Day trips (there's a theme here) - Clonakilty and Inchdoney Beach

On a week where I hadn't planned to go anywhere on my days off, I woke to a stunning late summer day, the kind of day that you know you have to get outside and make the most of or regret it all winter.
So I decided I'd try to get to the beach. The previous week I'd been talking to a work colleague about her home town of Clonakilty and whether it was possible to walk from there to one of the beaches nearby, so I quickly looked up the bus timetable and went. It's only about a one hour journey down the coast from Cork, but due to the ridiculously infrequent and expensive buses in Ireland there were only about 3 or 4 going to and from for the whole day, and a return ticket cost 20 euro. I ended up arriving in the town at 12.30 and aimed to get on the 3.40pm bus to get back - as the next one wasn't till 6.40pm! 

I didn't really spend long in the town, just enough to grab a sandwich and find the tourist office - I had to get a map and ask for the local's walking route to the beach. But the overall impression I got of Clonakilty was that it had quite a positive vibe, like people were really proud to live there. All the shop fronts were very well kept and brightly painted, which made a change from the normal small town, blink-and-you'll-miss-it feel here.

Love this!

So after about a 50minute walk or so alongside an estuary, over a hill and down an unmarked track behind some fancy houses I eventually came out at Inchdoney Beach. The view out along the beach was fantastic, especially with the stunning day. I spent about an hour wandering around, taking photos and soaking it in, before heading back for the bus. There were hardly any other people there since it was the middle of the week so it added to the hidden away feel, and there was a big rocky hill that jutted out to divide the beach in two which made a great view point. I felt like I hadn't been to a decent beach on a decent day in ages so it was a really good day.