The high pressure system that gave us days of clear skies and abundant sunshine has vanished. We are back into unsettled conditions and woke up to rain this morning as the mountain tops vanished under heavy cloud. We are resigned to having to partake in low level activities.
We set out on the Beara Way drive along the north side of the Beara Peninsula. Upon reaching Castletown Bearhaven, we stopped at a coffee shop for a very good cappuccino, the best since we were in Ballybofey in Donegal, which feels like ages ago.
There is a very long walking path, referred to as the Beara Way which runs for 206 km through the Beara Peninsula. As there was a break in the rain, we stopped in Adrigole to walk a small portion of the footpath. This proved to be an abysmal walk, as they seem to be in the process of upgrading an overgrown section through forest. A wide swath of trees were plowed down, leaving an uneven mucky mess.
Then the path went through bog where we could sink to our knees if we were not careful. Finally, the path continued on a narrow paved road which led to nothingness, and that is where we turned around.
However, there are some fantastic mountains on Beara that are made up of huge slabs of rock. An incredible road, called the Healy Pass, winds its way up to the border between Co. Cork and Co. Kerry, between the mountains of Hungry Hill and Knockowen in the Caha Mountains. Luckily for us, there was virtually no traffic on the narrow, twisty road when we drove up.
On our way back to Kenmare, we drove on a tiny road to the Uragh Stone Circle. The stones are sited in a beautiful landscape between two lakes, with mountains and a waterfall as a backdrop, it does not get much better than this.
Beara Peninsula Coastline
Ruined Church
Adrigole Mountain
Healy Pass Road
Glanmore Lake
Healy Pass Road
Uragh Stone Circle
The History of Ireland Continues....
In the 1970s a war raged between the newly emerged Provisional IRA and the British army, along with the RUC and the Ulster Defence Regiment. Between 1971 and 1974, bombings, shootings and murders were a daily occurrence. The political structure began to collapse as the Unionist Party split into the Official Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), led by Paisley and other fringe loyalist parties. On the nationalist side was the Social and Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) and Sinn Fein, a Catholic party which later became the political wing of the Provisional IRA.
The Dublin leaders of the original IRA, were Marxists, they did not respond to the repression of the Norther Ireland Catholics by the RUC. Therefore, the Belfast republicans and southern non-Marxist IRA members, established a Provisional Army Council. At the Sinn Fein congress, there was a split in the IRA, the Official IRA retained a Marxist ideology and military aim, while the remaining members became the Provisional IRA and declared themselves to be the defenders of the Northern Ireland Catholics, many were IRA veterans.
Initially, relations between the Provisional IRA and the British army were quite good as the Catholics regarded the army as protectors. However, everything fell apart due to several issues:
1. A Falls Road curfew was enforced in 1970, people were ordered to stay home and the British army began a search of homes for IRA weapons. 5,000 homes were searched and severely damaged in the process. Six civilians were killed and few weapons were located.
2. In 1971, the Provisional IRA went on the offensive and shot a British soldier and three Scottish soldiers. There were demands to inter IRA leaders, so 342 republican suspects were arrested. Violence erupted, resulting in 17 dead, ~ 150 houses burned and greater than 7,000 people were displaced, mostly Catholics. The violence escalated and there were many civilian and British army soldiers killed, the interment was a total disaster, but a propaganda boon for the IRA.
3. In January 1972, a march was planned for Derry, the march was banned but the organizers went ahead. British paratroopers, who already had a reputation for brutality, attacked the marchers and killed 13 unarmed civilians, this was known as Bloody Sunday.
An inquiry into Bloody Sunday placed blame on the organizers. Recruits filed into the Provisional IRA and things went completely out of control as the IRA started bombing. The British government reluctantly took over direct responsibility for Northern Ireland, but the government immediately started looking for ways to end their control of Northern Ireland. A power-sharing executive was set up with both Unionists and Nationalists, but it failed.
No comments:
Post a Comment