The funnel of the Queen Elizabeth 2 looms over Cobh as seen from near the Commodore Hotel.

The club and the hill. This is the North Harbour in Cape Clear Island. The club is familiar to all who visit this part of the world, as are the hills unfortunately. This particular hill overlooks the whole harbour and feels like a 45 degree struggle at times. I still have memories of climbing it…

Luxury cruise ship Queen Elizabeth 2 tied up at the quayside in Cobh, Co Cork last Thursday. This was moments before she cast off. You can see a tug in the background of this image. It was bitterly cold down on the quay, but we were lucky that the evening sun cast a lovely golden…

A small ferry casts off and heads out of Bantry Harbour with lots of hunting dogs and their owners. This was last February and I watched with interest wondering where they were going. More QE2 photos to come, when I have time to work on them!

Michael John (“Mick”) Collins (Irish: Mícheál Seán Ó Coileáin; 16 October 1890 – 22 August 1922) was an Irish revolutionary leader, Minister for Finance in the First Dáil of 1919, Director of Intelligence for the IRA, and member of the Irish delegation during the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Subsequently he was both Chairman of the Provisional…

San Francisco is 4884nm (nautical miles?) from Cape Clear in Co Cork. Have you noticed the misspelling yet? I never did until a few minutes ago!

Angela’s Shop and Coffee Dock in Fountainstown Co Cork. This shop has been at the beach in Fountainstown for the last 20 years (according to the owner) but I had never ventured inside until today. We were served lovely cups of tea which we enjoyed outside in the blazing sun. I had hoped to shoot…

Construction work on the building site between Emmett Place and Patrick Street in Cork continues at a pace. Despite the slow down in the economy high rise cranes can still be seen on the city skyline and are more prominent than the recently opened Elysian.

Two tiny cottages sit on the quayside in Cape Clear’s North Harbour. You might have missed them when you arrived because they’re off in the opposite direction most people take. I was quite taken with the contrast between both cottages. While both are obviously old and have seen better days, the left one has a…

Cape Clear Island, or Oilean Chleire, is only 3 miles long and 1 mile wide, but it’s only 40 minutes by ferry to the mainland so it’s fairly easy to bring out vehicles. In fact, I saw many more cars on the island than I did on my last trip. As you may have guessed…

The north harbour in Cape Clear is the main harbour on the island. There’s a south harbour as well but there’s only a small beach there, and a long quayside where the occasional small boat ties up. To the left you can see the Club which is a small shop/cafe on the ground floor, while…

A speedboat, at speed, races past the more sedate Naomh Ciaran II on our way to Oilean Cleire, or Cape Clear. You can see the island itself in the background!