THE FACES OF IRELAND

What made my visit to Ireland so memorable was the wonderful people I met along the way.  From  a long-time internet sewing friend who met me in Belfast to her parents who took me to tea in Bushmills;  relatives, neighbors and friends of friends in Virginia; a creative quiller at a craft fair in Belfast to the wonderful members of the International Woman's Club of Dublin.   Everyone was so welcoming and made my time in their beautiful country one that I will remember forever.

IRELAND - PART 3 - The Wild Atlantic Way Cond.

Did I mention that almost everywhere you go, you're being watched?  These wooly guys are literally wherever you look - on a mountaintop or in a valley, usually with a splash of colored spray painted on them designating who they belong to. 

After a lovely sleep and another full Irish breakfast, tops on my bucket list was a stop at  Sliabh Liag (Sieve League), the highest marine cliffs in Ireland.  If not as rugged or as popular as their southern neighbors, the Cliffs of Moher, these were rumored to be more beautiful.

But along the way I wanted to stop at the Fr. McDyer's Folk Village, completely  reconstructed and furnished just as the homes and shops were in Glencomcille when they were built and occupied in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.  Fr. McDyer arrived in 1951 and totally changed the village, lobbying for electricity, organizing local industry and thus stemming the flow of immigration out of the village.  It was an eye-opening way to see what life in this little village was like so many years ago and how much it has changed in some ways and others, not at all.

 
 

This area is known for it's knitting mills and shirt making factories.  I made a stop at Rossan Knitwear where I could have purchased sweaters for every member of my family but didn't.  But if Fisherman Out of Ireland had been open, I would have bought everything they had!  What wonderful knitwear this local company designs and sells.

Now it was time to drive to the top of the cliffs.  I was told not to use the car park at the bottom but open the cattle gate and drive up to the very top (2000+ feet) and I would find another car park there.  Let me tell you how much a 4-cylinder Kia does not like going straight up - and neither does its driver!  Again, an extremely narrow, one-lane road going up and up and up, all the way to the top of the cliffs.  I started in 2nd gear but had to shift down and did the majority of the drive up in 1st, gripping the steering wheel so hard I had to pry my fingers off when I finally reached the top.

I stepped out of the car and was greeted with the above view. The morning fog was hugging the very tops of the cliffs, but the sun was shining brightly and it soon disappeared and welcomed a gloriously clear day.

I chose these two photos specifically to show you that OSHA hasn't been heard of in Ireland - or Europe for that matter.  You can easily put yourself in my shoes and imagine where I am standing to take these photos.  Do you see any fences or guard rails protecting the observer from falling off the cliffs?  In the States, we wouldn't be able to get within 20 ft of the edge but I wasn't even 20 inches. European countries believe you should be smart enough to make decisions about your personal safety and it you do fall off the edge, then stupid you, it isn't their responsibility.  

Sieve League (Sliabh Liag) was absolutely beautiful.  It was well worth the drive up and the almost-as-scary ride back down.  The weather gods cooperated and it was a perfectly beautiful day.  What else was amazing was the sea - it was completely flat - like a mirror reflecting the sky.  The normally 'wild' and angry Atlantic was taking a breather and enjoying the calm day as much as I, and the rest of the sightseers were.

After a drive through the town of Donegal and around the O'Donnell stronghold, I followed the WWW signs to Bundoran-on-the-Sea where I would spend my last night on the Wild Atlantic Way at Rockpool House Air BnB.  It was raining and cold but I had dinner at the great pub.  Everything is better with a delicious hamburger, chips, and a pint.

The next morning  I turned away from the west coast of Donegal and headed toward Dublin with my destination being the village of Virginia in County Caven.  I had been invited by a friend to stay at her ancestral home and be part of the celebration of her 70th birthday.  Along the road, I just happened to see a sign that said Castle and I did a quick u-turn and was thrilled to find not only the ruins of Tully Castle but had the entire place all to myself!

Click on the photo to enlarge and read the history of the castle

I would spend the next 6 days in a lovely, 18th century home, still a working farm, helping to chop, cook, clean and get ready for approximately 100 guests, and then assist in the clean-up afterward.  This was my way of 're-paying' for the owner's generous hospitality.

