Well, normal service was certainly restored after last year’s scorching anomaly and so when we park up by Long Strand — a pit stop on our way home from much further west where the default setting has been monsoon — a hefty ‘breeze’ may have the surf roiling and boiling but it’s also strong enough to send clouds scudding across the sky, allowing a feisty late-afternoon sun to radiate down a rare transfusion of Vitamin D.

One of West Cork's most glorious wild beaches, the Long Strand near Clonakilty and Rosscarbery is having a bit of a 'moment in the sun', it would seem.