The Great Adventure, Sunday, July 24,2022

This morning started rainy and continued as such for a good portion of the day. Early in the morning, Deb could not find her purse and after searching the car, the room, and the sitting room of the B & B, it was determined that it may have been left at the previous evening’s restaurant. A quick phone call revealed that it would not be open until 11:00 and no one was answering at this early Sunday hour. Nothing to be done but head to breakfast and worry about the hour long backtrack later. The full Irish breakfast and Irish pancakes (crepes) were excellent.

Following food, we went back to pack up, and upon moving a suitcase, the missing purse was discovered, It had fallen behind the suitcase the night before and sat there, protected and undiscovered the entire night and into the morning. Crisis averted. As we started out of Boyle, we found ourselves in a long queue of traffic, surprising for a Sunday morning. we suspected a traffic accident head and so spent 30 minutes in line, advancing slowly. It occasioned pictures of windows with flowers and other interesting sights. As we got closer up the line, we realized that the line was for fuel; the local service station was celebrating its 25th birthday and was offering a significant discount of fuel, but only until 11:46 AM. As we were intending to ill up this morning, we took advantage and saved nearly 15% on our fill-up. It still cost us €70 for the tank of diesel fuel. Our first destination of the day was Tobercurry, County Sligo, to take a picture of the Highland’s new home to send to them. We sent the this onto Zöe, as they had only seen a photo from the rental agent. Also photos of the neighboring cat and a flock of sheep in the meadow adjacent.

Then onward towards Westport. In this market town we parked and walked to the town center, finding a coffee shop to sit and have a cuppa together with some pastries. We then wandered the town, completing some shopping and buying some wine for future consumption. We took our leave of this busy market village and drove towards Clifden. A major stop along the way was the Kylemore Abbey,

a Benedictine Nun’s monastery originally built as a castle by William Henry in 1870.  We toured the lower floor of the monastery, which is open for tours and is a history of the building and its residents and servants/employees. The structure and rooms are beautiful and the restoration appears to adhere closely to the period and fairly presented. A number of family photographs and other personal belongings are on display.

Next we took the shuttle bus to the walled gardens laid out in a Victorian setting The gardens are huge and beautiful - at least what we c old see of them (photo) in the firs 7 minutes before the midges descende and drove us off. They were everywhere; in our eyes, flying up our nostrils, invading our ear canals, getting into our hair. There was a small sign early on at the gift shop noting about ticks and midges and that select repellants were available for sale. It also noted that

midges were heavy at certain times of the year, particularly when the weather was warm and calm.  Today must have qualified! We walked briskly out of the garden swatting and brushing at the little pests as we boarded the return shuttle, glad to finally be rid of them but still brushing them off our face and hair as we reached the obligatory gift shop.

At 5:15, we mounted our chariot and headed on to Clifden to our eventual goal for the next two days of the Sharamore House B&B, arriving about 5:45. We offloaded our luggage and, with help of the proprietress, Sue, got the luggage up to our send floor suites. Another long and adventure filled day. As we reached Sharamore House, the sun came peeking out from behind the clouds and the rain had stopped for the moment. After a rest and a bit of unpacking and laundry duties, we set out for the town of Clifden to score our evening meal. 

Clifden is a surprisingly lively town with a plethora of restaurants and pubs up and down two streets, interspersed with shops and gallery’s. We settled on Mitchell’s Seafood restaurant, a recommendation of both our Sharamore hostess and The Lonely Planet travel advisor. Three huge servings of steamed mussels and one large bowl of Irish lamb stew accompanied by excellent olive bread and a bottle of merlot made for a satisfying repast. We walked back to our parked vehicle and took the 3 kilometer drive back to our resting place. Another adventuresome day, the constant companion of rain not withstanding.

The Great Adventure, Saturday, July. 23, 2022

 This morning we rose to find a wee bit of rain in the air, but it quickly cleared off. Our breakfast this morning encompassed a full Irish (fried egg, bacon, sausage, black pudding, grilled tomato and toast) or Omelettes including cheese and mushrooms. Orange juice, coffee or tea topped it off. We spent some time plotting and discussing our day and then loaded the luggage into the Black Beauty and headed towards Londonderry, the second largest city in Northern Ireland.

This very old city is actually two cities divided by a culture and by the River Foyle. The two halves are known locally as Cityside and Riverside. It is reputed that the divisions were so strong that, upon setting up the border, the negotiations about the dividing line between Ireland and Northern Ireland was being considered as running down the middle of the River Foyle. Obviously, this plan was scuttled. Sitting on the western bank of the river is the old original walled city. We found a car park right near the city center and began our exploration.

The two halves of the city are now joined by two vehicular bridges and one pedestrian bridge known as the Peace Bridge. It’s design and layout are remarkably similar to Omaha’s Bob Kerry Bridge over the Missouri River, linking Omaha and Council Bluffs, Iowa.  We walked across the bridge and back, enjoying the views of both sides of the bifurcated city.

