Ireland (Lonely Planet, 9th Edition) - Fionn Davenport [227]
Eating
Schull has a popular Sunday Country Market (www.schullmarket.com; Pier Car Park; Easter-Dec), which draws producers and purveyors from around the region.
Hackett’s (Main St; lunch daily year-round, dinner Wed-Thu Jul-Aug, Fri & Sat year-round; bar meals €4-9, dinner €15-20) The town’s social hub, Hackett’s rises above the norm with a creative pub menu of organic dishes prepared from scratch. Black-and-white photos and tin signs adorn the pub’s crooked walls and there’s a mishmash of old kitchen tables and benches on the worn stone floor. It’s a democratic place, where swells mingle with crusty locals inside or out front on the sunny benches.
Newman’s West ( 028-27776; www.tjnewmans.com; Main St; dishes €6-15; 9am-11pm; ) This sailor-filled wine bar (with many good choices by the glass) and art gallery serves soup and salads and enormous chunky sandwiches filled with local cheese and salami. The daily Western Seaboard specials might include Bantry Bay mussels and chowder. The original pub, TJ Newman’s, is a charmer.
Grove House (mains €15-24; Wed-Mon Jul-Aug, Thu-Sat Sep-Jun) Meals are the real stars at this B&B (see left), which is open to nonguests for dinner. You might be surprised to see Swedish influences on the menu, until you realise the family has Swedish roots. Who knew herring could be this good? However, France is also represented in the vast hand-picked wine list.
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FASTNET LIGHTHOUSE
The pictures will curl your toes: a huge lighthouse seemingly ready to be engulfed by a wave one might associate with something biblical, like Noah or the parting of the Red Sea.
The subject of these photos is the Fastnet Lighthouse, a huge structure that, despite a name that sounds like an internet cafe, has been shrugging off huge waves and general inundation since 1904. Widely considered the most perfectly engineered lighthouse in the world, Fastnet shines its light from a nub of rock in the middle of the ocean 15km south of Schull and 7km west of Clear Island. You can see its 48.5 height from large swaths of coast between Baltimore and Mizen Head.
One of the reasons so many remain in awe of the lighthouse is the ingenious design. It’s built out of Cornish granite blocks, each a different shape from the next and each designed to lock into its neighbour. It’s an amazing achievement for a time when all design was done by hand. That the lighthouse has remained unscathed in the face of Atlantic gales for over 100 years (previous lighthouses here were flops) is simply remarkable.
You can see photos of Fastnet Lighthouse under oceanic assault at Tom Newman Photography ( 028-28110; Post Office, Main St) in Schull, or look online. The Mizen Head Signal Station Click here has excellent displays on the construction of the lighthouse and an example of one of the enormous custom-carved stones.
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Waterside Inn ( 028-28203; Main St; mains €17-28; 11am-9pm) The dark interior is a bit of a throwback to the ’70s, but locals love this place and changes might cause a revolution. The menu makes a tour through local meat and seafood, many used in timeless preparations. If you shrink at the thought of another shrimp, have the well-marbled rib-eye steak.
Getting There & Away
There are two buses daily from Cork to Schull (€17, 2½ hours), via Clonakilty and Skibbereen.
Getting Around
Parking in Schull is difficult in summer. There are three car parks: opposite the Harbour View Hotel, behind AIB Bank, and at Pier Rd.
For bus and taxi services, try Betty Johnson’s Bus Hire ( 028-28410, 086 265 6078).
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WEST OF SCHULL TO MIZEN HEAD
If you’re driving or cycling, take the undulating coastal route from Schull to Goleen. On a clear day there are great views out to Clear Island and the Fastnet lighthouse Click here. The landscape becomes wilder around the hamlet of Toormore. From Goleen, roads run out to thrilling Mizen Head and to the picturesque harbour village of Crookhaven.
Take time to admire the old local houses that are made of stone, many now derelict in fields. While there