The party was a great success.  Plenty of food, plenty of whiskeys and strong tea, and plenty of music and song.  I didn't make it till when the last guest left at 3:30 a.m., but I did fall asleep with the sounds of a beautiful Irish tenor voice drifting upstairs and into my room.

My next-to-last-day my hostess' wonderful sister-in-law offered to take me to the Loughcrew Passage Tombs.  These Neolithic tombs were built about 3000 BC and have recently been partially excavated. Like Newgrange which is only a few miles to the south, these were the burial grounds of what would have been the nobles of the era. Even then, the tombs were laid out in the form of a cross. 

The next morning I drove from Virginia back north to Belfast to return my rental car.  Then I hopped a bus back south to Dublin Airport and my flight to the Isle of Man.  My 18 days in Ireland had come to an end - but oh, what a memorable adventure it had been!  And I met such wonderful people.  I will do a short follow-up blog post on just them!

Until next time...

IRELAND PART 2 - THE WILD ATLANTIC WAY

The sign above is the one I will now follow for the next few days.  I took lots of photos to show you the places that I visited, but below is the Irish Tourist Board's video of the Wild Atlantic Way.  Watching it will show you just why I was so excited to drive this glorious, weaving, winding, and very narrow coastal road.  I only had time to go from the start in north Donegal to Sligo Town, but I've promised myself that I will return and drive all the way to the end in Cork.  

I caught the ferry just outside Castlerock, Northern Ireland to Greencastle in Donegal in the Republic of Ireland.  I had been told the place to start my coastal tour was Malin Head, as far North as North goes in Ireland.   Here is a link to the map of the WAW that will give you an idea of my route.

This narrow road (a word I will use over and over when describing Irish roads) wandered through a few small villages before literally ending with a view of the Atlantic Ocean that has nothing between where I was standing and the Arctic Circle.  Desolate, barren except for some grasses, an old radio tower and waves crashing into Hell's Hole.  

After a short walk around (it was very cold and windy) I was back in the Kia driving south as the ferry across Lough Foyle was no longer running.  I had to drive back down to Londonderry, around the end of the Lough and back through Letterkenny (hot spot of tech companies) and a short side-trip through Glenveagh National Park.  I hoped out of the car to take a photo of the castle and right back in,  as the midges (Ireland's answer to mosquitoes) were out in full-force and noses and ears and eyes are their favorite places to invade!  

I was headed to Dunfanghy, which is nestled at the foot of mountains, on the edge of the Atlantic and the location of Ireland's best Blues and Jazz Festival.  I had booked one night at The Forest Lodge B&B which was just lovely.  I had a beautiful, big feather bed and a glorious view outside my window. For dinner, I had a delicious seafood chowder and homemade wheaten bread at Lizzie's Diner.  

Jean Scott, the Lodge's owner, informed me I had to have a full-Irish breakfast to start my day.  Traditionally, the most common ingredients of this breakfast are bacon rashers, the most delicious pork sausages, fried eggs, black pudding (not a favorite) and fried tomato.  Sauteed mushrooms were also included, as well as hash browns and a slice brown soda bread.  All of this is washed down with a steaming cup of strong breakfast tea.  I could barely move when I finally finished.  

All during breakfast, Jean and her daughter-in-law were convincing me that I really had to drive the narrow, single-lane road up to the top of Horn Head. They kept telling me that even though this road was REALLY narrow, it was a circle and was just one-way, unless tourist who can't read the map or road signs or a local, who doesn't care, decides to want to go the other way!  

I crossed my fingers, said a prayer, and said sure, I would give it a try.  The day was just beautiful and who wouldn't want to see a glorious view!

Maybe the above shot will give you an idea of the width of the road.  This was taken with me sitting behind the wheel of my tiny little Kia which is taking up the entire width of the road.  Please note:  There are NO shoulders and NO GUARDRAILS!  And yes,  it does looks like the road just ends and falls off the cliff into the sea.  (Also note the reflecting decal in the lower right-hand corner of the rental car window.  It's to remind we wrong-side-drivers where the car should be in relationship to the ---- line.  It helps!) 

