Day 5 - Southwest Touring
Today, travel via Bantry to Glengarriff, where weather permitting you will enjoy a boat trip to Garnish Island. Located in the sheltered harbour of Glengarriff in Bantry Bay, Ilnacullin is a small island of 15 hectares (37 acres) known to horticulturists and lovers of trees and shrubs all around the world as an island garden of rare beauty. The gardens of Ilnacullin owe their existence to the creative partnership, some seventy years ago, of Anna Bryce, then owner of the island and Harold Peto, architect and garden designer. The island was bequeathed to the Irish people in 1953. The island is named Garnish (the near island) on official Ordnance Survey Maps and is widely known by that name. The alternative name Ilnacullin or Illaunacullin (island of holly) also has a long history in the locality, and appears on at least one early map; it may in fact be the older name for the island. As there is another island garden called Garnish not far away in County Kerry, there is much to be said for using the distinctive name Ilnacullin for the island garden at Glengarriff, County Cork.
This afternoon, the golfers will have a chance to play at Bantry Golf Club. Bantry Bay Golf Club's 18 Hole Championship Course, open all year, towers above the head of Bantry Bay, in the Far West of County Cork. Fourteen holes immediately overlook the shore where the warm Gulf Stream first touch land on this side of the Atlantic, Fuchsias abound, and there are splendid panoramic views across the sea and islands to the Beara Mountains, Sheep's Head and the Mizen Peninsula.
Return to Rosscarbery for overnight.
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