Saturday May 31

Saturday May 31

Good Morning all! It's almost 8:00am here and I'm just waking up. It was definitely a late night last night, but one with some very special memories. But that was at the end of the day and we did do some things earlier.

We were up early and on the road to meet Rita's friend, Siobhan English. Siobhan is a very talented photographer who shoots mostly horse and hunt shows. You can check her out here: http://www.siobhanenglishphotography.com/

We followed her up the road to Tattersalls to see some of the competition for the horse show there. I think I posted a link for that previously. It's one thing watching Dressage on TV, and another watching in person. I would have loved to watch the jumping, but that is on today and we are off to other places. Just getting a glimpse was a treat.

It was a little over an hour drive back so we left around 1:00PM and headed back toward Kildare with a stop at Newbridge Silver. This was my first visit there and I was so pleased to have that chance to pick up a few small things that will later be gifts and just to see the beautiful works they create. They had some non-silver art there also. I won't say more, but hope to be posting a picture and you will understand.

They also have a tasty restaurant in the building and we had our early dinner there. Then back to our B&B for a quick rest and off to Clongowes Wood College for the concert.

The Millicent Singers are an award winning 30 member choir and their show was beyond impressive. They sang some classical pieces and some popular pieces along with a few very entertaining nursery rhymes! All beautifully arranged and harmonized.

Then there was this other lad. The cover of the program referred to him as “trumpet sensation” and I would not argue with that. I have followed Niall for several years now and love his music. He has one CD out and also an EP. If you have not heard him, he's definitely worth checking out. He plays classical, pop, jazz, and always throws in some extra that you don't expect. Last night in his first set, he added “Someone To Watch Over Me” as a tribute song and encore. It was soft and emotional, and stunning. Of course, Moon Dance, and Libertango along with the rest of his songs, were nothing short of wonderful. Rita and I were lucky enough to get to say hello before the show as he was doing some late rehearsing with his piano player Vinny, and then spent some time after the show talking to him. I look forward to see what he will be doing in the near future.

Then the drive home and into bed. A wonderful day all around. Now we must get ourselves together to head off to Dingle. Rita's genealogy search will be the focus there for the day hoping we are not diverted or distracted with anything to see on our way! :)

 This was from the Dressage Event at Tattersalls.

 Some of the unusual sculptures found around Newbridge Silver.

And I just had to snap a pic of this silver guitar they had on display at Newbridge Silver.  

Traveling Day May 29

Traveling Day – May 29

I didn't really expect to be doing much in the way of sightseeing today as we were relocating from Nenagh in County Tipperary to Kidare. The drive is only bit over an hour and we were set to meet a friend of Rita's at the Tri Racecourse Shop for lunch at the Curraugh. We were too late to see the jockeys working the horses on the track, but there were a couple walking the horses around near the shop as we arrived. Our big horse day will be tomorrow at Tattersalls (explanation tomorrow).

Siobhan, our guide for the afternoon, had us follow her back to the National Stud and Japanese Gardens. We took a back route through what is called Camp Curraugh. I thought it had something to do with the jockeys, or the race track, but came to find out it was a military facility. From what was explained to us, it was once an English base, and is now a full Irish military base that you can drive straight through. There are some access roads that are closed, but where ever there are open fields, they are full of sheep. And not a fence to be found.

After getting settled at our B&B we headed back out in search of St. Brigid's Well. Just another interesting spot to check out. :)

From there we headed over to Siobhan's house for a great dinner, laughs, and good chat.

Not much sightseeing today, but all in all a good day.

Tomorrow Tattersalls.... http://www.tattshorsetrials.ie/

Last Day in Nenagh May 28

Last Day in Nenagh May 28

It's already after 10:00 tonight and we had a fabulous day, full of twists and turns (literally, some of the roads, and figuratively, with some of the events).

Before we started our tour of the lough, we headed over to the John Handy woolen mills and factory. Just a few minutes away. Not saying what I bought, but they have some beautiful things. :)

We did get started out a bit earlier today, but not much. This was our day to tour around Lough Derg. It's a huge lough that feeds into the Shannon River and with the sun shining we headed out south to cross it at Killaloe and then head north. It was not long before we were turning off the road at every opportunity to take lots of pictures. Whether it was from a hill looking down, or from a beach at water's edge, all the views were stunning. I'm not even sure the pictures we took can even show the richness of the area.

