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Old farm building in ruins

Out in the wilds of Co Cork, to the north of Bantry I found an old deserted farm. The house looked like it had been empty for some time and some of the out buildings were in worse repair.

Don’t forget the photowalk on Sunday!

The long road

A road winds into the hills north of Bantry. Yesterday’s photo of the Bantry hills was taken just up the road from here!

I joined Red Bubble yesterday and sold a photo already, although I think it was Pete who bought it as I emailed him last night about it. Nice selection of presentation methods too. Cool.

The rolling hills of Bantry

This is one of my favourite shots from the weekend in Bantry.

Basically I drove up the back roads out of Bantry town, then came to another town and picked the smallest road out of that place before going up a tiny little boithirin with barely room for my car. Wonderful.

O’Keeffe Lounge and Bar

I happened upon the O’Keeffe Lounge and Bar while wandering around Bantry last Sunday morning. Given the name of the establishment I just had to take a shot didn’t I?

Note the “Welcome to the pint depot” quotation?

Congratulations to Gingerpixel who won Best Photoblog at last night’s Irish Blog Awards. Ryan so deserves a special mention for doing the photography on the night, yet again! And of course, a big thank you to Damien for getting the ball rolling and organising the whole thing.

Mountain Daffodil

A daffodil in the garden of a house in the hills north east of Bantry Bay. I drove up there last Saturday morning and stopped when I saw the open gate. Wandering in the driveway I took a few shots of the view and then noticed these daffodils growing.

I prefer the daffodils. The day was too gloomy and the view wasn’t that great.

Dedicated to the memory of the three young men who lost their lives today in nearby Dunboy Castle.

Chain Link

A huge link in a mostly submerged chain. If you looks carefully you’ll notice the trapped bottle of mineral water visible between the rusted metal!

This was shot only a few feet from the boats in the previous shot.

The Boats of Bantry

Boats tied up at the quay in Bantry two weeks ago. Bantry was once criss-crossed with waterways like Venice is today but those are long gone. The sea is still an important part of the culture of the town.

If you’re interested in the history of the region, here’s a page from westcork.com on the subject.

Skibereen or Hospital

A sign in the foreground of the main square in Bantry, Co. Cork. We went to Ahakista eventually!

This is made from one exposure but I had this great looking sky and underexposed buildings and ground detail. To get an even exposure I split the photo using two layers and adjusted the exposure in each accordingly. I’m very happy with my work on this one!

The Tin Pub in Ahakista

One of the highlights of Ahakista in Co. Cork is the Tin Pub set in the middle of an area lush with vegetation, flowers, trees and lovely West Cork Scenery.

Jacinta visited here several years ago with her friend Mary when they had a picnic in the back garden. We did the same, after asking the family who own the building. You see, the pub wasn’t open yet, but then Tom had a wedding the previous night and finished work at 4am. Shortly after we made ourselves comfortable outside and had poured our tea he showed up and smiled when he saw our picnic.

After our picnic we got chatting to Paul and Cath, who are over from Cornwall for a week. Over a pint we soon got lost in the easy going atmosphere of the pub and before we knew it time had caught up with us and we had to make the journey home.

Despite Pete McCarthy’s assertion that driving down a road with grass in the middle means you’re going the wrong way, you should try the “alternative route” to Ahakista. When you leave Bantry take the first turn right to Sheepshead and you’ll see it sign posted a few miles down the road. Go slowly, because others use the road, but the scenery is amazing. If it wasn’t for the fact that we were late leaving home, I would have stopped several times to shoot landscapes.

I can’t remember the last time I was in this part of the world, but the beautiful scenery and laid back way of life means I’ll be back!