keimaneighhostel

Keimaneigh Youth Hostel

Céim an fhiadaig

1946
by V.Godsil

Keimaneigh was the next hostel opened after the war because a local businessman had donated 250 pounds to the Group the previous year.

To get our bunks and delph and pots and pans etc to the Hostel was going to be tough as the hostel was over 40 miles from Cork. Transport was then restricted to under 25 or 30 miles an hour at the most.

We made the lorryman an honorary member with forged papers. He was a friend of one the members and he agreed to sacrifice his precious coupons to get us to Ballingeary
We even " borrowed" an All-Ireland plate for the trip. These plates were like gold. We were able to "procure" one from a lorry that happened to be in Cork for the week-end. It was replaced on the lorry in the small hours of Monday morning.

I think we could have even fooled the Gestapo with the authentic documents we were able to produce for the lorry
The lorry was accompanied by 20 outriders on bikes. A westerly wind did its best to blow us back to Cork lorry and all.

The poor old lorry groaning under its load of bunks etc wheezed its way towards Macroom. We headed southwest at Hartnetts Cross and took the road along the Gearagh. The Journey along the valley of Desmond went through Inchigeela and Ballingeary and on to Keimaneigh. When going downhill the lorry would gain on the bikes but going uphill was a different story.

Petrol was bad then but maybe better than lorries running on charcoal. These chugged along at between 15 and 20 m.p.h and the firebox had to be cleared out at least once a day. This was not the cleanest of jobs.

The rain never stopped and it was very warm as we went along. When I caught up with the lorry I exchanged my cape for a lighter one owned by Jimmie Cotter. This turned out to be as porous as a sieve. By the time we reached Keimaneigh I was wet through to the skin.

I got the"knock" just short of the village of Ballingeary perhaps from the long ,winding road. It was built to give relief ie a bowl of soup and twopence a day to the Starving Irish during the Famine. I've heard it described as being "as crooked as a snake." All I remember is becoming stuck in the gravel on the side of the road and I was so wet ,tired and hungry that I hadn't the energy to cycle out of it.

When I arrived at the hostel in this woe begone state Mrs Lucey had a fire roaring upstairs and food in plenty to bring us back to life. She gave us brown wheaten bastible bread, Ballingeary salted butter and dark brown free range eggs. Clad only in a dark grey army blanket held together with a substantial safety pin with the shell of the egg in the heel my hand to warm me then I felt that this was a great way to live.

We had unloaded the lorry and Seoirse McLeod promptly put a big baulk of timber straight through the glass transom of the door.
This was our first hostel at Ceim an Fhiadaigh with the Lucey family.

Our next hostel at Beal Aghleanna (Carrig Lodge) where the Bean an T1 was Mrs Cronin.

The final hostel was Tig a Droichid which previously had been the school teachers house. Here Gobnait was the Bean a Ti.