By the time we were almost at Mountshannon we had pulled off a side road and traveled down a small narrow strip to a boat dock where you could get boats of Holy Island. It was a monastery on an island in the middle of Lough Derg. Arrangements for the boat trips needed to be made in advance in Mountshannon, so we were out of luck, but again the view of the round tower on the island was a site to behold.

At Mountshannon was drove down to the boat docks. This is a very busy boating recreation area. It's also the area where they have recently had the first mating pair of eagles with a successful birth and those who were lucky enough might have seen the eagles flying. We were not that lucky, except we did get to watch some very pretty swans.

The rest of the drive to Portumna at the top of the lough was mostly uneventful except for when we thought we were following a sign to another holy well. Seemed more like a wild goose chase in and out of random back roads. We finally found our way back to the main road and in Portumna. So much to see and so little time. Portumna has a castle and gardens, a workhouse, and a priory. We checked out the castle and opted not to take the time as we were once again running late. The same for the workhouse (this is definitely on the list for next trip). As Rita and I so often do we turned down a road with no markings just to see what was there. What a surprise when we came across the ruins of the Portumna priory. It was fabulous! We walked around there, just the two of us, for about an hour. What remained of the priory was huge. I later learned that this was one of the richest priories in the area. It seemed that when they were forced to raise money they used the priory as a brothel! And because of that it was closed down.

From there we headed back south to Puckaun and stopped at Peg's Cottage. Peg runs a facebook page called “Ireland and Peg's Cottage” and often posts pictures and information about the area. We met up with Peg and Bill and stopped by their favorite pub in town to share a jar. It was great getting to meet them after only “seeing” them on FB. We had a great visit, and then headed to Dromineer to the Whiskey Still for a small dinner.

Another beautiful day here. It got so warm in the car early in the day we actually had to put the AC on when we got back to the car after it sat in the sun for a bit!

Almost forgot to add a few pictures. The first is from the priory at Portumna, and the second is a couple of swans on the lough at Mountshannon.  

Catching up May 26

Catching Up May 26

Yesterday we left Sligo and the Lough Gill area. But before we did we traveled the scenic route around the north side of the lough. The water on the lough was like glass and reflected the hills and clouds so much that it was amazing. I've taken some pictures and posted one on FB, but I'm not sure they do the beauty justice. I'll work on uploading some more as soon as I can.

From Lough Gill we headed to the Tobernalt Holy Well. Tobernalt is a nataural spring well that established itself prior to Christianity in Ireland. It's definitely a spiritual place.

After a few prayers for others, we headed of to see Queen Maeve's Tomb. At least that was the plan. We arrived at the parking space just as it started to sprinkle. Now a little sprinkle would not ever deter either of us, but walking over a kilometer in a total downpour did make a difference. We sat in the car hoping it would blow over quickly, but it was not to be. Queen Maeve will have to wait for another trip. We then headed off to the Carromore Megalithic Cemetary. In this small area are around 34 or more megalithic tombs and stone circles. Across from the visitor center at the edge of a farmer's field there are 4 together in a group, and one a bit away. Around the corner and down the road in other fields are more. And that doesn't even count the larger ones as part of the cemetery. It was incredible that this all has remained since about 4000 years ago. At this point there are about 30 tombs is varying states and over 25 additional have been destroyed since the 1800. It was still raining some when we arrived, but not so much to stop this visit. We could have spend an entire afternoon here, but needed to get on the road.

Heading south I noticed a sign for Knock. It had been 10 years since I first visited and Rita had never seen the area of the apparition, so we thought it would be a worthwhile diversion and we were right. In 1879 approximately 15 people of various ages and denominations saw an apparition of Mary, St. Joseph, and St. John the Baptist on the location of the shrine. There is an old smaller church on the grounds with the alter done with a depiction of the apparation, and then also a Basilica and additional education and religious buildings, plus 3 cemeteries. Again, we stopped long enough to say a few prayers and take some pictures. Then headed on to Nenagh.

