04-Aug-2001 -- Back in February, I was contacted by a Mr. Harold Nelson of
Newport, ME who wanted me to take my GPS down to Valentia
Island in County Kerry to take some measurements around the
location of the first transatlantic cable, which was also
used in the 19th century to help determine the longitude of
America. Since there was a confluence not far from Valentia,
I decided that I would attempt it too. Then, in March, a
Mr. Mike
Riney of Kenmare got my email address from this website and
asked me to contact him if I was attempting the confluence!
The first chance I got to visit the area after the lifting
of restrictions due to the Foot and Mouth (or Hoof and Mouth)
disease scare was last week-end. I contacted Mike and told
him that I intended to do the confluence on Sunday, and we
agreed to keep in touch over the week-end. I left Dublin
at approx 11:30 Saturday and arrived in the vicinity of the confluence
at approx 19:30, having got caught in some horrible football
match traffic. Since I was in the area, I decided to do
a quick detour to scout out the place for the confluence
attempt the following day. Time was not on my side to do
the actual confluence attempt, and the weather was not very
helpful either. I left the main road a few km west of Glenbeigh
and headed in the direction of the confluence. I soon found
that not only was the weather and the time against me, the
poor quality of the road was too, as was the fact that there
were a number of gates that I had to pass through.
I took a photo looking in the general direction of the
confluence from a distance of 2km (at 52d 01.134' N,
9d 59.627' W), as well as some photos which should
assemble into a nice panorama.
The following day did not go well for me either from the
point of view of time - I had to be back in Dublin by 18:00.
However, Mike and myself had a nice chat on the phone, my
visit to Valentia was successful, and I went back reasonably
satisfied.