First up was a cheeky re-entry to Mizen Head when it opened at 10, just so we could walk back down to Arch View. The reception staff were perfectly happy to re-admit us for free. I’m not sure if they took pity on our experience yesterday, or they’d do this anyway… I suspect the latter.
The coast and bridge were much easier to see than they had been the day before.
Fastnet Lighthouse was finally visible, just, through the murk, about nine miles away.
We then had a coffee, and I had a gluten-free BLT at the Mizen café. We bumped into the Milton Keynes campervanner again, and he gave us more tips about where to go next. Of course, we had to use the loos again too, because there aren’t any in the car park.
There were also a bunch of people in the Mizen Head car park getting ready to cycle from Mizen Head to Malin Head. The exact distance depends on the route, but it’s well over 500 kilometres — rather like cycling from Land’s End to John o’ Groats in the UK. These riders were planning to do it in 24 hours! They had two support vans, one for food and the other for maintenance. I hope they got there OK.
Barleycove Beach
Barleycove Beach is still probably one of the best beaches we’ve ever seen. At the risk of being a bit crass again: it would be nice to have a café and some toilets there (!?).
We only looked at it from our campervan-friendly stop at the top of the hill this time, but it was a real treat to sit in peace and quiet, look down on the beach and take in the views.
The Barleycove Beach Hotel on the other side of the bay is certainly something. It seems to have taken over that whole stretch of shoreline. There are some nice holiday lets — or perhaps timeshares — over there.
Crookhaven
We stopped next at Crookhaven. There was campervan parking behind the first pub as we entered the village, but we bagged a spot by the harbour.
It’s a lovely little fishing village with what looked like at least three pubs, all within about 75 metres of one another and occupying most of the harbourfront.
The mural showing Fastnet Lighthouse as a pint of Murphy’s was amusing.
Bantry
On our way to Bantry, we tried to stop in Durrus for a coffee and a wee, but there wasn’t any campervan-friendly parking we felt comfortable using. One of the locals became very enthusiastic with his horn as he tried to overtake us on the high street. I was crawling along looking for somewhere to park, and he appeared from nowhere alongside us. I tried to turn right and nearly turned into him, but IMHO he was far too eager to get past. Anyway, he honked!
Mental note to self… check mirrors more often ¯_(ツ)_/¯
We’re staying in a large, tarmacked square, probably 80 by 80 metres, on the grounds of the Westlodge Hotel and Leisure Centre on the outskirts of Bantry. You drive through the hotel car park, then go back to reception to book in and pay for your stay. They then let you through a barrier and down the hill to the campervan area. It’s well set up, with both grey, and black, water disposal along with drinking water.
On arrival, it became clear that we’d reached Bantry on an event weekend.
The 2026 All-Ireland Coastal Rowing Championships programme runs from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 August, and we arrived on Thursday the 13th. The receptionist had to check, but we were OK for one night, but no longer.
After setting up, we went for a swim in the leisure centre. It was a slightly steep €10 each, and then I had to buy a swimming cap. The pool required caps, as many Irish pools do.
Once we’d returned to the van, we set off for the town to see what Bantry was all about. But only having a longish chat with a family thay had just arrived next to us. They were in a 21 Eldis CV80 with pop-top. They liked their van a lot and were out in Ireland for a month as well. They had two girls, the youngest just starting school.
The walk into Bantry took about 20 mins. First down through the extensive Hotel grounds and then along the sea front walk.
Bantry marks its history through the pre-history times and then on to when 40 Spanish ships tried to take the town. There was a lot going on in Ireland in the 17th century.
But now, Bantry is another of those picturesque fishing ports, but also a reasonably large one. There are more pubs serving food under big umbrellas along the main thoroughfare than in the smaller ports, but it still feels like a working town.
We had a wander around and tried, without success, to find a GoPro mount so I could attach the Osmo 360 to the windscreen. I’m missing having a dashcam; we’ll have to fix that. We asked at the Tourist Office about the rowing the next day, but the person there wasn’t as friendly as many of the tourism officers we’d met and didn’t know much about what was happening. He eventually found a map and pointed us towards the end of the quay, where the action would be.
As it happened, we were going that way anyway to do a bit of shopping at O’Keeffe’s SuperValu. After picking up a few bits and pieces, we saw that the end of the quay was closed to traffic, so we headed down to see what was being set up for the next day.
A group of guys were manning a barrier beside the area where some of the racing boats were being stored, so we asked what was happening. We were told that around 450 crews would compete over a 750-metre course. Most of the boats would carry four rowers and a cox. There were also classes for boats with six rowers and a cox, which seemed to involve some of the older wooden boats.
Anyway, we’ll pop down on our bikes tomorrow and check it out.
Omelette and salad for tea.
The hotel loos are a solid 8/10, as any hotel’s should be. This is a big hotel and resort, with a pool, gym, pitch-and-putt course, tennis courts and grooming-salon (!) etc. There’s a conference hall, and the gardens look set up for those picturesque wedding shots, so it must host weddings too.
As the evening wore on, more and more campervans showed up. The hotel is one of the accommodation partners for the rowing event, so it’ll be rammed over the next few days, including the campervan area.
Tomorrow: the rowing championships, followed by a drive to Castletownbere, where we have a proper campsite and some lecky.
J
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