We arrived at out B&B, Willowbrook B&B, about 8:00, checked in and headed out for some dinner. It was a late night. So now I'm caught up and just need one more post for today. :)

Random Pictures

This was out hotel in Sligo.  Rumor is that it once was a mental hospital!  :)

This is the Dark Hedges in Ballymoney.  They have used this road in the Game of Thrones opening.

Gotta love the Irish cycling spirit.  In support of the Giro D'Italia, so many things were colored pink, including these sheep along the Causeway Coastal Route.

Catching Up May 25

Catching Up – May 25

I knew at some point that I would fall a bit behind in my blogs. And that has now happened. It's just about 9:00am here in Nenagh, County Tipperary, and we are soon to head down for breakfast. So I might just leave this to finish until we return from our travels today, as we will have this B&B for 2 more nights as our home base. It's so nice to stay in one place for a couple of nights.

Let me start the day we left Derry. From Derry we headed south to Belleek and the Belleek factory. We had done the tour before, but there are always new and different things to see in their china shop. I did pick up a couple of ornaments that I have started to collect over the years. After that it was straight to Sligo as we had a late start for the day leaving Derry at noon. Our B&B was outside of Sligo a way outside of Dromohair. But it was well worth it. Castle View B&B is on the side of a hill overlooking Lough Gill and full of beautiful views.

So we did have an interesting adventure that evening. It was about 7:00pm that we got settled into the B&B and then decided we needed to get some dinner. If you look up Park Castle on Lough Gill you will see where we were. Pretty much outside and 10-20 kms from any town. We headed toward Dromohair for some dinner and realized we had not check out gas gauge. It had one bar, and we were not sure how long it was like that. As it was Dromohair had no gas station, so we figured it was best to head to Sligo Town as the warning light came on to let us know we were pretty low on gas. Now we had another 20 Kms to get to Sligo as we had gone the long way around the lough. Needless to say, we did arrive at a petrol station on the edge of Sligo just in time to fill up.

To add to all of that, we were now far away from the suggested dinner place and ended up eating dinner at a KFC! As hungry as I was the chicken sandwich and chips were a welcome meal. I think it was between 9:30 and 10:00 before we arrived back at the B&B and were exhausted from all that driving. :)

Early Sunday Morning May 25

Early Sunday Morning

May 25

So here I find myself sitting in the quiet of Bebe's kitchen this morning catching up on my blog. I'm not a late sleeper, never have been. This is about my regular wake up time even when I've gone to bed on the late side, like last night after a few “jars”.

First, there is the business of what we did earlier in the day yesterday. After departing our B&B we headed out to do a portion of the Inishowen 100. It's a wonderful scenic drive all around the Inishowen Penninsula. Three years ago we did the entire drive all the way to Malin Head, so this was just a partial refresher. We did find a few new sights to explore, Inch Island, and Fort Dunree, on Lough Swilly. The fort was the biggest surprise. It was built in 1798 to guard against a French invasion and later used in WWI and WWI to guard against other invasions. It's always amazing when you build a fort into a rock outcropping. The day was clear and sunny and had some wonderful views. (I'm really frustrated that I cant post pictures of this but will do some as soon as I can.) This was just north of Buncrana and as far as we went for the day. We were already running late.

I met Bebe 3 years ago when I was in Ireland and attended a concert that she put together to support suicide prevention. The concert at the Millenium Forum was the third time she had organized this and was a real treat to be able to attend. There were many local talents and Damian McGinty was home from working on the Glee Project for this and also performed a song that Mickey Coleman had written for Bebe called “Miss You More Than Words Can Say.”

That chance meeting lead us to become Facebook friends and we've kept in touch ever since, and now Bebe has been kind enough to invite us to spend a night with her in the Bogside area of Derry. Just for a reference for those who have been here or know of the “Free Derry” sign. We are less than a block away and across a small side street from the memorial to those who lost their lives here during the troubles.

Now I'm not just saying this to impress her, but Bebe made us a wonderful Irish stew for dinner. And we also had some seafood chowder. While some of the local places we have eaten have had great food, there is nothing like a home cooked meal that comes from the heart. Add lots of great conversation and it made for a wonderful meal.

