The Abbey

On unsupervised and unplanned tours around west Cork, one often ends up taking the Kinsale – Kilbrittan – Timoleague – Clonakilty route. This week, we made it as far as the third stop and once again into the wonderful abbey, the first thing you’ll see when driving into Timoleague. The abbey is of course in ruin but is still hugely interesting and quite scenic for a stroll around. It’s use is mostly of the graveyard variety for both the recently deceased and those that shuffled off their mortal coil some time ago. This is perfectly evident by some of the gravestones in the abbey. Some are of the bright, big, new marble fashion. Others are simple stones marking the spot where a loved one is buried. Most have long forgotten (low maintenance plastic) wreaths strewn around them, maybe some relatives don’t get around as often as they could?

Practically the only thing you can hear when you first arrive at the abbey are the pigeons making their various sounds and the sound of your own footsteps. Somehow, you always know there’s a crow sitting on a crumbling wall eyeing your every movement. It’s that kind of place. But inevitably the silence is shattered by a parking car, slamming doors and either the laughter of small children or the low tones of any one of a dozen foreign tongues we experience every day. We got both. I even managed to scare a few children witless as I darted under the low stone passageways connecting the multi-room ruin. Result!

If nothing else, it’ll serve as proof that I don’t get out enough with the camera these days. That is, the fact that I begun shooting and actually left the car park without realising there was no memory card in my camera. I didn’t go bright red, I don’t think I even swore. Well maybe I did a bit when I realised I’d have to walk back to the car…

That’s about it really. The weather behaved admirably, only choosing to break and give my car an acid wash on the way back from Clonakilty. Walking around a fairly secluded ruin with a big white lens and a load of people that first look at you (or should I say “give you a look”) and then stare at your camera as you walk by gives me a chill. We went. Then we got burgers in Bandon. Not a bad weekend!