Old Head of Kinsale

One can consider the Old Head of Kinsale the starting point of the Wild Atlantic Way. This tourist route follows the Atlantic coast as it travels from the south to the northern end of Ireland. I have visited much of the northern end of the route and I took this chance to explore the southern end. I am very happy with the route as it saved me the trouble of looking for these places myself. The route is very well sign posted and it isn’t any different here in county Cork. Keep in mind thought that even thought this is a very popular route, the roasts themselves are of varying quality. While the vast majority of the roads will be paved, just be prepared for some poorly maintained roads.

The Old Head of Kinsale is one of the signature points of the Wild Atlantic Way. Unsurprisingly, there are some fantastic scenery to be seen here. What I learned was that most visitors won’t be able to go all the way to the end of the Old Head as the rest of the land is considered to be private property. More on that later. Whatever land that is left open to the public are the cliffs which are very common along the Wild Atlantic Way. The cliffs here are spectacular with sheer drops into the sea. The rocks are very rugged here which makes it a very good place for nesting by sea birds. At the time of my visit there seems to be countless birds nesting here and you can hear them from the viewing point. While my camera has a decent zoom lens, the birds were still too far away for me to identify what they are. If I were to guess, I would think they are gannets, which are common in this area.

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