I did meet a very nice gentleman who had just stopped and was standing in the middle of the road taking in the view.  We struck up a conversation since there was no option but to go around him and drive off the edge of the cliff.  This gentleman was a retired doctor from Northern Ireland who comes to this area of Donegal to hike the mountains.  He shared what he knew about the history of the area and told me all about his family.  It's just amazing the opportunities that arise when traveling to meet and talk to interesting people.

Driving south, following the sometimes confusing Wild Atlantic Way signs,  

the rest of the day I hugged the edge of the weaving, winding coastline of Donegal.  Being a strong, independent women who has no issues admitting when she is lost and asking for help, I meet some extremely nice people this day. You should know that Donegal is a Gaelic-speaking county.  All of the road signs are written in it, which makes an English-language map almost useless when trying to reach a destination what is spelled and pronounced completely differently than what you think it should be.  i.e. Sliabh Liag = Sieve League

The folks I asked for directions had very heavy accents but were more than happy to make sure I got to where I was headed.  But their first question was always  was 'Where are you from?'  Once I tell them, I learn that either they've been to the States (and they tell me where and when and why); or they tell me they have a relative living in Chicago and ask if I happen to know _______? (Fill in any good Irish name!).  

My destination for the end of this day was the village of Glencolumbkille.  What my lovely AirBnB hostess, Geraldine, didn't tell me, or maybe she wanted to keep it as a surprise, was that to reach the village I had to travel through the valley and over Glengesh Pass.  

This is one of the most beautiful places I have every seen - ever - which includes a drive up one of the most amazing and narrow roads I had yet to travel. The higher I got, the tighter the hairpin turns became.  I was literally turning back onto myself and I can't imagine what would have happened if I had met a car or truck coming from the other way.  There are no shoulders so no place to pull over and let another car pass.  When I reached the the top where there was a large car park where you can stop to breath and for photo ops.  Sitting there was a huge tour bus filled with Germans.  How he was going to manage those turns I didn't even want to think about - and I certainly didn't want to be in that bus!

Here are just two photos that don't even begin to show just how beatuiful this valley was.  Look close at the first photo and you can see the road winding up and up to the top of the pass.  

And here is the magnificent view from the top!

I'm going to leave you at the top for just a bit - as this Blogger program doesn't seem to like overly long blog posts.  Yesterday I lost 4 hours of work, so today I'm stopping after 2 today and will finish writing up the rest of my time in Ireland tomorrow.  

Until then.....

FAITH N' BEGORRAH - IRELAND FOR 18 DAYS!

Welcome to Ireland!!

PART I - THE NORTH 

After the Highlands of Scotland, I was looking forward to returning to Ireland. It has been 12 years since I first was here.  I came for a photography workshop that was based out of Westport, in the Republic. During that visit, I explored not only the west coast, including the Cliffs of Moher but also the Aran Islands, Waterford, the Wicklow Mountains and Dublin.

My husband's mother's family were Tobin's from Country Cork and it's always fun to see that name on signs or meet people who are probably in some way related. I was told that everyone in Ireland are related somehow!

This time I wanted to visit The North, so I flew into Belfast. I was met at the airport by the lovely, and extremely talented Ruth Forrester, an internet sewing friend and fellow blogger, who I had emailed from the States to say I was coming to Belfast and would love to meet her and buy her a cup of tea.  I'll tell you a little bit more about my welcome and Ruth when I tell you about the people I met.

Ruth whisked me away to a wonderful craft fair where demonstrations of beading and weaving, quilting and quilling, spinning and wood-carving were ongoing in at The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.  This  museum of international renown, is regarded as being amongst the best of its kind in the world. Set in over 170 acres of rolling countryside overlooking Belfast Lough, visitors can wander through the past and discover how people lived and traveled over the centuries.

The Folk Museum tells the story of life in early 20th century Ulster. A bygone era is recreated in a rural landscape of farms, cottages, traditional crops and local breeds of livestock. A typical Ulster town of the early 1900s is brought to life with homes, shops, workplaces, churches and schools. Costumed visitor guides, working buildings and exhibits, as well as the chance to touch, hear and do, bring history to life for visitors of all ages.