After dinner the chat continued as we moved to the front room and were soon joined by wee Jenny and a some other friends of Bebe's for some music and more drinks! Jenny, at 11, has a beautiful voice and has been taking guitar lessons every week. It was a joy to hear her sing and play. And Gareth, at 18, is an amazing talent vocally. He's had his guitar for less than 2 years and has taught himself to play. I'm sure at some point in the not so distant future we will be hearing more about him. Later in the evening even Gareth's father sang us a wee Elvis tune. Before the evening was over we were all singing along. :) It was definitely a night to remember.

As I stumbled up the stairs to bed, I have to say this Saturday was a memorable day. Now Sunday has arrived and at some point, we will be moving on.

Cold But Amazing

Cold but amazing!

May 23

We got a bit of a late start this morning after our first Full Irish Breakfast. Our host here at the Groarty B&B on the outskirts of Derry makes a mean breakfast. Up until now we have had serve yourself hotel breakfasts, or menu order breakfasts and have skipped the Full Irish until it would be cooked for us fresh. Margaret did not disappoint.

So many people ask my why I keep returning to Ireland as I've seen all the tourist things. But I go to see many of the off the beaten path things that surprise and awe me. Today was one of those days.

Finally on the road we decided to take a drive to Sleive League Cliffs. It's about a 90 minute drive, but took us longer as we felt the need to stop so often along the “Wild Atlantic Way”, a new scenic route, to see all the great views. The road also lead us to some very narrow roads that slowed us down just a bit. We stopped at a great little place just before the cliffs for lunch and a bit of souvenir shopping. By the time we arrived at the cliffs the wind was wailing away, so much so that it was difficult to open the car door. We made it out and walked a bit to take in this magnificent view. Sleive League Cliffs are the highest in Europe, even higher than the famous Cliffs or Moher. If you take the time to get there, it is more than worth it. They are not the easiest to get to, and quite off the beaten path, although signposted. I'm not even sure my pictures will do it justice. And once we got stabilized enough to take pictures, it started to rain. With the help from the wind it became a pelting rain. So we didn't stay as long as we would have liked. Definitely on the list for a return visit. We talked to some locals about it and they say even they have done the drive up to the top, or as far as you can drive, many times just for the view.

We continued on the Wild Atlantic Way route through Donegal, covering a lot of towns along the north coast, including The Rosses, and Dunfanaghy, then back around to Letterkenny and Derry. It was a long day as we didn't arrive back at the B&B until after 8:00PM. This is a drive I would love to do again. We missed Glenveagh Park, but might take a drive over tomorrow, or maybe some of the Inishowen Penninsula. Or there is also Grainan of Aileach.... So much to see around here. :)

I almost forgot. We had dinner at this little cafe on the road back. There was a gas station, a small grocery, and the cafe attached. One of the best dinners yet! And only 9.95 euros for a sirloin steak dinner. I still can't finish all the food they serve here.

Other than tomorrow morning, tomorrow is our “Derry Day”. Visiting with some friends, and staying close by.

I'm off for now. Need that sleep to keep up my energy. :)

The North Coast

The North Coast

May 22

Today was a slower morning and a late afternoon rush. We slept in with no alarm to worry about and got to the breakfast at the Inn about 10:15 (with 15 minutes to spare). After breakfast we checked out and headed in to Portrush to find an optician as Rita needed a wee fix for her glasses. After getting lost for a bit, we did locate the office and the receptionist took care of her. That was all well and good, but as we walked back to where we parked the car, the most delicious aroma was wafting its way out of a small bakery – Tom Toms and we could not resist.

We bought some pasties to take along for our lunch, and also a sweet treat each.

We then headed off for the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. This was something on Rita's wish list for this trip. It's never been something that I was that interested in. If you ever want to do this keep these things in mind: The walk from the pay booth to the rope bridge is .62 miles each way, up and down a steep, at times, pathway. As you near the end of the walk the last part is first down 72 uneven stone steps, then more gravel pathway until you reach 88 uneven stone steps, and finally some steep metal steps, maybe 20 to get to the bridge. If you have survived this you get to cross the bridge – 100 feet above the water – and climb up another embankment to the top of the view across the bridge. And if all that was not enough, remember what goes down, must also come back up, so the step climb is the beginning of your return and the .62 miles back to the beginning. There are no alternatives. No shuttles, no other options. And Rita made it with lots of perseverance and guts!

