Relaxed pace of life a peninsula trademark

IN their effusive citing of what persuaded them to nominate the Loop Head Peninsula as the Best Place To Holiday In Ireland, The Irish Times competition judges mentioned the number of roads in the middle of which neat lines of grass sprout.

 

These narrow, winding roads are as effective as speed ramps in an urban setting. Drivers west of Kilkee cannot see around the plentiful supply of bends and are well aware that if they don’t slow down, the likelihood of avoiding a collision with a vehicle coming in the opposite direction is beyond slim.

Ostensibly, the car veering around the bend should be travelling on the opposite side of the road. That’s not the case, however, as the side roads and byways are just not wide enough, which is perhaps part of their charm. That’s something of a challenge for a tourist, who is more at ease on a freeway, motorway or autobahn. While these roads, which just about allow one car to drive comfortably, may not feature in tourism guidebooks, the visitor can often glimpse Irish life at its most laid back whilst navigating them.

If the tourist is driving at ‘milking time’, they often have to give way to a herd of traipsing cows, who are in no hurry and regularly appear to be making their own way to the milking parlour.
While the number of farmers milking cows has declined significantly in West Clare, it’s not an unknown sight in the peninsula. Neither is that of neighbours, resting their elbows on their car windows, halting for detailed conversations while en route to an appointment at an unspecific time. “When God made time, he made plenty of it,” could be the mantra of some of the less time strapped peninsula residents. Many a GAA game or farming issue has been dissected in the middle of an otherwise empty side road.

While Loop Head Lighthouse, the Bridges of Ross and Carrigaholt Castle are the most obvious historical and visible attractions for the tourists, the seemingly less-than-hectic way of life in the peninsula villages and townlands is perhaps what most intrigues visitors, keen for a glimpse of life in a less speed-orientated lane.

“Everywhere you will be bowled over by the welcome, the personal touch, the history lesson in every conversation. This is time-machine tourism, a place that looks like 1970s Ireland, yet buzzes with 21st-century inventiveness,” is how Conor Goodman, chairman of The Irish Times judging panel, put it.

Among the spread of off-the-beaten-track attractions in the peninsula are Kilcredaun Lighthouse, an intact battery castle built in 1814, a tunnel from the castle to the estuary, scenic yet forgotten graveyards and an eerie drowned bog (Portach Báite).

The drowned bog is home to butts of 7,000-year-old trees, although water laps over what was once a huge forest. Clear views of Rehy Head are also visible from the drowned bog, which is located at the rear of Kilcredaun Lighthouse.
Kilcredaun is north of Carrigaholt village and juts into the mouth of the Shannon Estuary, while the ruins of the Okeanos, which ran aground off Kilcredaun Point in 1947, are still visible at low tide.

A visitor cycling or driving the back road from Carrigaholt to Kilbaha, via Rinevella Bay, will eventually hit across a memorial to the Yellow Men.
Locals in Kilbaha or Cross don’t know for certain when it happened. They are not even sure how many dead sailors are buried by the roadside in Kilclogher, Kilbaha.
Some say the Yellow Men drowned in November 1873, while others believe between nine and 11 men perished in the early part of the 1800s. The wretched story of the doomed sailors has been part of the peninsula’s oral tradition for almost 140 years and perhaps another 60 could be added to that if an exact date could be determined.

The Grave of the Yellow Men memorial, designed and created by Kilkee man Paddy Murray, who taught for 30 years at Cross National School, was unveiled some years ago by Fr Michael Casey. Nine headstones circle the grave where the stricken sailors were laid to rest during that ill-fated November.

The midsummer Kilclogher vista doesn’t divulge or even hint at how enraged and inescapably deadly the glistening mouth of the River Shannon can turn. Ringed by little roads, Kerry Head and Loop Head are simultaneously visible, a mere 11 miles dividing them. Peer steadily and the Brandon Mountains in Kerry shimmer into view, while Kilbaha Bay is a short spin west, over land or water.

Of course, the visitor loves a local pub, which doubles as a shop and a quasi community centre. These family-owned establishments are central to life in the peninsula and offer the discerning tourist a window into a sometimes forgotten element of Irish rural life, where everybody knows
everybody.