Ready for a good hot sweat at Cork sauna, followed by cool dip in the sea?

IT was a dramatically overcast morning on Ballycroneen Strand when a black van pulling a blue horse box rolled into the small, makeshift car park. The van backed the horsebox up as far as the kerb, so the back ramp could be released onto the soft grass facing the wild morning waves.

Mike McCarthy is the owner of Cedar & Steam Mobile Sauna, and his first intention upon arrival was to get the sauna hot. He went about lighting the stove and cranking the temperature in anticipation of his first clients arriving.

Standing at the side of his van, he swung a hatchet, chopping kiln dried logs of wood and getting them into his beautifully stone encased stove. They are the red hot stones that would later have water poured over them infused with lemongrass essential oil. The aromatics from inside the sauna are a wonderful mix of subtle sweetness and aged wood.

Women began to arrive at the car park for their social gatherings, kitted out in dry robes and flip flops ready for their cold dips. 

Mike knew them all by name as they were frequent customers of his sauna.

Mike is an Irish sauna aficionado and when asked about his inspiration behind the business, he gave me the verbal tour of portable saunas around Ireland. The first outdoor sauna was the famous Bosca Beatha (Box of Life), which dwells inland in an enchanting valley in the Wicklow mountains along the banks of a river. Now, they’re all over the coastline, with Cork having a particularly high density of them, and ever since lockdown they’ve become staples for many Corkonians.

Mike and his partner, Laura, are parents to their 19-month-old daughter. A few years ago, he was on a different career path but wasn’t fulfilled. Perhaps it was the arrival of his child that made him yearn for change, so ultimately he went for it.

He’d always enjoyed a sauna and decided to build one as a personal passion project, without really intending to start a business out of it. He knew he didn’t want a mobile barrel sauna, which is a full sauna mounted on a trailer. Instead he opted for converting a vintage ‘Rice of Leicestershire’ horsebox that he spotted on DoneDeal.

He followed his gut instinct to Donegal to retrieve the horsebox with his partner Laura and his instincts turned out to be correct. Mike and Laura took in the sunset at Malin Head that night and returned to Cork the following morning towing their new purchase.

Mike had done a furniture-making course at Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa where he met Kevin Field, who given the task of converting the horsebox into Mike’s vision. Upon completion, Mike initially used it at the beach by himself. Very quickly he wanted more from it.

He wanted to share the joy of his creation and started inviting friends. He eventually set up an online booking service and began his business on wheels.

Mike speaks passionately about his sauna and the benefits of it. Guests are given sauna hats which help regulate temperature and are a “game changer,” he says. An oak whisk sits outside the back door, which is a bunch of dried oak branches. The whisk is for patting yourself with water if you want to isolate and acutely heat certain areas of the body, like the shoulders or back.

A bucket of water with a wooden pourer is provided and encouraged to be used for pouring over the stones and creating steam, as the steam is the critical component, says Mike.

“I don’t know why the term dry sauna is so common because it’s all about the steam!”

About 85 to 90 degrees is sweet for a good hot sweat! And the ocean is a stone’s throw away for a glorious cold dip afterwards.

“This thing is an absolute gift!”

Mike explained how it arrived in his life at just the right time.

“I’d really like sauna culture to be respected by the sauna community, rather than it being seen as purely transactional between mobile sauna owners and customers. It should go a bit deeper than that.”

He has some plans going forward for Cedar & Steam Mobile Sauna and has made special appearances at different strands, which went down a treat with the locals. Places like Guileen and Ballymacoda. But you can find him every weekend at Ballycroneen for your dose of hot and cold vitality to bring you closer to the elements and charge yourself with nature’s power and potency!

You can find the booking portal through his Instagram @cedarandsteamsauna. Happy steaming!