 | 14 th to 15 th of August 2016 - Back to Valentia |
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| Crew : | Andy and Helen | |
| Destinations : | Glenleam. | |
| Distance : | 12 miles |
Our options for anchoring were fairly restricted due to a high pressure system over Ireland bringing south easterly winds. We could have stayed in Kells Bay. However, having done a few jobs on the boat, including starting to replace some of the teak plugs on the deck, we were keen to head off somewhere new. We decided to go back to Valentia Harbour and anchor in the north west corner at Glenleam to give us protection from south easterly through to south westerly winds. When Andy checked the engine, unsurprisingly there was weed in the raw water filter so he had to remove this before we set off. At 15.45 we dropped the mooring. Initially there was very little wind and we expected to motor sail the whole way. We didn't mind this too much as we had plenty to see with 2000 foot mountains dropping down in to the sea. However, we did get wind and were able to sail at 6 knots for most of the way, the dolphins were also excited by our bow wave!
Glenleam was quiet and the anchorage well tucked in and surrounded by trees. There were lots of people swimming off the beach, which was small and the sea was clear. The evening brought the sun which stayed with us the following day.
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| EVENING AT ANCHOR GLENLEAM |
The following day we went ashore and visited the Glenleam subtropical gardens. The gardens were lovely. They were quite unkempt in places, but there were lots of paths to follow up and down with views across the bay. Lots of tree ferns, crocosmia and fuchsia. Of the gardens we have visited so far, these were my favourite, probably because they reflected a real garden with weeds, including what looked like Japanese Knot Weed in the walled garden. We didn't see anyone else as we walked through, apart from one gardener. We also walked out to the lighthouse at Fort Point, built on the site of a fort built by Cromwell.
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The sun continued to shine so we went back to the boat to pick up my wetsuit and I went for a swim. Andy wasn't keen so he had a row instead and watched. After supper our peace was disturbed by evening rowing practice as the local Seine fishing boat team came into the bay to round the body near us. We had seen these lovely colourful boats own trailers by the harbour. They have regular rowing competitions throughout the summer. The last of the season is run at Port Magee.
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