Toe Head Adventure

A glorious day - a smidgeen of frost to begin with then bright, cold clear skies and sunshine. Did Himself fancy a day out on Toe Head? He did. Three very obscure wells on the agenda off we went. You turn right at Skibbereen and the roads get seriously small, extremely bumpy and incredibly scenic with huge views out into the Atlantic. First off two rather romantically named wells: The Well of the White Cat and the Well of Two Cats, last visited around 200BC I reckon. We stopped at a house and off I went. Paddy was doing something dangerous in a shed which involved a mask. We had a good chat. He knew of a well and directed us up the boreen and over the ditch. Off we went - the ditch was actually a sizeable stream and the Well of the Two Cats had been transformed into cattle troughs but the water was still abundant and clean, hence the stream. No sign of the White Cat but we did find a promising damp patch.
Onwards to St Bartholomew's well. This looked seriously obscure on the map- no path and on the edge of a cliff. Is this one of those roads that ends in the sea? asked Himself slightly nervously - he was doing the driving. Possibly. We stopped off at another house. Tom was much amused and knew of the well but he hadn't been for a least 20 years. It could be a bit overgrown he warned. I was more concerned by the frisky cattle jostling at the gate. Tom took us a back way through his garden and off we went over two fields, one large stone wall and down towards this magnificent view. The well was somewhere in all that bracken and remained unfound. It had once been good for sore eyes apparently and much visited- quite how I don't know.
A hearty lunch in Skibbereen and we happened to sit next to the people we bought the house from. I explained what I was up to. Did I know of the well at Caheragh? I did  but had no idea how to find it. Head for the old graveyard.
Fuelled with goats cheese baguettes off we went again. A very interesting graveyard with some very ornate graves but no sign of any well. Martin was having a quiet chat at one of them. We got talking. He was intrigued but had never heard of any well. I'll make some phonecalls! He did, much conversation but no-one knew anything . Sorry to disappoint us he suddenly said, I do know of another well two miles away, it's a good one and easy to get to. Off we went in convoy . We had no idea where we were but oh! What a treat and hilariously it was the well I was after in the first place. A huge stone in a green field - the well was actually a basin carved into the rock, a ballaun, and surrounding it were several cupmarks: prehistoric art and dating anywhere between 4000-5000 years old. The little basin was probably made from an original cupmark thousands of years later. Good for warts and said to never go dry. There was an enormous ringfort nearby. You can see the thrilling stone  here.

Wrecked now but really a day about extraordinary encounters - it's amazing who you meet and what you find if you go with the flow.