( Overview
/ Two Bullocks on a Boat Go West
The first part of our journey today from Union Hall to Bullock Island, Barloge Creek (10.4nm) looked like a rock dodging exercise on the charts.
This time our course took us between Eve and Adam.
In reality it’s not as close as it looks on the chart, and we took one heading at a time.
Although still very swelly, it was enjoyable…
Rabbit Island.
…until we could smell burning rubber. Once again our fan belt was shredding and covering the engine with a fine black dust. Memories of last year East Passage, Cork, but this time we weren’t near a marina, but on a swelly sea.
We reduced our revs, and decided to pootle slowly to our destination, which is a good anchorage.
Horset.
The Stags.
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Approaching the narrow entrance of Barloge Creek, with Bullock Island on the right.
Barloge Creek is a beautiful bay with shallow blue green waters. A few other boats were anchored, but we easily found a spot.
Relief at being anchored.
Changing the fan belt. Not such an easy job clearing the black rubber dust though…
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… and when we tried to restart the engine it refused. Frantic googling and reading of manuals ensued, but we concluded the engine needed to cool down, so relief all round when it fired up after half an hour.
Beyond The Rapids, is Lough Hyne which is an unusual seawater lake with many rare species of marine life.
We took the dinghy to have a closer look.
As part of a Famine Relief project the Rapids were narrowed and made resistant to erosion. When potato blight struck in 1845, the government did too little, too late, and one million died of starvation and cholera. Introduced by Walter Rayleigh, potatoes had become the main food for the poor.
We thought we’d easily land at the quay to walk over and take a closer look at the Lough and Clohane Castle (on an island). There were, however, lines from fishing boats, and strange creatures, presumable University of Cork researchers, emerging from the depths so we decided to head off!
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