ARCHIVE PHOTOGRAPHS.

Thursday 20th December 2001.
Brandy Cove to Caswell Bay.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind
permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland
Bishopston is the start point of this afternoon's walk. The weather is good, blue sky, sunshine and hardly a breath of wind as I set off down the narrow lane towards Brandy Cove. In the fields, cattle graze contentedly in the winter sunshine.
The lane leads to a farm and is succeeded by a dirt track. Looking behind I was glad to see the little dog that had been yapping and snapping at my heels since I had come through the gate by the farm, had now found something more interesting in the hedge. .
I spent quite a few minutes here, at the side of the path, looking for a gap in the hedge where I could get an unobstructed photo of these old farmhouses but the hedge always got in the way. .

I walked on down the path. The green leaves of summer, now, brown and dead, deeply carpet the path. It's very quiet. I've not met anyone. The only sound to be heard is the rustling and crunching of the dry leaves beneath my feet.

A little further on, the path drops down towards the sea.
I've arrived at Brandy Cove but before going down into the Cove, I'm going to walk along the cliff path to the west. Brandy Cove is probably named after the smuggling activities that took place in the 18th century.
On the eastern side of the Cove, reddish brown winter bracken and the green gorse bushes colour the hillside.
The sea is flat and calm. The distant headland is Whiteshell Point.
A little further along the path and I notice a couple of young lads fishing off the rocks. I wonder if they have caught a fish....
.... they appear to be quite busy with something..
I went back to the Cove, scrambled down over rocks to the pebbly beach and walked to the edge of the water.
Brandy Cove is just a small inlet but it has an interesting history. In addition to the smuggling which was mentioned earlier, small boats used to load ore here from the lead mines that were once worked nearby. Now it's time to move on and continue to my destination at Caswell Bay. The path I have to follow is on the side of the cliffs on the right of the picture.
Ahead of me I can just see the outer edge of the beach at Caswell.
I stop for a moment or two to look back along the path and to enjoy the view.
The path rises steeply and at the top I can see down into Caswell Bay....
.....there are not many visitors today. The building on the top left is an apartment block. The two beach shops at the top of the beach are closed for the winter. The path comes to an end at the top of series of rough stone steps and within minutes I am down on the sandy beach.
A flight of concrete steps takes me up from the beach to the road that I must take back to Bishopston... so for now..... 'bye
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All photographs Copyright © 2000 Alex Thomas. All rights reserved.