"Beautiful Ireland - a condensed account " a Ireland Travel Page by sue_stone

Hello and yes, we've been away again. This time a week driving around Ireland, with Alex's mum Chris in tow. We had a load of things planned for the week, but quickly realised that things move a little slower in Ireland......distances took twice as long as predicted to drive - due to the winding narrow roads, lack of passing lanes, plus the huge amount of tractors we encountered!! Hence we didn't tick everything off the must-see list......I think we would have needed another month. But what we did see was spectacular. Here is the condensed version.

Day One: We flew from Heathrow at 6.55am to Belfast, where we picked up a car at the airport and headed straight up to the north coast of Northern Ireland. It was a huge day - first we went to the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge. This is a 20m long, 1m wide rope bridge that sways 30m above the water, joining the cliffs to a small rocky island. The views along this coastline are spectacular. www.northantrim.com/carrick_a_rede.htm Next we continued along the coast to the Giant's Causeway, which is an amazing area with hexagonal stone columns stacked by the ocean - so named as it looks like the work of giants. Again, more fantastic cliffs and coastal views here. www.northantrim.com/causeway.htm

Worn out by all of this, we headed to the worlds oldest legal distillery, Bushmills, and did a tour, which took us through the factory and ended with a taste of Bushmill's finest whiskey. Chris was one of the 4 lucky chosen ones on the tour that got to do a special whiskey tasting session at the end - comparing 11 different drops. www.bushmills.com/

Last stop for the day was at the "romantic ruins" of Dunluce Castle, perched on a rocky outcrop looking over the water, and a great place for more photos. The castle is right on the cliff edge, and apparently back in 1639 part of the castle including the kitchen collapsed into the sea. www.northantrim.com/dunlucecastle.htm

We then headed to our B&B, which was in a small village called Carrigans, which is about 10mins drive from the city of Londonderry. Carrigans is just over the border, in the Republic of Ireland. We were running really late due to a big car accident/traffic diversions and were lucky our rooms were still available when we arrived......and pretty glad they were, as this was the fanciest B&B you have ever seen! Every inch of the place was decorated/filled with all sorts of collectables/dolls/you name it - not our taste, but remarkable. The room was fully stocked with more toiletries than I have at home, and breakfast was a never ending feast. We were sad to leave.

Day Two: First stop was to the Grianan of Aileach, which is a 2000 year old stone fort on top of a hill, near a town called Burt. It had a really special feel about it, and the views from here are amazing, across loughs to the sea and mountains. www.stonepages.com/ireland/grianan.html

Next a scenic drive around the Rossguill Peninsula, to see the Atlantic Ocean and more stunning coastal scenery. We then headed south, again the landscape was just amazing, but so different from the morning - mountains and rocky farming land and ribbons of roads in between the loughs.

Stopped for lunch in Letterkenny and then gaped at the amazing limestone plateaus we passed as we drove towards Sligo, and our B&B in the beachside, wind-blown suburb of Strandhill. Our B&B here was the total opposite to the previous night - pretty basic - but it wasn't all bad, as the Atlantic was literally across the road from our room.

Day Three: After another "healthy" Irish Breakfast, we headed through, yep, more spectacular countryside to Kylemore Abbey, which is located at the base of a mountain on the shore of a lough - another great photo opportunity! www.kylemoreabbey.com

After a lunch of irish stew and needing a break from touring, we headed to our final stop for the day, Galway, and our centrally located B&B. We had the afternoon to wander around Galway and then relaxed over some fine wine and then supposedly "the best" fish and chips in Galway, which were disappointingly bad.

Day Four: More fried treats for brekkie and back on the road, first stop was at Dunguaire Castle. It is a small, restored castle on the edge of Galway Bay, which holds medieval banquets. As always, we climbed to the top of the tower for a view along the bay. www.shannonheritage.com/Dunguaire_Day.htm

Next to one of Ireland's most famous sights, the Cliffs of Moher. The cliffs are, of course, spectacular, and there is a small castle like tower that you can climb for an even better view of the coast line, and the Aran Islands in the distance.

Next we caught a car ferry from Killimer to Tarbert, across the River Shannon, which took about 20mins, and headed to a town called Listowel for lunch - where we ended up having an unscheduled extended delay. This was due to a problem on the way there, which involved a small trailer wheel flying across the road at our car and damaging the tyre. We had a couple of hours delay whilst a very friendly AA (like NRMA) representative helped us with the purchase of a new tyre etc at his service station nearby.

Anyhoo, back on the road, we headed to Killarney, and our large B&B, for an early dinner and an early night. Killarney was really busy due to a big Gaelic football match the next day, so we didn't spend much time there.

Day Five: I had given up on the Irish Breakfasts by now, though Alex & Chris managed to eat them for a couple more days.... Before leaving Killarney, we drove up above the town to Aghadoe Heights, which gives beautiful views over Killarney and its National Park. We then headed towards our next destination, Kilkenny, taking a scenic route through farmland and saw plenty of tractors (read: got stuck behind plenty of tractors). We stopped off at Kells Priory - ruins of a monastic site that date back to 1193, before arriving in Kilkenny. Our B&B was 1km from the centre of town, and was run by the most helpful people in Ireland.

After a delicious lunch, we visited the impressive Kilkenny Castle, which is known as "one of Ireland's most magnificent fortresses". www.historic.irishcastles.com/kilkenny.htm. That night we went to Ireland's Pub of the Year for a gourmet meal and slept well.

Day Six: With another delicious breakfast under the by now bulging belt, we hit the road to Dublin. We stopped off on the way for a photo at the Meeting of the Waters, where two rivers come together, which is near the small town of Avoca which features in the TV show Ballykissangel.

Then we were back to reality and the city of Dublin. First we dropped off our bags at the hotel and then dropped off the hire car. We then had a leisurely wander through St Stephens Green and hit the shops on Grafton Street, the shopping heart of Dublin. Looking for some liquid refreshment, we went to the Temple Bar area. It is one of the oldest areas of the city, and the cobbled streets are lined with pubs and restaurants, though it is commonly known as a bit of a tourist trap. After a refreshing ale, we had a look at the grounds of Trinity College - Ireland's premier university. Then it was back to Temple Bar for a traditional meal, washed down with a tasty (aussie) red. Finished the night with a wander along the Liffey River, and then a walk up O'Connell St to our hotel.

Day Seven: After a surprisingly small breakfast for all of us, we headed to Dublin's premier tourist attraction, the Guinness Brewery & Storehouse. We did the tour, where you learn about the history of Guinness etc, but the best part is the end of the tour which leaves you in the Gravity Bar at the top of the building, where you can sip your complimentary morning Guinness, and enjoy the 360 deg panoramic view of the city. www.guinnessstorehouse.com/index.asp

Just enough time for some more food, so back to the banks of the Liffey, and a pub lunch of Steak & Guinness pies, to top off the holiday nicely. Then jumped in a taxi to the airport and back to London.

Well, we learned that a week was not enough to see Ireland, but it certainly gave us a feel for the country.

We really enjoyed:

*the spectacular and varied scenery
*the friendly locals
*hairy sheep
*food food food

We didn't enjoy so much:

*Dublin
*the prices - Ireland is expensive!
*the rain

For the whole trip we had a joke about how we really wanted to see a rabbit in the countryside. Each day we would look for the elusive rabbit, but to no avail. When we were on the runway at Dublin airport, literally seconds from takeoff, Chris looked out the plane window and said "a rabbit". And there one was, on the grass by the runway. We loved Ireland.