It had been warm all day and over lunch the sun had come out over the Cottage and we ate outside – although all-around there were clouds – we seemed exempt and the air over the Cottage stayed a clear blue. Late in the afternoon moving towards evening a pale low cloud came over but when you looked directly up there was still a hint of blue sky.

There were three boats fishing for mackerel off Owen Island on the incoming tide and a shallow golden mist had fallen over the Mizen. Having fallen it seemed to rise again. It was gold as the sun caught it adding other colours and depth so that behind Carberry Island it became impossible to tell what was cloud and what was the faint glimmer of the Mizen Head. After a few minutes it cleared so that the Mizen and its mountains rose above the line of mist floating over the water inbetween.

I could see them standing in the boats as they came in, and that suggested activity in turn suggested that in the twenty or so minutes whilst the light and cloud had played over the bay mackerel had been caught.

I started the writing of this sat in the garden watching out over Dunmanus Bay towards the Northside of the Mizen, Canty’s Cove and the peak of Knocknamadree. There were three pied wagtails making short runs across their corner of the lawn. Behind me the great fuschia hedge that runs the whole length of the eastern boundary of the garden was in full bloom with its dancing red flowers. If the wind was still there was a hum of bees from the hedge but even the slightest touch of a breeze would rustle the New Zealand flax in the corner drowning out other sounds and for most of the time the sound was of the paper rub and rustle of dry leaves scratching away in the backround.

The view is important because coming up from Durrus it is what we see. Durrus is situated at the bottom of the bay and is from where the road follows the coast until it passes Ahakista and then beyond to the head of the peninsula. As you drive the view opens up and the whole space of it expands, the bay widening until the Atlantic can be seen and the view from the garden takes shape.