Ireland day 1067. Friday 30 August 2024- Valentia

Today’s summary	Spent the day on Valentia Island. Took the ferry to Knightstown first thing then spent the morning exploring the lighthouse. Drove to the fossilised tetrapod tracks and then to Geokaun mountain where we walked to the top. Finished off by walking up to the lookout tower on Bray Head then fish and chip dinner in The Fisherman’s Bar in Portmagee
Today’s weather	Dry and sunny almost all day. Light westerly wind, stronger in the evening. Appx 20c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Valentia Tetrapod Tracks

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

If someone says they have been to Valencia on holiday, it usually conjures up an image of somewhere warm and sunny and vaguely exotic, and that’s because it is. But if on the other hand they were to say they had been to Valentia it would conjure up an entirely different image. Well normally it would, anyway, because Valentia is a small island off the south west coast of Ireland and it rains a lot. But not today! Because today Valentia was more like Valencia than you would ever imagine it could be – and what’s more we were there to enjoy it.

We started the day with a light and relatively healthy breakfast of satsumas and coffee in our guesthouse room, then packed our bags and headed over to Portmagee to get carry out less-healthy refreshments to enjoy later in the morning. From there we retraced our steps slightly and drove on down to Reenard Point, ready to catch the ferry over to Knightstown on Valentia Island. The sun was shining on the quay, and it was peaceful and quiet. Enjoying our coffee and croissants sitting on the harbour wall while waiting for the boat was pure bliss.

Close to the ferry terminal over on the island is the lighthouse, built on the site of an old Cromwellian fort. Once we had completed the short hop to the island, we made that our first destination. It was so interesting, and the weather so sublime, that we spent all the rest of the morning and the early part of the afternoon there. Of course, we had to avail ourselves of tea and cakes from the café before moving on.

Actually, we didn’t have too far to go, as just a little way further along the coast from the lighthouse is a geological wonder, one that we particularly wanted to see. It is a set of fossilised tetrapod footprints, left on a muddy day 385 million years ago. A frozen instant in time, and actually the oldest on earth. We walked down from the car park and had a good look – the tracks were impressive, and the views of the surrounding islands and mountains alone made the journey worthwhile.

Next on the agenda was an ascent of Geokaun Mountain. Pronounced “Yokkun” and at 266m / 873ft the highest summit on Valentia, it affords brilliant views from the top. We elected to walk rather than drive up (though still had to pay €8 for the privilege) and had our picnic lunch in the sheltered area at the top. There were indeed stunning 360° views – the Blasket Islands were mistily visible to the North, and the Skelligs similarly so to the west.

We were loth to move on, but we realised by this stage that it was already 5 o’clock and we still had one more item on our itinerary to visit. So we walked back down, jumped in the car, and drove right to the other (west) end of the island to have a look at Bray Head. After leaving the car in the car park at the bottom of the path, we strode briskly upward to the Napoleonic-era lookout station which marks Bray Head itself, and the westernmost extremity of the island. We paused briefly to admire the sunny-but-misty panoramas, then, as it was cooling quickly and we were hungry, we headed back down, into the car and over the bridge to Portmagee.

There are a couple of pubs which serve food in the town, as well as a chip van, and tonight we chose The Fisherman’s Bar to enjoy our fish, chips and beer (only a half for me sadly). Altogether excellent and reasonable value (for Ireland) at €58 for the two of us. A quick spin in the car saw us back at Valentia View ready to sit back, relax, and reflect on a truly excellent one-in-a-million day. In terms of being warm, sunny and exotic, as far as I am concerned, Valentia beat Valencia hands-down today.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Valentia Lighthouse. You can walk right up to the top, even though it’s still fully operating (but automated and remotely managed now)	You can just make out the misty silhouette of this battleship which cruised silently by as we were exploring the coast. Then it faded from sight of even Val’s binoculars. No idea what it was or where it was going

A short detour off the route to the top of Geokaun takes you to a spectacular viewpoint overlooking the cliffs at the back of Valentia Island	One of the hundreds of tastefully-done markers which dot the whole Wild Atlantic Way coast

Observation tower at Bray Head	Nice tasty meal – feeling well deserved tonight – in the Fisherman’s Bar, Portmagee

Just as the tetrapod left them, 385,000,000 years ago. Unimaginable.