June 29

Journal June 29

It's so difficult to think that it's now 10:45pm and time to sleep and yet it's still not really dark outside. The problem with that is that morning wil arrived soon and the sunrise will be waking us up about 6am.

Today was also a long drive day and I've actually taken a nap after we got back to the B&B. Once we organized our washed clothes, we headed out of Derry, the “maiden city”. Named that for all the “maids” who worked in the linen industry at one time. The Gaelic translation came from a translation of place of the oaks because of all the oaks in the city. The walled portraits from the resolution of Bloody Sunday are amazing. And the ancient walls surrounding the city are a site to behold. We did actually walk from one gate to another.

Just for clarification, the town council has removed the “London” part of Londonderry, but signs and people still refer to the town by that name. It's doesn't matter if you are inside or outside the walls, it's officially called Derry. The city as a whole is 75% Catholic, 25% Protestant, with the Bogside 100% Catholic, and one area of Waterside 100% Protestant. There is another part of Waterside that is 50-50. The town is going through a huge regeneration and growth. New hotels, business and shopping centers are going up all over.

We did find Sandinos, but passed on it for lunch. I hate to say this but is looked like a trashy biker dive and didn't seem to serve food. Also very tiny inside. Instead we ended up at Beckett's down the street. Very traditional and great food.

We did a bus drive around the city and got some great pictures. The tour guide was full of historical information and we hit most of the sites. After a little walking on the city wall, we headed for Lough Swilly for a quick stop, and they on the road back to our B&B (a good 90 minute drive)

Another great dinner and some rest for the intrepid driver. Tomorrow is a light day with sightseeing around Dungannon. The Waterford crystal factory and showroom has closed down and we found that Tyrone Crystal factory is actually older than Waterford. We're going to see that and a few other sights tomorrow along with hopes of finding some internet to check emails and for me to post my blogs.

Was going to post a pic or two but can't do this from the library, so it will have to wait until next time.

Time to hit the hay. Laters.....

P.S. I'm posting this while sitting at the Dungannon Library on a rented computer. Was even having trouble getting my saved posts from a flash drive to their computer. The computer just notified me that I only have 10 minutes left, so I had better get finished with emails.

June 28

Northern Ireland Journal June 28, 2009

Here I sit tonight thinking about the sites of the past 2 days. I was too tired to write last night and tonight I don't have any internet access, so I'm not sure when this will get posted. I'm hoping we'll get some access tomorrow so I can check emails and post.

This is no reflection on Northern Ireland, but I find that most of the cities, towns and villages here are not tourist oriented at all. Most are business oriented where the town center pretty much closes down at 5:30 when the workers go home and the few pubs are the only thing left open. There are times we have really tried to search for a place for dinner around 7pm. The exceptions here, of course, are cities like Derry, Omagh, and Belfast which have a great tourist base. And finding a “cafe” type of place for lunch while out on the road has even been difficult. Part of this is not knowning where to find the places, and part is because we are traveling some of the back roads for the scenery. It is definitely a difference from the Republic.

Of course, the people here are the nicest. The B&B owners from the last couple of nights walked us out as we left and waved good-bye as if we were family. Ann and Henry were the nicest couple and we shared plenty of laughs with them. When Ann realized she served me fried potato bread this morning with my breakfast unstead of fried sourdough bread, she reached her hand on my plate and grabbed the potato bread away before I could tell her it wasn't important and replaced it. Sarah, Georgann and I each shared a glance and a chuckle over that.

Ann loves music and told us how her experience of seeing Garth Brooks was the ultimate concert for her and how disappointed she is that Tom Jones is skipping Northern Ireland this tour! LOL

Yesterday we toured around Lough Neagh and stopped in Antrim. Being Sunday it was pretty quiet and we'll probably go back again this week. It seems that Finn McCool was angry at a Scottish giant and grabbed up a clod of dirt from Ireland and threw it at the other giant. The dirt missed the Scottish giant, and ended up in the ocean between Scotland and Ireland making it the Isle of Man. The hole that was left filled with water and became Lough Neagh. That story really sounds better than the lough being formed by some volcanic activity. Needless to say the lough was huge. It's about 9 miles wide. I was touched by the Ardboe High Cross and church ruins right on a small hill at the edge of the lough. And later at one of the scenic lookouts and how different the lough looked.

It was a long day and a long drive. We did find a nice restaurant and filled up with another great dinner. Before I forget I want to mention about dinners we have had. I can't tell you how surprised we have all been that the food arrives at the table hot. I don't mean warm, but so hot that we have to wait to eat it. Restaurants in the US could certainly take a lesson here. And we really have not had a bad meal anywhere we have eaten. Yes, we've had our fill of potatoes, but that comes with the territory. And we've all sampled both full Irish breakfasts and Ulster fries. I'm hoping my cholesterol medication keep my alive and makes sure my arteries don't clog up in the next week!