Upon return to the western side, we visited a lovely small bookshop and then climbed the ramp and began our meander along the ramparts of the city walls, reading as we walked about the history of the city and all the conflicts that have erupted over the century, from the sieges in the early 1600’s right up to Londonderry’s role as one of the original Troubles areas in recent history.

After three hours in Londonderry, we left the city and struck out for our next and final destination of the day: the village of Boyle in County Roscommon. As we left Londonderry, the occasional sprinkles turned to rain, which accompanied us, off and on, throughout the rest of the day. We stopped just north of Sligo to search out the burial spot and grave of William Butler Yeats, the great Irish poet. Although he died in France, his body was exhumed and reburied here in this quiet churchyard. After assisting a fellow searcher to find the grave (“Wouldn’t you know it would take an American to help this Irish literature teacher to

locate Yeats’ grave!” ) we traveled a short distance down to Sligo and back in search of a dinner stop. 

We ended our search by backtracking north of the grave site at a very busy restaurant, the Davis Restaurant and Yeats Tavern. Thoroughly modern and very busy. Think of an overly enlarged Denny’s filled with Irish citizens and you might get the picture. We dined on a pair of pizzas, some small salads, chips, and wine and ale; except for the driver it must be noted.

We then proceeded on south to Boyle and our B&B of the night - Lough  Key Forest Park House. This modern, purpose built B&B was nicely situated and offered very poor wifi service, but comfortable rooms and a lovely sitting room. We read, reviewed our day and retired at a reasonable 9:30, looking forward to another day of adventure. Note that, in passing towards Sligo, as predicted by our “resources” it began to rain, obscuring our view of the mountain Ben Bilbun.

The Great Adventure, Ireland - July 21 & 22, 2022

Breakfast Thursday morning at Darnley Lodge was near perfect. Eggs as requested, a breakfast sandwich such as we hadn’t seen before - a  long English sausage layered over their very thick bacon, topped with an egg, all on a hamburger bun. A lot of food, but very tasty. Also the traditional Irish breakfast with black and white “pudding”,  eggs, bacon and sausage with the obligatory grilled tomato. All totally satisfying, accompanied by orange juice and coffee. And all included in the room price of $119 per night!

We set off towards Belfast this morning, leaving Athboy behind. We motored up the east coast, enjoying the scenery of a very pleasant and sunny day. We arrived in Belfast shortly after noon and found our way to our Inn for the evening - Tara Lodge. This hotel is a gem! One of the top 25 hotels in the UK, the receptionist was a professional young woman - Rachel. After tagging our luggage, she made us comfortable in the lodge and began a very thorough outline of places to go and things to see. She recommended and reserved a restaurant for evening meal; she recommended and booked a Taxi Tour of Belfast and then outlined the many areas of the city we could also visit.

At 1:30, our Taxi Tour arrived, piloted by Stevie. This was a two hour eye opener as we drove back and forth around the “troubles” neighborhoods, viewed the famous murals around the area and got a total

lecture regarding the cause of the Troubles, the historical context and the current status. The Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods are still very separate, being fenced off with walls every evening at 7:00 and reopened at 5:00 the next morning, plus all weekend. We toured the neighborhoods, saw the current living conditions, learned of the major fighting in the 80’s and 90’s, the Good Friday Agreement brokered by Bill Clinton, the residual after effects of the agreement and how life is slowly, generation by generation, to become integrated. The fighting only stopped 24 years ago, and it may take 50 to 100 years before the integration is anywhere near complete. There are echos of the current USA situation in the polarization that drove these two separate societies to the fighting. Not a pretty thought. 

We arrived back at the hotel around 3:30 and then struck out to explore. We headed to the Ulster Museum (formerly the Irish branch of the British Museum) to view all the displays, the Egyptian mummy being one of the most intriguing. This was not an art museum, but a history museum and it lived up to it’s billing. We walked through the Belfast Botanic Gardens and then stopped at our original first choice restaurant, Molly’s Yard. They had not been able to accommodate us for dinner due to a previous private party booking, but they were able to serve us some delicious brown oat bread, hummus, tasty olives and a bottle of Pinot Noir. Our server, Collette, was as interested in our take on the world as we were in hers and we had a fun and lively conversation.  As driving duties were over for the day, Mark also enjoyed a lovely Red Ale.

Following this cocktail hour, we walked the two blocks to our dinner reservations at Holohans.  Here we enjoyed a salmon steak and three different versions of a Boxty. This local dish is basically a large, flattened 9” circle of mashed potatoes, flattened and grilled, then filled with a choice of fillings, and flipped over like an omelette or crepe. We sampled chicken and mushroom, chili beef and a seafood example. All were wonderful. A shared helping of an ice cream sundae capped off the meal. We returned to the Tara Lodge, our wonderful rooms and passed out, more educated and very sated with wonderful food and drink - also a good day’s walking.

