West Cork Bites: Bandon 2.0

President George W. Bush is often quoted as having said, “The problem with the French is that they don’t have a word for entrepreneur.” In 1986 in Cork we had a word, and that word was chancer. My plan was simple, to produce a calendar. The calendar would show the huge impact Cork had had on the rest of the world, particularly the USA, by illustrating foreign towns with Cork names. Each month would have two pictures, one of the original Cork town and the second of the town it inspired far away. For example, a photograph of Baltimore West Cork on one side, and one of Maryland on the other.

In those pre-internet days I went to the library and found a Gazetteer and set to work, searching from Adrigole to Youghal. I finalised my list and wrote to each of the towns asking for a photograph of their main street and any information on the town’s origins.

It was almost a month before my first parcel arrived from Bantry, North Dakota, from a woman wildly excited to be corresponding with a 16 year old boy in Cork. I got packages of caps and t-shirts and sweat-shirts and almanacs from people I never met but who clearly loved Ireland. And, from that moment, I loved America too.

35 years later and I find myself in Gary’s Diner, and, in Bandon Oregon, ‘there ain’t no finer diner’. As our American friends would say “I am super hungry” having spent the day hiking the coastal path from Waves Song beach, over Black Rock and down into Bandon Jetty Park. The walk was beautiful, less than 5 miles, but it took me most of the day. Through windswept beaches, wild clifftops and small artists’ collectives, it was a “best of”, the edited version, of the Pacific coast. In the late winter and early spring there is a migration of tens of thousands of whales passing right by this trail but today I had to do with a family of sea-lions, some black tail deer and a dozen brown pelicans soaring over the surf on Whiskey Run Beach.

Pacific Oregon is one of America’s secret gems. It is, at once, an unspoilt wilderness and an uber-cool artistic haven. This is where Twin Peaks was filmed, this is Portlandia, the counter-culture coffee south of Seattle. It’s a little bit hipster, a little bit Cedar Cove. Young men have impressive beards and silver nose rings and older men smell vaguely of pot. There are lobster fishermen and cranberry farmers and painted wooden beach houses. There are art galleries and espresso bars and pop-up theatres. Tonight in Tony’s Bait Shop down on the boardwalk there is a poetry reading and chowder evening. It’s that kind of a place and I like it.

You can eat well here, and for small money. Last night I had a smoked steelhead trout sandwich with a clam chowder, for a little more than €10. Local fish is everywhere, lobster, clams, crabs and oysters, harvested from the Pacific into soups and salads and tacos. There are vegan restaurants and pescatarian restaurants and restaurants where you can eat your own body weight in rib-eye steak.

Bandon is both a perfect harbour town and a great base for hiking or cycling. Two national wildlife refuges, Oregon Islands and Bandon Marsh, are within the town limits, and a drive along Beach Loop Road, just southwest of downtown, affords mesmerizing views of awesome coastal rock formations, especially around Coquille Point and Face Rock. A little further out are surfing beaches and marine reserves and a coast littered with boulders, monoliths, and haystack rocks that seem to have been strewn by some giant hand. And because you are always facing west, sunsets are stunning.

Bandon is indeed an unexpected delight, but what makes the visit unforgettable is the people you meet and the welcome they give. They are kind and interested and intrigued by the accent but, when you tell them you live 10 miles from the original Bandon, it is like you are a blood relative. I have become the ambassador for Bandon and, while I try to ‘big up’ the original town, now that I have seen what Bandon 2.0 has to offer, it’s hard.

It’s our last day today in Bandon. We were rock pooling on Bullards beach this morning before climbing up to see Coquille River Lighthouse at the mouth of the harbour. The air is briny and fresh and the ocean stretches forever and we are eating fresh crab sandwiches from Wilsons market. Yes it’s Americana, it’s picket fences and lobster rolls, it’s plaid shirts and flag bandanas, it’s John Prine on the car radio. But I love it and, as my new friends would say, ‘I’m super-glad I came’.

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Getting There: Fly KLM or Aer Lingus to Southwest Oregon Regional Airport for about €450 each way. Get into the spirit of the West by renting a Pick-up truck, Budget do a Ford Ranger for $160 a week. Or a Jeep Wrangler for $200 a week.

Staying There : Slightly inland from Bandon is a mesmerizing little tepee in a meadow beside the Coquille River. Two queen beds sit simplistically within the authentic tent, or you could doze off by the fire pit while gazing at the bright burning stars. Guests get to shower outside, and even the private three-sided toilet platform faces toward the spanning views, turning even the most unpleasant things beautiful moments. High season only $100 a night.

Don’t Forget To Pack : Bring a jacket, the climate here is on a par with the original Bandon!

Bandon, Oregon | Jeff Miller | Flickr