so came back on the last morning crossing at 11am. From the cable car terminus we set out on the 14km walk along the coast to Allihies. The mist slowly lifted, the sun appeared, and we had a wonderful walk.

The afternoon was perfect. A dry path, great views, warm, sunny and no wind. Ireland at its very best.

Old Irish proverb of the day: Young people don’t know what old age is, and old people forget what youth was.