For my 2 nights in Belfast, I stayed in an old, Victorian house where I had to lug my suitcase up 3 flights of stairs and share one bathroom with five other guests. Not quite as advertised on their AirBnB listing, but a good breakfast, this one I wouldn't recommend, so I won't share the link.  But the location was good as it had bus access directly to the center of Belfast right outside the door.

I decided to take the  double-decker Hop-On-Hop-Off-Bus for an hour and a half tour of the city.  These buses give you the option of getting off at any of their numerous stops along the way, then hopping back on the next bus when you are ready to move on.

It was a very cold, gray, windy day but I chose to sit outside, on top so I could see lots of the city.  Stops included Belfast Castle, the Titanic Quarter, Stormont (the Parliment), the Falls and Shankill Roads, the Peace Wall and the murals and the huge security gates that are still in place.

Stormont

Titantic Quarter

Woman with Hula Hoop!

The ramparts of Belfast Castle

The North of Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and still, if not as loudly and forthrightly, are still engaged in what has for years been known as the troubles.  Though there are no longer armed guards separating the Protestant and Catholic areas of Belfast (my tour guide was very proud to point that out) or guarding the borders between the North and the South (The Republic of Ireland), once evening falls, there are still areas that you do not enter or lines you do not cross, depending on your political and religious leanings.  

                      

                 

After 2 days in Belfast, it was time to pick up my rental car and set off to the far northern coastal areas.  But let me digress a bit and tell you about renting a car in Europe - specifically in Ireland.  DON'T!

I was told by a lovely Irish woman I met while in Germany teaching that the best deal was to rent through Rentalcars.com.  They will find you the best rate with the best company.  So I booked a tiny, 2-door, stick-shift KIA for $431.88 for 16 days.  That came to $26.99 a day plus gas - reasonable, I thought.  So off I go to the SIXT Car rental office to pick up my car.   This is when the s--t hit the fan and you find out that there is a few more added fees you didn't know about.

Now I already knew that not one American credit card company will cover the liability waiver in Ireland.  Why?  Don't ask me, they just don't.  They don't cover Jamacia either.  So I had to purchase a daily, full-coverage liability insurance for 16 days. Then there was the fact that I was going to drive the car 'across the border' into The Republic and that was an additional daily fee.  Don't forget taxes and VAT and, and, and.....for an additional total of $643.90!!!  I am now up to $1075.78 for 16 days or $67.23 a day for the pleasure of wandering around on tiny, winding, badly marked, in some cases, one-lane roads for the next 16 days, all the time driving on the WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!  The only good thing was they felt sorry for me and upgraded me to a 4-door which got 50 MPG, so  my gas costs were quite small - in comparison.

My little Kia with steering wheel on the Right (wrong) side.
Can't tell you how many times I got in on the left side of the car to dirve!

I would have loved to have saved the expense of the car - and the stress which was a really huge part of driving here - but I could never have gone to the places I went, nor seen the sites I saw without a car.  So in the end, it was worth it - until I had to return it to Belfast on my final day in Ireland, instead of Dublin, which I was near where I was staying, because they wanted another $200 for drop-off in a 'foreign country.'

So I drove 2 1/2 hours back to  Belfast, arriving in the middle of morning rush hour.  OMG! -  I have never been so happy  to have a smartphone with GoogleMaps in my entire life!  I also learned, after-the-fact, that there are no gas stations along their highways, so I arrived without a full tank of gas.  When I learned the closest gas station where I could fill up was 8 miles away on a busy highway near the airport, I said 'please take an additional $45, I refuse to get behind the wheel again!'  I then took a cab to catch a bus to the Dublin Airport (returning along the same road I had drove on) to catch my flight to the Isle of Man.

But whoa - first we have to go back to where I started my driving adventure - picking up the car and heading North!

After studying my map in great detail, knowing I wanted to take the A2 coast road all the way up to Portrush, I said a prayer, got in the right/wrong side of the car and off I went.  I had just made it out of Belfast proper and was driving through the first medium-sized town of Carrickfergus when I glanced to my right and there it stood - my first medieval Irish Castle!

