Monday 21 June Bantry

We are away at 09:00 and it is another gorgeous day.
On our way to Bantry I will have a stop in Dungarven and then a lunch time stop in Blarney.
For the first time I am using my sat nav. I have used it in Austria the other week but that was just practising as I knew where I was going. Today, some of the journey is new to me.
The roads in Ireland improve every time you come over and this time is no different. As we approach Waterford, a notorious place for congestion, I am delighted to be sent onto a new by-pass around the town. This is a toll road with a charge of €3.40 which is a steal considering the time saved.
Dungarven is as pretty as ever and we enjoy a pleasant hour here. I park by the sea and the views are magnificent, I could stay here for hours.
From here we make our way to Blarney which is somewhere I haven't been to before. The sat nav gets me there safely!
It is very busy here but they all seem to enjoy it. I have parked by the Woollen Mill and some of the more adventurous have walked up to Blarney Castle although I don't think anybody kissed the Blarney Stone.
We leave here at 14:30 for the last leg of our journey to Bantry.
As I haven't been here before I decide to use the sat nav once again. It is telling me to turn left out of the car park and as there are no signs telling me not to I turn left.
After a couple of miles I am a bit worried by the small roads I am driving on and joke with the passengers that we will probably be in the papers tomorrow stuck in a farm track!
A couple of turns later we are stuck!
I have come across a left turn over a narrow bridge that I cannot make and have traffic in front of me and behind me. This will be tight.
In the end it takes me about twenty shunts back and forth to just sqeeze over. What a relief! I receive a round of applause from some very worried passengers as well as two young lads on pushbikes and one of the waiting cars! If that had been in England I would have been tooted and waved at with one or two fingers!
We are soon on some decent roads although not the widest.
I approach a left hand bend when an arctic comes careering around the corner so fast he has no chance of stopping (or slowing) and is surely going to hit me.
I manage to stop but only after I have driven into the bushes at the side of the road! He misses but only just. As I pull out of the bushes The side is scratched from a hidden wall or thick branch.
I do not know how he missed me and cannot understand lorries driving at that speed on country roads.
What an afternoon!
We arrive in Bantry by 16:30 and as soon as I pull up at the hotel (the Maritime) the luggage is being unloaded and the passengers are making their way into the hotel.
The Maritime is only a couple of years old and is situated in the town of Bantry and is a very nice four star establishment.
I can park the coach very close by which is always a help.
As I walk back to the hotel one of my passengers is not happy with their room , or rather the view from the window. All they can see is a large tree directly outside.
The hotel is full but my room is facing the front, and the sea, so I offer to swap which they gratefully accept. No problem for me.
The rooms are very spacious and well appointed, as you would expect from a new 4* hotel, as is the rest of the hotel.
Dinner is at six o'clock in the restaurant and is very good. The staff are very attentive which compliments the good food nicely.