Day 8

Up this morning at 7.30 a.m in Castletownbere and on the water (at last!) by 9 a.m. We were delighted to see an improvement in the weather with a beautiful sunny day and light breeze. When we rounded the bay out of Castletownbere, it soon became clear that we were not going to make as much progress as we hoped. The wind picked up and blew North Westerely into our faces which made progress difficult. We rounded Blackball Head and then made our way to Crow Head and from there into Dursey Sound with the wind rising as we went. We made it through the Sound (the channel between the mainland and Dursey Island) and looking up we could see Ireland's only remaining Cablecar, linking mainland and island. Once we got through the sound we decided to pull in at Garinish Bay, where we have landed for the night. The O'Mahony and Lyons families are here with us, we have pitched our tents and are settled in for the night. 18 miles completed after 4.5 hours of paddling and the mood has lifted now that we are back on the water. Hopefully this week we will catch up and make headway up the west coast.