Glengarrif & Barley Lake

9th Oct 2012

So much of Cork’s beauty is ignored by the powers that be who run the tourism industry in this country. Apparently you have to get smashed in Temple Bar on expensive beer, visit the overpriced English stout house and see a piebald doing a poo in Killarney to get the authentic Irish experience.

Let ‘em off Rebels. We don’t consider Cork to be part of Ireland anyway – it’s too good for it. The upside of so few tourism buses ploughing their way around west Cork is that it leaves more space for you and I. Which do be daycint.

Have you ever been to Barley Lake feen?

Wha?

Thought so. As you drive through Glengarrif from the Cork city side there’s a split in the road. Most of us normally take the left down a small hill and on towards Adrigole and the Beara Peninsula. You might be suspicious of that right in the fork – it takes you up over the Caha pass and into Kerry.

Barley Lake: Makes the scenery in Lord of the Rings look like a chick flick set in Limerick city

However, if you do risk the right at the bottom of the town, long before you get anywhere near underwater hair dryer territory there is a left turn sign posted for the magnificent Barley Lake.

Before you begin your ascent, make sure your chicken chaser has passed its NCT (and we’re not talking about ‘passed’ in the fifty-euro-in-the-ashtray sense). If you have any doubts about your brake pads, brake shoes, engine coolant and all that kind of general safety lark you might want to think twice - there are more than a few dodgy hairpin bends to negotiate on the way up and down.

View east from the top of the cliff. No bungalow blight or tour buses 'round here boy.

About three miles from the main road (and by ‘main’ we mean, it is just about wide enough for two modest vehicles to pass comfortably) you will find a murrayeah car park on the right. Already, the view across the mountains to the north will be spectacular so don’t wee in your pants with excitement just yet.

A small scramble across the soggy mountain top to the south facing side will reveal something so beautifully emotional (well for us Cork devotees anyway) that you may want to bring a fresh snot rag with you for a quiet cry of joy to yourself.

Down below you Barley Lake will reveal itself in all its glory, the still black water gathering below a two hundred foot sheer and rounded baldy cliff. If the crowd who made Lord of the Rings saw this they’d be convinced that Tolkien, ahem,  did write another book and they could make the whole thing here.

The Blue Loo in Glengarrif: A great spot for a Murphy's and a toasted special after coming down from Barley Lake

Below the lake is the best bit though - a stunning panoramic view of Bantry Bay, Whiddy Island, Garnish and on a clear day they say you can see as far as the Fastnet. In this modern age you could be convinced you’re looking at Hollywood computer generated graphics. It’s that good.

The chances are that you will find yourselves alone at the top of what is certainly in Cork’s Top Ten Beauty Spots. If you’re with ‘Herself’ and you’re thinking you’d like to get into a ‘legal bind’ then this is a good spot to pop the question. Any woman that says ‘no’ at the top of this romantic rebel Heaven should be discarded and left to walk down the mountain back herself.

By the way when you leave the car don’t let the stillness of the sheltered north side of the mountain fool you into thinking you’ll be grand in your Cork jersey or a light hoodie. On certain days we’ve visited the prevailing south westerly it can blow your head off when you stick your Cork noggin above the highest point and make your way down the south face.

Take a trip out to Garnish Island. No law out there so a great place for an aul schmokey schmokey.

Glengarrif is a grand aul spot too. It’s more than a village, but while we might call it a small town it is literally is a case of what you see is what you get. One street: sin é.

The Blue Loo is our favourite watering hole in the Garrif and if you have had your picnic whipped away from you up at the lake by a gale a toasted special and some piping hot tae outside this place is a great substitute and the perfect sheltered place to watch the world go by.

Inside, especially at night, they tend to have the telly on and up which takes from the traditional pub feel but there’s a pool table in the lounge that has seen many the ferocious cue action from the People’s Republic (we will take this opportunity to state that playing the cue ball backwards from the ‘D’ after a feen has potted the white was only briefly permitted in the Vic around Christmas 1996 and has been illegal ever since).

One of the things that made us exceedingly happy about Glengarrif, aside from the beautiful location, Garnish island and all that was when we were waddling home from the pub. We passed the local chipper which was closed. Dammit, woulda loved a bag!

Suddenly in the distance a seemingly out of place white light flickered just at the same time our Corkonian nose hairs issued an urgent message. “Smell of burgers and chips INCOMING!”.

Like Sonia in the last hundred metres we upped the pace and sure enough a mobile burger joint had pulled up down the road. The greasy bounty felt better than inedible gold medal.

There IS a God and his name is west Cork!