I walked to the first set up steps, too one look at them and said, “I'll wait here!” And I did.

We also stopped off at Dunlunce castle and took another look. We had both been there 3 years ago, so no need to pay to walk around. Same this with the Downhill Demense. I was going to walk out there, but we were running behind, and I saw how far it was, and decided not to take the time or effort.

After that we headed on the A2 into Derry and found our B&B with the help of the lady of Rita's Samsung cell phone.

We are outside of Derry looking across the hills to the lights coming on in the city. It's beautiful. And if I didn't mention it earlier, today was a beautiful day, warm by Irish standards, and sunny. We hope for the same tomorrow.

I've having trouble posting pictures to the blog, so I will try and get some on FB as I have time to do some transferring.  

Sun and Sightseeing May 21

Sun and sightseeing – May 21

We were up early this morning for one of those delicious Irish Breakfasts at our hotel in Belfast. We had a 9:00 appointment for a Black Taxi tour. For those of you who have never heard of them, there are taxi drivers who take people around to see the murals and talk about The Troubles that have existed for many years here in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Norman, our guide has been doing this for quite a few years. He was entertaining and knowledgeable and we were very surprised with some of his insights. I've done the Black Taxi tour in Derry, but this was the first time in Belfast. There are definitely some differences between the two cities, but still the feelings are there. Most amazing to me was the Peace Wall that was built between the Catholics and the Protestants. They still lock it shut at various points every night.

Having a native who experienced the situation made it really come to life.

Back to the hotel to check out and say goodbye to our friends Stefanie and Ines as they had to fly back to France at 1:00. Once we saw them off, we picked up our rental car and headed off to the Titanic Exhibit. I have to honestly say that seeing it from the water on the boat tour was much more exciting that walking through the exhibit. At least I can say I've been there.

After Belfast we headed to Ballymoney in search of the Dark Hedges. If you have never heard of them, watch the opening session of the Game of Thrones. They are a short road of beech trees that are linked together in an archway. A bit spooky, especially at night.

I do have to say, the location is not the easiest to fine. We might have passed the access road 3 times before we finally found it. It was well worth it. Haunting is more like it. I would love to be there as the sun sets one day.

After the Dark Hedges we took a back road to Bushmills over some hills to the Coastal Route. Beautiful does not describe it. With the hills all covered with gourse, and suddenly the ocean shows up in front of you....Blue, shiney, and vast as ever. The day was even getting a bit warm. A scorcher as the Irish would say. The drive along the route with lots of stops for pictures was something I will always remember. We could see Scotland, and even as far as Inishowen.

We arrived at our B&B, actually our hotel, about 6:00, in time to get settled and checked in, and head off to a delicious dinner. The dining room looks out across the road to a golf course and the ocean. We had our first fish and chips tonight, and I'm about ready to fall asleep as I type this. Tomorrow is a relaxing day and drive to just past Derryl

So I'll sign off now. So glad to be able to get the posts caught up. Hopefully next time there will be some pictures. :)  

Lots of Rain May 20

May 20

Lots of rain, and off to Belfast

Tuesday morning was a cloudy day, at least to start. We finally got going from Sligo about 10:30am and headed off to Belfast. Of course we could not just drive straight there with all the signs telling us about some amazing scenic views. We did try to pass by some but when it came to Glencare Lough (Lake) and waterfall we could not resist. That is what makes our trips so much fun with the unplanned, extra little journeys.

No sooner did we leave our little lough excursion but the rain started. It was light and not something that really bothered us until we were hit with a huge downpour. Barely able to see out the windows let alone drive with the rivers running down the side of the road making for big splashes when we drove through. But by the time we arrive on the outskirts of Belfast, it was gone for the remainder of the day.

We had scheduled a boat ride with Captain Derek of the Lagan Boat Tours. ( http://www.laganboatcompany.com/) for 3:30 and arrived at the dock area for the tour at 3:20 after checking in to our hotel.

