I spent today lounging on the bed in our room trying to get over the cold I recently contracted while Nina went touring and exploring around the sights of Kinsale. Now this does not mean that I learned nothing of the history or "claim to fame" of Kinsale as after her day of exploring Nina was only too keen to give me a "blow by blow" narrative. The two big things from the day were William Dampier and the Battle of Kinsale, that took place on Christmas even 1601.

Nina's interest in, and knowledge of, both these topics was spurred by the Don and Barry walking tour of Kinsale that she took this morning.

Dampier is somewhat known to Australians as a port town on the West coast of the continent, some of us probably even knew that he was a 17th-18th century explorer. But certainly Nina and I did not know the extent of his explorations. Among many other notable achievements he made 3 complete circumnavigations of the globe, 80 years before Cook.

Now to the battle. Following the loss of their Armada in 1588 the Spanish embarked on a strategy of supporting Irish catholic resistance against the English. To this end a Spanish force was moved to the west coast of Ireland with a view to linking with and strengthening the Irish resistance army against the English. The Spanish force eventually found its way to Kinsale where it waited to be joined by Irish forces. However an English force under Charles Blount (Lord Mountjoy, Lord Deputy of Ireland) rushed to Kinsale and laid siege to the town. The short story version is that on Christmas even 1601 the English finally defeated the Irish forces outside the town and the Spanish surrendered and departed Irish shores. One of course is left to wonder what shape history would have taken had this alliance succeeded and Ireland been freed from the English, and the Spanish acquired a greater influence in the North Atlantic.