First trips in County Cork (Mizen Head, Youghal and meeting seals) - 6 months in Ireland

On 01.04 the time had finally come! The Prime Minister announced that, among other things, travel within the county is allowed and the 5km restriction is lifted. For me, this was a reason to celebrate, as I had otherwise spent my free days only in Cork or on my laptop. Our first trip was immediately planned, a car booked through GoCar, provisions prepared, and off we went with Lucia and Cecile towards Mizen Head and Three Castle Hill.

The Mizen Head is the westernmost point of Ireland, next to the vastness of the Atlantic lies the American continent.

Mizen Head is located in the deepest west of Cork, hidden between countless sheep and rugged beaches. An iron, white bridge over the abyss takes you to a small island with a lighthouse.

At this point, the corona virus was unfortunately still omnipresent, so the gate to the island was also closed. No problem for Lucia and Cecile, but I preferred to stay and flew some maneuvers with my drone. This is where I also dared my personal record with the drone, I flew the small aircraft to a height of 500 meters, which revealed an incredible view of the coast. In the background, you could see the Ring of Kerry, the famous Atlantic circuit.

Afterwards, we continued about 30 minutes towards Three Castle Hill, a castle ruin adjacent to a steep cliff, on a plateau above the Atlantic. We drove to the gravel parking lot and prepared for the short but steep hike.

At the gate to the property, there was a money box where the owner asked for a small donation for parking. Passing free-roaming sheep, we made our way through the lush green, soft and juicy grass to the castle ruins. After a short ascent, we had a fantastic view of the bay and on the horizon, I spotted him: my first wild dolphin.

He leapt through the bay alone and it seemed as if he wanted to greet us. Unfortunately, we were too far away to get a closer look, so we continued our hike. Arriving at the ruin, we lay down in the meadows and enjoyed the absolute silence up here. There were no sounds, only this soft grass and the gray clouds above our heads. The seagulls greet you at the cliffs, zooming past the turquoise water to their nesting places. After this successful hike, we made our way back and already dreamed of new destinations in the county...

On a cloudy Friday, together with Laura and Cecile, we set off on our next adventure, heading towards West Cork. Our first stop was a black sand beach and we walked past algae-covered rocks and natural pools.

From there, a small circular path led past the edge of the ocean through the fluffy greenery. Arriving at a rock formation, we watched the wild sea continue to work its way inland, as it has done for millions of years. We listened to the restless sea when we noticed a little head in the raging sea.

We were being observed by a little seal from the sea, diving several times and resurfacing in other places, always looking in our direction. We were truly amazed and stared at each other for at least 45 minutes. Being able to experience these animals in the wild and not confined in water parks, aquariums, or zoos makes me happy, but also angry.

The following Saturday, I booked a bus to Youghal for myself, the place previously mentioned on the county border.

Youghal impresses with its kilometers-long sandy beach and also has a literary background, as the brutal story of Moby Dick took place here. Except for the beach, Youghal unfortunately didn't have much to offer, but that was not a problem at all. Because then I buried myself in my pocket book by Christoph Schlingensief, titled "This Heaven Can't Be More Beautiful". In this book, the author writes about his own cancer diagnosis, which ended in his death. I devoured this book and finished it when I got home. From that moment on, I was hooked and started reading actively again. Next, I finished a pocket book by Micky Beisenherz and the fabulous e-book "CO2 - A World Without Tomorrow".