Carrickfergus Castle

Though I didn't have the time to take the self-guided tour, I did learn that this castle since it was first built in 1178 has remained fully garrisoned for 750 years until 1928.  It was besieged in turn by the Scots, Irish, English, and French and saw action right up to World War II.  Cool!

Now I left the 'big cities' and with them, the roads became much narrower and more winding.  Of course, round-a-bouts take the places of intersections with stop lights being almost non-existent.  I drove slowly up the coast, hugging the sea and stopping to take photos whenever the mood struck.  I stopped for a great little lunch at a local pub in Ballygalley and of course, had to take a pix of the quote above the bar.  

I arrived at my wonderful AirBnB in Portrush just a wee bit late, but could not have been more thrilled with the location, my room or my host!  Whiterocks Beachhouse was exactly what I hoped it would be - and more.  

The location was in the middle of all the places I hoped to visit - Giants Causeway, Bushmills, Dunluce Castle.

My room had huge windows overlooking the 5th hole of the Royal Portrush Golf Course, a links course and  home of the 2019 British Open, and the Atlantic Ocean - wide open to all the way north to the Artic Circle.

  

There was a white sand beach that was open for miles where the beautiful racehorses were brought each morning to exercise and run.

As evening closed in on my first night, the sun chose to put to on show of colors as it went down behind the faraway hills of Donegal while my host Ian and I sipped a wee bit of Jameson's and swapped stories of our lives.

My Canadian friend Linda had originally planned to join me for my Irish sojourn and that was why I had booked an entire week in one place.  When her plans changed, I thought why not just stay, relax, read a couple of books and take in the sites of the area?

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge

Rocks at Giant's Causeway

Backside of Giant's Causeway

Whiterocks Beachhouse had other guests while I was there for my week and I got to be friends with a couple from NYC and a solo woman traveler from Portland, OR.  We decided that exploring together would be more fun so off we headed to Giant's Causeway, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (no, I did not walk across this bridge - photo only!), the Bushmills Distillary and a delicious dinner at The Harbor Bar in downtown Portrush.

Bushmills Distillery

My friend from Portland and I decided that one day should be devoted to exploring Londonderry/Derry.  We chose to go by train as the ride there from Coleraine is said to be one of the most scenic in all of Ireland.  We lucked out with a bright, sunny day and enjoyed taking the Free Walking Tour.  We climbed a short flight of stairs and slowly strolled all around this fortified city on top of the city walls.  The Troubles played a big roll again in this divided city and murals depicting those times are still very visible.  They recently erected The Peace Bridge which spans Louch Foyle and has had such famous 'crossers' as Bill Clinton, Martin Luther King, Jr., David Cameron (British PM) and Courtney Cox (who married a guy from Derry).

The City Gate

Walking on top of the wall

St. Columb's Cathedral - Erected 1628

 

Counsil Housing

Beautiful little church in a quite corner of the city

The Peace Bridge

On my last day in Portrush, I walked just up the road a piece to the ruins of Dunluce Castle and village.  They had a great Visitors Center where the history of this one-time home of the notorious pillaging and plundering MacDonald clan  could be explored.

Walking back to my BnB via the cliff path I was sad to be leaving The North but excited to grab the ferry and head to Donegal and my drive along The Wild Atlantic Way!

OPPS!  I almost left out one of the most interesting places I visited - DARK HEDGES. I met a new friend for coffee and we went to see this site the morning I was leaving Northern Ireland.  This was the location for several of the Game of Thrones episodes. When you see these trees and think what the 'throne' looks like on this HBO series, you can see why they chose this road!  It is now protected by the National Trust as a historic site.  The trees are 100's of years old and were the entrance to the very elegant Georgian mansion pictured below - which is now the clubhouse for the golf course.  

Because of the length of time I spent in Ireland and all the places I went and sites I saw, I couldn't begin to put it all in one blog!  So I'm doing 4 blogs on Ireland. The 1st is The North.  The 2nd will be The South - The Wild Atlantic Way and the 3rd will be The People.