Beautiful Ireland

This post covers our nine days in Ireland where we saw an extensive range of very beautiful landscape namely lakes, rivers, canals, inlets, peninsulas, sandy beaches, islands, plains, mountains, mountain passes, wild rugged cliffs and the North Atlantic Ocean.

Our Exchange Home in Tullamore (nearly the exact centre of Ireland)

Tullamore to Ballyclare

Our sightseeing commenced with a drive from Tullamore up through Athlone to Ballycare at the top of Lough Ree.  We crossed the River Shannon, Ireland's longest river, at Lanesborough between Lough Ree and Lough Forbes.  We enjoyed a walk along the banks of the Royal Canal where it became clear to me just how much Ireland's canals were used to transport goods in days gone by, turning inland towns and villages into ports.  One can hire canal boats and tour around Ireland in them. 

 The Royal Canal

 

We then encountered a peat train and were on the lookout for our first peat bog.  Peat is formed from partly decomposed plants and has been known to preserve artefacts for up to 2,000 years.  It is used for fuel e.g. electricity and fireplace briquettes and also garden compost. 

Ray Inspecting the Peat Bog

Galway to Carraroe

Our next drive was from Tullamore to Galway and Salt Hill Beach, around Galway Bay through Barna, Furbogh, Spiddle, Inveran right down to Coral Beach at Carraroe. 

 

Galway Bay

We drove through lots of farming land divided by row upon row of rock fences, and feeling a little adventurous, I decided to take a side track through a rock fenced area right down to the rocky outcrops at the water's edge.  

 It was great to get off the road

Because of the number of rock walls and their relative closeness to each other, this countryside took on quite a desolate appearance. 

  

Dingle Peninsula

Dingle Peninsula and the Ring of Kerry which circles the Iveragh Peninsula in the south-west, were our focus for the next two days and we booked into a B & B at Killorglin, in the middle of the two, so we could spend two days in this area without having to return to our exchange home in Tullamore.  

 One of the many beautiful bridges and streams on Dingle Peninsula

We drove the whole circuit of Dingle Peninsula from Tralee, anti-clockwise across the top through the breathtaking Connor Pass which is the highest mountain pass in Ireland.  At times the pass is a single lane as it snakes its way up to 1,300 ft and offers superb views of Dingle and Tralee Bays from the vantage point at the summit.

A waterfall on Connor Pass

 Looking back at one of the many inlets on Dingle Peninsula

 Dingle

Dingle is a lovely little town with a marina, fishing boats, pretty little places to stay and interesting shops, pubs etc. We continued on from here and completed a full circuit of the coast out to Slea Head where we enjoyed beautiful views over the Blasket Islands.  This area is a chain of cliffs, deep coves, beaches and very green farming land rolling right down to the edges of the North Atlantic Ocean.  Driving around this area was challenging at times as Gaelic, Ireland's traditional Celtic language, is still spoken in this south-west area, so all the road signs are in Gaelic!!

Our drive back from Dingle through Inch and Castlemaine bought us to our B & B in Killorglin, where we treated ourselves to dinner and a couple of pints of Guinness at Bianconi, a recommended local restaurant and bar.  Here we chatted with Dan, a young rugby playing barman, who taught me how to drink my Guinness properly i.e. still have some foam left in the bottom of my empty glass.  Watching how he poured it was also a real insight for me.  After dinner we strolled around Killorglin and found my sister Kerry's pub!!!

What a beautiful little pub

We left Killorglin and headed off to enjoy the Ring of Kerry, a popular tourist destination.  We drove in an anti-clockwise direction from Killorglin through Lish and then right out to Ballinskelligs for the views at the end of the road.  Our trip across the bottom of the peninsula took us through some very beautiful coastal and mountain scenery via Waterville and Caherdaniel to the very pretty and colourful village of Sneem, where we stopped for coffee and more photos.

 Sneem

 Ring of Kerry Coastline

 Caravan Park on the Ring of Kerry coastline

We then drove through Killarney national park, where we stood on top of the mountain pass overlooking Lough Leane, with two deer happily chewing away at the grass near us.  From here we headed back to Tullamore after two very full and enjoyable days of sightseeing in this very picturesque south-west region of Ireland.

Back "home" in Tullamore, we visited the Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre, where the world famous Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey was first inspired and distilled.  

 Tullamore Dew Heritage Centre on the banks of the Grand Canal

The distillery's original 19th century bonded warehouse has been beautifully restored, and after a self-guided tour we enjoyed one of the best Irish coffees I've ever tasted .  An interesting fact:  the "whiskey" in Irish whiskey has an "e" in its spelling, but the spelling of "whisky" in Scotch whisky, omits the "e".

On Sunday we bade farewell to our Tullamore home exchange and drove to Breege and Seamus McCusker's home in Irvinestown, County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland where we stayed until Tuesday morning 4 October ;-)  no laughing Breege!!!  As the in-laws of my niece Melissa, Breege and Seamus are welcomed members of our extended family.

We can't thank Breege and Seamus enough for their wonderful hospitality and for taking us to so many beautiful and interesting places.  We were so lucky to be able to tap into Breege's experience as an historian, author, broadcaster and guide during our short time in Northern Ireland.  Breege and Seamus took us to Necarne Castle and the Ulster Lakeland Equestrian Park (the subject of one of Breege's books), the ruins of Castle Archdale, the very beautiful Lough Erne, Enniskillen, views of historic Devenish Island, the golf course at Lough Erne Resort which could easily claim to have some of the best views of any golf course in the world and Irvinestown, where Breege was born and has lived most of her life.  

We also visited some of the memorial stones, which thanks to Breege's research and determination, have been installed so that future generations can learn about and appreciate the history of the area, particularly World War II history related to Castle Archdale and County Fermanagh.

You can view a short video (3:49 minutes) of Breege and her beloved Fermanagh lakes area here:  Breege McCusker. 

Breege and Seamus also took us to Londonderry, Ireland's only completely walled city, where we learnt about historic "Derry", the siege, emigration, the events of Bloody Sunday on 30 January 1972 and Derry's modern political history.  This, and our discussions with both of them, revealed much to me as I knew very little of the history of the Protestants and Catholics, the fight to keep Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom and southern Ireland becoming a republic.  

The history of Northern Ireland (not 'in a nut shell' but 'on a sign')

That same day, Seamus drove us all the way to the Giant's Causeway, a world heritage site right up on the north east coast of Northern Ireland.  The causeway coastline is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns and it's hard to believe that there were papers written and presented on the area, long before Australia was even discovered.  

 Basalt Columns

One of the stone formations is that of the wishing chair, where legend has it, that if you sit in the chair and wriggle your bottom three times while making a wish, it will come true if you don't tell anyone what you wished for.  

 Breege thinking about her wish

We all sat in the chair - Mum's the word from all of us - and we're now waiting to see if the legend is true. 

The unique geology stretches out to sea

 Breege and Seamus on top of the Grand Causeway (this is part of the Giant's Causeway)

After our short stay (we'll be back again) in Northern Ireland we headed off to our home exchange in Fontenay-Sous-Bois just outside the centre of Paris.  That will be the subject of the next post in my blog. 

Love to our friends and family at home and special thanks and love to Breege and Seamus for their wonderful hospitality and friendship and the beautiful memories we take with us after our visit with them.

Love

Lyn