Sea Kayak Dooneen today with Nadette, the photos were taken with an old Casio compact in a dive box and the lens often had salt water on it. Dooneen was the site of the first of the Allihies Copper Mines and it opened in 1812. The tunnels are visible right down to sea level and it must of been a hell of a place to work in anything other than good weather.
The kayaking is easy to Dooneen and safe enough for most paddlers with average ability. When your done you can head into the village for a pint at O’Neills bar and restaurant and enjoy a nice meal.
Heidi Allihies trip in June 2014, a one nighter to Allihies to enjoy the fabulous weather. The kids managed to kayak, walk and scramble on their short trip out further west than their own home. The weather was fantastic, Allihies is about a one hour drive from her place.
Heidi Allihies
Day one Kayaking
Rock Pooling
Ice Creams
Scrambling around old copper mines
The Allihies Man Engine, left after the Copper Mines of the nineteenth century
The mines and further on Allihies and Balydonegan Strand
North Engine, or going out to have a look for what is left of the North Engine. Had a talk with another Friend of Allihies Mines who was telling me that the North Engine just above the Man Engine was the first engine to have been built. I had seen a 1950’s photo of it and had no recollection of the building in my younger years as a visitor to Allihies. So I decided to go for a walk up to it to see what was left. When Deccie and myself got there of course I realised that I had seen it before. However seeing it now after seeing a photograph of it in the 1950’s added a bit of extra interest to it. The North engine was apparently only for pumping the water out of the mine. When the Man Engine was built it did a lot more. Lifting the ore, transporting the men etc.
Also got some extra views out to sea and over towards the Caminches and Coom mine sites too.
North Engine
General view from below the mines, the Man Engine is aboveThe Man Engine, in the reservoir below is a horseshoe shaped wall to filter the waterThe remains of the North EngineNorth engine remains and the original open cast.Man Engine looking out towards the Dursey Island in the distanceLooking towards Reentrisk, down by the sea the first mine DooneenLooking towards Reentrisk, down by the sea the first mine DooneenCoom is the furthest away and Caminches engines
There is another report about mine stuff here, the port area (coast guard) down beyond Balydonegan beach.
