The whole point of the trip. 2500km of rugged Irish coastline roughly from Kinsale in county Cork to Derry/Londonderry in the north. No plans to do it all on this trip and already it feels like we are going nowhere ... lots of peninsulas after which you end up where you started! It does feel bit weird to be on a bike trip going nowhere!
Anyway, for now, back to the famine. Triggered by the repeated failure of the potato crop it was undoubtedly caused by a complex combination of circumstances - labour intensive farming, inadequate small holdings, over-population in some areas and what turned out to be fatal reliance on potatoes as food. But it was made worse, much worse, by the actions of government. We spent an hour or so a couple of days ago at the Skibereeen Heritage centre and the local cemetery where thousands of victims of the famine were buried in unmarked mass graves.
Skibereen was a district affected more than just about any other by the abject poverty that the potato crop failure brought between 1845 and 1851. I won't try to record the entire history here but simply note not only the scale of the catastrophe but also the policy of the British government that made it so much worse. Over a million people died and about 1.25 million emigrated - roughly a quarter of the then population of the country. Ireland, at that time part of the British empire and governed from London, was subject to the "laissez faire" policy of the time, in other words "let it be", or perhaps in modern parlance "the market knows best". The only intervention of note was to provide a work programme of things like road building that was so harsh that many people actually died on the roads they were building. And a change of government in London in 1846 only made things worse; Lord John Russell believed that Peel, the previous prime minister, had over reacted to the crisis and the situation would be remedied by "the market". Sound familiar? During this period millions of tonnes of food was still exported from Ireland while the population starved. Charles Trevelyan, Russell's Head of Administration for Famine Relief is reported to have said: "The judgement of God sent the calamity to teach the Irish a lesson, that calamity must not be too much mitigated … the real evil with which we have to contend is not the physical evil of the Famine, but the moral evil of the selfish, perverse and turbulent character of the people."
Cruel, doesn't even come close.
The Heritage centre in Skibereen provides dozens of heartbreaking stories and historical analyses that sadly bring the whole period to alarming life. It was an excellent visit, even if very sobering. Next door was the original soup kitchen set up there largely by volunteers, which fed up to 8000 people a day. And still people starved in their thousands. We wondered if one day it might be restored as a kind of memorial and education centre.
Anybody who reads my ramblings will know where my politics lie and I will finish this bit with a modern reference to our esteemed Minister for "Brexit Opportunities", the odious Jacob Rees-Mogg, who recently said he was proud of our current expansion of food banks as they demonstrated effective community action. That they are even necessary in the 21st century is a shocking indictment of government policy and his comments indicate to me that cruelty in government is still there, usually from people who have never known hardship of any sort in their lives. All over the world people still avoidably starve to death, in part due to the policies of their own governments. I don't pretend this issue is simple but sometimes we really do appear to have learnt nothing.
OK, that will do. I was going to delve into the events of Irish independence, from the Easter Rising of 1916 to the subsequent creation of the free state and the civil war. But I think it is too complex for these pages, and I don't want to offend anyone, so I will simply remember the contribution of Michael Collins to the cause of a free Ireland. I know he divided opinion then and probably still does. But I will say that current British government policy towards Northern Ireland and its threat to misapply parts of the protocol it signed are in danger of returning us to days we thought were behind us. Again, we appear to have learnt nothing. Or we are led by people who think of nobody but themselves. Or very likely both.
Right that really is my politicking over for now. On the same day we left Clonakilty and the statue of Michael Collins and stopped in Skibereen, we also headed out to the most southwesterly point in Ireland, Mizen Head. Not only a fabulous ride but a great destination of renown and myth. A beautiful twisty road, punctuated by small settlements and stunning views over the Atlantic was great tonic after the experience of Skibereen. We are lucky to be able to do this and we are grateful for that every day. And the weather was brilliant - a veritable heat wave! The new footbridge at Mizen Head. Lots of steps up and down - hot in motorbike troos!
From Mizen Head we headed back round the peninsula (our first, but destined not to be our last), to Kenmare, yet another delightful small Irish town with rows and rows of pubs serving good food and live music. You could fall in love with this place very easily. As ever we were welcome every where we went, even when Eric started singing Wild Rover at the top of his tuneless voice! If anyone's interested I recommend Foley's Bar - great bar, great rooms and a great breakfast in the morning - and no we didn't go the full Irish (just pancakes and fruit!). Got to keep up the fibre intake.
From there, yesterday (was it only yesterday) we slightly doubled back and headed off round the Beara Peninsula. First up the rather magnificent Healy Pass, something like 15km of twisty tight turns up to about 300m above sea level. Great views, great riding and the somewhat embarrassing experience at the top of meeting a woman in her 60s, just recovered from two broken legs who had cycled up! We really should have got a selfie with her!
Down the other side and round the peninsula, meant endless leaning the bikes in to dry corners and a planned visit to a copper mine. Which is where things started to go a bit Pete Tong. Advised by the local guide at the visitor centre in Allihies, that bikers "definitely" did ride up the track to some of they mines, off we went! The resulting attempts to eventually turn the bikes round on sloping gravel tracks had us all bricking it! Steve, if you are reading this tripe, you will be very glad you didn't come up here! In fact I suspect you would have very reasonably told us to "poke it" at the bottom - and gone to the cafe. Very sensible that would have been. But no mishaps befell us and we had yet another daft adventure to add to the annals! Yep, that's the bikes and that's the track!
Lunacy!
One final stop on our journey yesterday at Muckross Friary. Annoyingly Browett has chosen another rather brilliant ruin to while away an hour or so. This one with an ancient yew tree growing in the middle of the cloister. Very atmospheric and as usual a great place to reflect on, and be grateful for, how lucky we are.
Eric wants credit for this pano shot. Here it is!
And Rob claims this one. He's very proud of his "framing".
Now, as I write this we are in yet another fabulous inn in Killorglin, having progressed less than 30km, as the crow flies, from where we spent the night before. Unfortunately the wild Atlantic weather has stopped cooperating and it is pissing it down. Today is scheduled for the Ring of Kerry (again ending up pretty much were we started). Now we can imagine riding a few hours in the rain (we've done it often enough), to actually get somewhere. But the thought of riding for 4 or 5 hours in the pouring rain, on twisty roads to end up back where we started is not so appealing. Watch this space! Tonight's accommodation is only about 8km from where we are now! Wonder if we can stay in the bar, until mid afternoon?
And so I am almost up to date. Here are some pictures of the last couple of days.
At Mizen Head, looking north.
Also at Mizen Head, looking down!
King of the selfies. Three idiots (and a disused lighthouse) at Mizen Head, looking out to the (not so wild today) Atlantic.
The Healy Pass. Cloud coming in but still dry for now. We've got to the top and now we are going down there...
Glorious! And I think I might have actually taken his one. We can make a competition out of anything!
Eric trying to get the best shot! And as usual looking a bit of a k**b.
Just maybe the "walker sign" should have given us a clue!
Another pano view of the Beara Peninsula - can't remember who took it, probably not me. I'm sure they will both claim it!
And finally three absolute idiots at a copper mine! We made it up, and we made it back down again! And we are still smiling.
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