Canoeing from Tralispean

It seems as if the summer is passing us by. Plenty of sunshine, so much to do in the garden, books to write, studying to undertake… But there comes a day when we down tools and heave the kayaks onto the Land Rover.

Tralispean beach is located loosely between Baltimore and Castletownshend, along a patch of largely isolated coastline. The wiggly bits were probably designed by Slartibartfast, if you know your Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. This tiny beach is an easy place to get the boats into the water. As it has no tourist facilities, although there are quite a few local families enjoying the sun, it retains a peaceful sense of isolation.

The Atlantic usually looks grey and forbidding, but today we head out of the bay into amazingly blue waters. Being in kayaks, though, we’re DEFINITELY hugging the coast. The water is surprisingly millpond-ish, but can change in an hour if the wind picks up. If we keep heading out, the next stop would be the Fastnet Rock. Do you recall the Fastnet race of 1979, in which 19 people died? 303 yachts started out, but a freak storm arose. Many boats and lives were lost during what turned into the biggest maritime rescue operation since the war. But today, the Atlantic is smiling; butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

On the way out of the bay we see several seals. This one is basking on his back, until we draw too close. He rolls over, tells us off in a guttural bark for invading his space, and slips away under the water. The seals lounging about on the rocks around here were the catalyst for my novel 'Legend of the Selkie'.

We paddle north around the coast, and hit Barloge creek, a small, deep inlet where yachties like to moor. The creek leads into Lough Hyne. The Lough was once an inland freshwater lake created by the passage of melt water in the ice-age. Rising sea levels encroached, making it a coastal lake. Around four centuries ago, it was infiltrated by saline water, creating a unique marine environment: sea life, but protected from the worse of the Atlantic weather. It’s now a Marine Nature Reserve.

One of the reasons for us making this trip is to check out the sea caves, and the exposed geology.

The caves have all the visual potential for a disaster movie, those jagged rocks about to slip down on us….

Caving was my passion for many years, and in truth this is a fairly safe adventure compared to some of the flood passages I once scrambled through. The water is lagoon blue-green, and clear. Note the rock on the left? It’s not a trick of the sunlight. It’s a huge boulder of quartz. The sea is so clear it takes a moment to work out what is rock and what is reflection.

And the view from inside…

One of the amazing things is the number and variety of jellyfish. I wasn’t sure our little point-and-click camera would record them, but far from the days of the Kodak Brownie, the camera performed beyond expectations, not just photographing the shiny surface, but what lies beneath.

This guy is probably a Compass Jellyfish.

This strange little fellow is called Velella, or, By-The-Wind-Sailor.

Now we come to the geology. The steep sides of the inlet are made up of the Sherkin Formation, which is a grey and green sandstone and mud. This rock was formed around 380 million years ago, in the late Devonian period, in what is now termed the Munster Basin.

The narrow passage leading into Lough Hyne isn’t navigable. The smaller tidal range inside the lough provides for a truly stable saltwater environment, a haven for sea urchins and anemones and other creatures.

Finally, we paddle back towards the entrance of Barloge Creek, to go around the coast back to Tralispean. It’s early evening when we arrive. So we take time out to sit in the Land Rover and enjoy a quiet bottle of beer, as we watch the day fade.