I highly recomment taking the boat tour if you are ever in Belfast. There are only 3 sailings a day, and Captain Derek is very knowledgeable about Belfast Harbour filling us in with lots of details about the Titanic also. The huge cranes that were and still are used at the docks – Sampson and Goliath – were beyond huge actually, and it was nice to get the perspective from the boat. The tour was about 90 minutes and the weather had settled to cloudy, but quite nice.

Last night we ate at a place called Benedicts. They have a “beat the clock” menu that only charges the price of the time you order for specific items on the menu. And also specific cocktails are only $2.95

So we each had a cocktail and a dinner that was only charged at $6.50. Not a bad deal at all!

It was an early night and I spent time fighting with my travel computer trying to get logged in. Jet lag had finally caught up and I headed off to bed early. Today was planned as a busy day.

It's Time to Crash

May 19

It's Time to Crash

It's technically Tuesday, May 20 at 1:30am but for blogging sake, I'm still on Monday. We just got back after the longest day between traveling, customs, traveling across country, meeting friends, and having a great night out.

Sleep is overrated. I have not slept except for about an hour on the plane. It just was not going to happen. And here I am wide awake after midnight! I know I will crash any time now.

So let me get back to the day we had today. Arrival went with out any glitches, and we checked through Customs quickly too. While the line was long it did move quickly and we were off to wait for our luggage. In all the time it took for us to walk the length of the terminal and go through customs, the luggage had still not arrived. More waiting. At first I was a bit concerned that the suitcases had not transferred from our first flight to our second. But they did arrive, at about the end of all the luggage to come off the carosel. On to our rental car. Simple easy process and in about half an hour we were in our little Hyundai i10. There was only room enough in the truck (if you can call it that) for Rita's 2 smaller suitcases. My suitcase and carry on pretty much filled up the back seat. There are only 2 of us, so not a big concern. And we were off across country to Sligo.

Ireland has some interesting toll roads, and tolls are paid online, or at a service center by 8:00 the next night after they are incurred. We needed to get onto the toll road to access our turn off right after the toll. So have now to pay the 3.10 euro toll for the 1/8 mile we were on the road. And somewhere down the road to Sligo there was a different type of toll road with an actual toll booth. Don't know when we will see another, but they seem to pop up at the strangest times.

We met up with some friends from France, Stefanie and Ines, who had been in Ireland already for a couple of days on our arrival. After a quick hello with them we changed and headed off for dinner in the hotel. And speaking of this hotel, the Clarion, Sligo, I can't wait to post a picture. It's beautiful and we got a great rate for the one night. And then I heard it was a converted mental institution! Still not sure about that. I think some research is in order. :)

I'll post a picture in the next day or so.

After dinner we went to hear this amazing band, Rackhouse Pilfer, at a local pub. They are extremely popular with the locals, and while we arrived early, by the time they started playing at 9:30, the place was packed and more people continued to arrive. They have just released their second CD through a “fund it” campaign. From what I've heard of it, I really like it. I guess you could call it Alternative Country.

And they are the reason we got home so late. It was a perfect end to our first night in Ireland with great local music. For now, I need to get some sleep. We're off to Belfast tomorrow morning. Nite. :)

Traveling, waiting, and more Traveling

May 18
Isn't that the problem with getting somewhere. Days to prepare and pack, or night before packing as I do, and then the journey begins. It would be great if we could instantly transport ourselves to locations that are great distances, but at this point, that won't be happening. So we board a shuttle to get to the airport, wait until we can take a 75 minute flight to an interim destination, and in this case, wait another 5 hours until the longest part of our journey begins.

So here I sit, 35,000 feet above the ground, traveling over 600 mph, and at this point 4000+ more miles to go. The map says we are over Montana at the moment heading into Canada airspace. This is the beginning of this journey.

It's not the first time I've been to Ireland, or the second. This is my fifth trip since 2004. Each trip is a different adventure mostly with different traveling companions, although this is the second time Rita and I have gone together. I do think she is a good companion for me and we have similar interests.

On to the trip. I am going to try and write a blog ever couple of days and maybe even post a couple of pictures along the way. That said, I never know for sure how successful I will be on that.

I am adding this blog to the one I created on a previous trip. I didn't see any point in starting a brand new one, but that's me.