Day Twelve : Crosshaven, Ireland

Today, we focus on provisioning as this is the last chance before heading westwards. First, we visit Crosshaven Farmers Market in the Village Square which is held on Saturdays, 10am – 2pm. Here, we sample local cheeses at Cheese Please and buy a good selection. We chose St Killian - a Camembert style cheese - for lunch today as it's quite ripe and may not survive subsequent days' sailing. As a 'keeper', we go for Mount Callan - a traditional mature Cheddar - which we think may stay the course, except it's so delicious, it may disappear quite quickly. Wicklow Blue - a mild, creamy blue-veined cheese - has to be tried and we're intrigued by the venison salami so we have to have some of that too.

Next, we call in at the local butcher who - believe it or not - is called Kidneys.
Shopping here is the total antithesis of buying meat in sterile plastic packaging from supermarkets. It involves a lot of chat, careful selection from the meats is on offer and waiting patiently while it's all prepared. We opt for a rack of lamb, which is converted into chops, and a dozen rashers of bacon. Everything is wrapped in greaseproof paper and then we're relieved of rather a lot of Euros - quality does not come cheaply in this part of the world! We're left wondering how local people can afford to buy their groceries. It's not just the Sterling-Euro exchange rate - these prices are genuinely steep! Still, the only competition is the local supermarket and we wanted to give Kidneys a try.

After a marvelous lunch aboard in the sunshine, two of our intrepid crew are dispatched to Lidl's in the afternoon to do the provisioning of the dry goods. Here, the prices were rather more reasonable and goodies included brioche with creme patisiere.

Once everything has been stowed, we smarten up for dinner at the Royal Cork Yacht Club which is the oldest yacht club in the world. I enjoyed a silky vegetable soup followed by pan-fried salmon with a plate of 3 desserts to finish. Yummy!