Friday we awoke to another beautiful day, weather-wise. The Tara breakfast was even better than the day before, a pair of perfectly prepared Omelettes, and a spot on fried egg with bacon, grilled tomato and sausage and bacon. We struck out this morning headed eventually to Bush Mills on the north coast. First stop along the gorgeous Coastal Causeway was the famous Rope Bridge at Carrick-Rede (rock on the road) which spans the sea, perched some 100 feet over the water. The bridge leads from the main land to an island from which fisherman launched their boats to reach their salmon fishing nets. We negotiated the parking scheme with our National Trust parking pass and then, thanks to the National Trust membership we had purchased in the US, we gained free entry to the cross the bridge. Shortly thereafter they shut down further entry as they had hit their limit of people allowed on the path , the bridge and the island. The walk to the bridge was challenging, just over a kilometer, but up and down. There was a line to cross the bridge as it is only one way at a time. The only way to the island is over the bridge - also the only way back.

Once we crossed the bridge and reached the island, the hardest portion of the walk began. The rock path was treacherous to old slow people such as ourselves. Only one slip up as Mark took a knee (actually a sitting position) coming down an especially rocky trail, but no injuries. We walked the kilometer  back to the parking lot and headed next up the road to the Giant’s Causeway, anther National Trust and also a World Heritage site. This set of hexagonal pipes rising from the sea is the remains of an ancient volcano in the area. It gets its name from the myth that the giant Finn McCool used these as stepping stones between Ireland and Scotland. We wandered the steps, and then part of the crew took the last trolley up the hill while the other half walked up. We rendezvous in the parking lot and head to our final destination, some 5 miles up the highway at the Bushmills Inn. After check-in, we adjourn to the pub for a refreshment and then into the dining room for our 6:30 reservation. The food was very good, although rather upscale in setting and number of servers. We enjoyed roast sea cod, roasted lamb rump and duck breast, all accompanied by wine. Dessert was a chocolate lava cake and a caramel sundae. The service here was slow, and a bit diffident considering the number of employees meandering around. Also, they were unable to provide separate checks, which meant spending 15 minutes at the checkout splitting the bill into its two segments. Also not an inexpensive meal - $145 to $180 per couple.

The Needelmans did a short walk about the town while the Coverts retired for the night. Today was a long day with plenty of hiking/walking. It was very informative and filled with never before seen sites; however, it did point out that some of us are in better physical shape than others. Any guesses? Still a great day on our great adventure.

The Great Adventure - Ireland, Tuesday, July 19 & 20, 2022

Here we go! Today, with our traveling companions Lee and Howie Needelman, we depart for Ireland on the first leg of our Great Adventure. We meet at Eppley Airfield in Omaha with our combined five suitcases, our four carry-on pieces, plus three additional suitcases that we are shepherding across the Atlantic for our neighbours the Highlands. Zöe , Garth, and their three children, Iris, Esmè and Arthur are emigrating to Ireland at the end of the month, Zöe returning to her homeland and Garth becoming the foreigner in the family. As we are able to check additional luggage, we offered to ferry the added pieces.

Our first flight is to Chicago via United Airlines went well, for the most part on time. We and our luggage made it with no problems, and we were only 15 minutes late push off. The 7 hours 43 minute flight was smooth and arrived in Dublin 30 minutes ahead of schedule. After clearing passport control and collecting all the baggage, we proceeded to the arrivals hall to be met by Zoe’s uncle Dick Butler who collected the excess baggage and also one of Covert’s extra bags, considerably lightening our load. (We will collect our extra piece of luggage at the end of the Ireland leg before we head over to England.)

At the SIXT car rental agency we signed the rental agreement and loaded on to the shuttle for the car park where we were to pick up our vehicle. Unfortunately, the vehicle we bargained for was not able to accommodate all our luggage, nor allow the rear seat passengers to view much out the windows. We quickly regrouped, and after a search throughout the inventory, we finally landed a new Skoda SUV that would carry all our luggage and provide plenty of visibility for all the travellers, and at a bargain upgrade of only €525!

We drove off the airport property in search of the M1 motorway. Our destination was north of Dublin to the New Grange area. In this region there are a number of pre-Christian burial mounds, New Grange being the most well known and totally excavated and available for tourists. Unfortunately we had found while back home that all the timed tickets were sold out well in advance for today’s date. Our resources (Zöe ) had told us that there were a number of other mounds in the immediate area, Knowth and Douth being two. Knowth was available for tour only with a group, and required pre-purchased tickets, but Douth was undeveloped and we were able to walk the grounds, hike up the mound and survey the area, which we did.

These burial mounds are at least 5,000 years old and have underground burial chambers. Two had been discovered in the mid 1800’s but they had not yet been excavated and set up for touring. The setting is idyllic and we enjoyed hiking to the top of the mound and viewing the surrounding countryside. We could even see the New Grange mound off in the distance. A wonderful experience.

We then drove on to our destination, Darnley Lodge in the town of Athboy. We found our destination, parked and toted out luggage up the three flights of steps to our very serviceable rooms. We descended for an early and excellent dinner of sea bass, pasta and hamburgers, accompanied by wine and beer. We topped off a surprisingly delicious dinner with a shared serving of Eton Mess and then a short walk around town. We were in bed before 9:00 for the end of a very long 24 hour travel day!