8 good reasons to stick around West Cork

As we prepare to plan some leisure time over the upcoming holidays, PEADAR KING offers some good options for a local sojourn

FILM reviewers do five stars. The old pop charts did Top 10s and then top 20s. Those of a certain age will remember Larry Gogan’s flawless countdown. Apparently, he had worked out a mathematical formula that allowed him to do the countdown in whatever allocated time he had.

And you thought it was just a question of him reeling off the names of bands and songs? And then there are all the top 100s. Top 100 films to watch, books to read, places to go. All before we die. Mortality plays a big role in the top 100s. As if we needed reminding. Even sports people are now subjected to the marks out of ten syndrome. Even in team games. The sum, no longer worth more than the individual parts. As if they haven't had enough scrutiny.

I have always felt a bit meh (a word, I’ve noticed that has crept into the vernacular of late. I had to look it up. It means lack of enthusiasm. So there!) about rounded numbers. It’s as if the number 10 is there, well just to make up the numbers. The only reason for its inclusion.

Apart from the above, the number 10 (and, indeed, the number 9) have a bad history.

For any individual acts of cowardice, mutiny, desertion and insubordination within Ancient Roman legions, the whole unit was punished. Every tenth soldier in the unit was executed by his fellow soldiers, irrespective of his guilt or innocence. In a unit of 500, for example, groups of ten were formed and each group was forced to draw lots. The chosen soldier was then executed by his nine comrades, Stoning or clubbing were the preferred methods.

That was then and this is now. Except, of course, the concept of collective punishment has not gone away. But that’s another story.

So, not in any particular order, here are 8 good reasons to stick around West Cork.

1. The Skibbereen Saturday market

Skibbereen Farmer’s Market is one of the busiest and a great space to find great local food, grown by local people.

The Skibbereen market. Okay, there are markets throughout West Cork but it is Skibbereen market that I find myself at most Saturdays. It is not just a market. That too. It’s a convivial space in the heart of a market town. A space to stock up on local produce grown by local people. A space where one can find the unexpected. And much much more.

2. Signings on Sheep’s Head

Signs on the Sheep’s Head trail - delightful!

For the topographically illiterate (aka those with a lousy sense of direction), and for those who are easily disorientated, they are a joy. As is Sheep’s Head. Those upright yellow postings provide welcome and much-needed reassurance. It really is hard to get lost.

3. The Barleycove Boardwalk

The bounce of the long boardwalk in Barleycove over its extensive sand dunes, formed in 1755 when a tsunami was recorded near Lisbon caused 15ft high waves to hit the area, is surely one of the best preludes to total immersion in its sea-salt waters.

4. Bandon rewilding

The planting and rewilding outside Bandon on the way to Innishannon. The fruits of the Cork County Council planting. It really is very simple. The most inauspicious sites can be transformed. Beautified even. Thanks, Cork County Council.

5. Wall murals in Bantry 

I wondered what Brendan Jennings was doing on a poster. A shoe maker in the traditional sense in that he hand-cuts from leather and turns perfectly formed shoes. Then I began to notice other faces on other posters. But what I really like is the inclusion of Brendan in the gallery. A man who makes shoes. Now, that’s art. And craft.

6. Stories on the bus

Buses are by their very nature democratic spaces. In an age of carbon footprint preoccupation, the bus is the perfect antidote. And West Cork is well served. Warm, comfortable with wifi and somebody else to do the driving. Quite apart from these conveniences, the bus brings each of us in contact with people we might otherwise never meet. And we can play Maeve Binchy who spent her life earwigging on other people’s conversations, if we so wish.

7. All seven islands

Initially I thought of Sherkin, just fifteen minutes from Baltimore, then I thought of Heir – just a four-minute hop from Cunnamore pier. And then I thought … Well, why not all of the islands? So all of the islands it is.

8. The Village Shop

Not just a shop. That too but a place where not all interactions are transactional in an age where transactional relationships have increasingly become the norm. Here, Lord Darlington’s quip In Oscar Wilde’s Lady Windemere’s Fan, that a cynic is ‘a man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing’ finds no place. Here friendship and good conversation are valued by all who pass through its door. All of that, plus local produce and dawn to dusk service.

If you are really into Top 10 lists, there’s room for two more. Better still, your 8 good reasons to stick around. Letters to the Editor, perhaps?