#913366 by Sealink
18 Nov 2015, 02:19
CORK to HEATHROW or...

THE INSIDERS GUIDE TO CLONAKILTY followed by some air travel.


CORK!

The only city in Ireland I have not visited… well, not for more than an hour (see this trip report from 2010. 2010!! I ask you. Where does the time go? viewtopic.php?f=21&t=263284&p=744305&hilit=limerick#p744305) and it was time to put that right.

So, I landed late on Tuesday, and found a pub with music and Beamish.
When they closed, I wandered down the oldest street in the city (McCurtain Street) to a little café. It was after midnight. No way would they be open.

They were open! It was called Cafespresso and the owner said ‘they won’t close when people want to pop in’ which was very sweet. It was one of those places that looks quite ordinary from the outside but it was clear that it was a locals favourite. So myself and few customers chatted about Ireland, England, Northern Ireland and put the world to rights, while eating Spinach and Pomegranate Sponge. Yes, that IS A thing.

At 1am I decided it was time to call it a day, because I had an early start the next morning.

Yes, if honeylamb couldn’t come to the mountain, the mountain was going to go to honeylamb! That was a quick coach journey to a lovely little town called Clonakilty. But before that, a few images from Cork…

In the light of day, my little three-star* hotel seemed much nicer…
(*somewhere, a V-Flyer has fainted)

Image

Image

I mean, how many hotels in Ireland have a waterfall?

Image

Out and about in Cork…

Image

Image

Image


Image


Image


Image


Then it was on to Clonakilty!

It was lovely to have HoneyLamb (Sister Cloich na Tanqueray) meet me from the coach, and she quickly pointed out some of the highlights of this lovely, lovely town.

Image

I always like going to churches / chapels and cathedrals these days. I’m not religious (anymore) but there is a wonderful serenity inside.

Image

Image

There are animals all over the place!

Image

Image

And lovely lodgings for our smaller friends…

Image

Image

A lovely town, altogether.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Now, if you’d told me that when I was fuming over the service on the Stansted Express the night before that I would be walking along a beach with the wind in my hair, I would have laughed. But thanks to Honeylamb, that’s exactly where I was!

Image

Image

All good things must come to an end… so it was with a heavy heart that I said goodbye to Honeylamb and Clonakilty and made my way back to Cork Airport for the flight home. Oh yes… had you forgotten that this is a flight report? ;-)


The legroom on the coach was more than adequate…

Image

Cork Airport is a delight. I was through security in less that 45 seconds! Admittedly, I was arriving for the last flight of the day, but it was so nice to not have to queue. I used my Priority Pass to have a look at the Jack Lynch lounge.

There was a selection of pastries, bread rolls, crisps etc. And Gin. But some odd brand that I don’t think Honeylamb would rate. Also, there was not a great deal of reading material. But I had Three Mobile so could browse to my hearts content anyway.

Image

The lounge was small but perfectly formed, and would be a nice place to wile away an afternoon waiting for a flight.

Image

The flight was on time, and boarding was pretty efficient. With my prebooked seat I had priority boarding, however this was nowhere to be seen on my strange mobile boarding pass. Aer Lingus don’t as yet support Wallet on iPhone, which is a shame as I love having all these souvenirs of trips past.

Legroom… less than Ryanair. The staff were more engaging on Aer Lingus.

Image

However I would still choose Aer Lingus over Ryanair again because of the Stansted Situation.

I ordered some food from the Aer Lingus ‘bia’ range, and it was a simple enough thing: a toasted sausage sandwich with Ballymaloe relish. My goodness it was tasty! I even tweeted Aer Lingus afterwards.

Our flightpath gave us an absolutely stunning view of London, as the fireworkds for Divali were going off as a far as the eye could see. Which you can’t see here…

Image

Image

This was my first time arriving at Terminal 2 since I tested the airport before it opened, and it was just as quick this time. Terminal 2 would definitely influence my choice of airline in future (and in fact has, as I opted for Icelandair from Heathrow for my next planned trip.)

So thank you to Ryanair, Hotel Isaacs and Aer Lingus for an amazing bargain break.

And thank you Honeylamb for taking the time out of your day to show a fellow V Flyer your home town!

And thank you V Flyer for making all this socialness happen. The friends I’ve made here have been amazing.
#913376 by pjh
18 Nov 2015, 10:21
Wonderful TR, thanks so much. Cork may well be a destination for us soon - from Stansted, of course. :)

"Notorious Wantons" indeed.

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests

Itinerary Calendar