Going to split this post into two, so I'll close now.

OMG- The HIgh Kings!

Martin Furry, Brian, me, Darrin, and Finbar Clancy
Martin's and Finbar's fathers were with the Furries and the Clancy Brothers.

So I'll get through the day quickly to address the title of this post. We drove around the Sperrins for over two hours this morning getting lost about 4 times and then headed to Enniskillen to see Castle Cool. I have to say that the scenic drive around the Sperrins had nothing close to what we had seen in Sligo and Galway and the getting lost didn't help. The side roads here are very poorly marked and one wrong turn and your lost.

Castle Cool was as large Neo-Classical mansion belonging to the Belmont family. It's still a very large mansion with incredible craftsman work inside. So of like going to Hearst Castle in California. We headed back to the B&B to freshen up for dinner and a High Kings concert at a small cultural center in Omagh. I had gone back and forth in several emails with a guy named Brendan about holding tickets for us as they are not ticketmaster type ticket sales. He was very accommodating and the door was opened for us to enter the verra, verra handsome young (maybe 30's) man was there to welcome us. I told him I was looking for Brendan and he said back with that great Irish wit, "And that depends on who is looking for him." He obviously recognized my accent and replied, "You then, must be Arlene". Right then I knew something was definitely up for the night. It was still early as we arrived at about 7:20 when the doors opened and we were shown into the pub part of the center. As we waited more people started arriving.

We were sitting just at the opening of the pub and a short while later 4 good looking men came by dressed casually - one in camo shorts - and stood right in front of us asking, "And so who is Arlene?" I almost died as I suddenly realized I was shaking hands hello with the High Kings, Darin, Finbar, Brian (in the shorts), and Martin. And they came to find us! We had a little chat (my new Irish wordage) and I just couldn't help but ask if they would mind a picture, to which they agreed. Charming and just the most amazing musicians is all I can say. The night was incredible with all the audience singing along. the picture above was just after they arrived and before they changed clothes for the show. Martin said we did better than a M&G would be in the US! He also give very nice impromptu hugs.

Driving back to the B&B in the dark with no street lights along the way (it was about a 40 minute drive) was full of concentration, but we were still high on the show. Oh, yes, I needed to tell you all my "new" friend Brendan gave us first row seats! To the side, but first row. I just love these Irish men. ;)

On to a tour of Lough Neagh and some more trad music tomorrow.

June 26th

Ben Bulben

I had great hopes for arriving in Northern Ireland and catching some great music tonight, but I guess it was not to be. It seems that the little head cold that has been chasing me all week has caught Sarah and Georgann. Both are feeling under the weather but forging ahead.

We left Sligo yesterday morning and did the loop around Ben Bulben. The mountainous formations are breathtaking to say the least. After that it was the drive to Belleek and a tour of the factory with a few purchases. It's really unfortunate to see how few workers are present in the factory compared to 5 years ago when I had visited the first time. I should mention here that the only indication to the fact that we were in Northern Ireland was a sign saying welcome to County Fermagh. We were not on a main road, but it just goes to show how seamlessly the two countries fit together.

After Belleek it was the drive to Omagh. The countryside was very pretty and mostly farming areas. It must have been because it was Friday and around 3:30PM as traffic was not too different than in the US. I think I circled the town a couple of times just trying to find a bank and a parking space so we could exchange our money to British Sterling for the next 5 days.

We're staying in Cookstown as it is centrally located for our touring for the next few days. Most tourist sites are not more than an hour and a half drive from here. We did notice one thing about the town. It's definitely a commercial town and not a tourist town. When the work day is over the shops on the main street and feeder street close up and everyone goes home. After we got settled in our B&B we decided to go to dinner at 7PM. Low and behold there was nothing opened - except for Subway. We found out that most restaurants in and around town close at 5:30. And there are not many pubs in town. After driving around for a while, we found a place that was either "take away" or eat in - a modified fast food place - and ate there. We'll be in Omagh tomorrow evening so we shouldn't have any problems there.

So much for today's journey. I've got this driving thing pretty well down, but every once in a while I drive over a curb in a parking lot. Just have a little trouble with the perspective of not knowing exactly where I am on the left side of the car, since I'm steering from the right side.

Journal 6

Note the name of the B&B

Journal

This morning we left Maura and Phillip, our hosts in Spiddle, and headed around the Connemara Loop enjoying the views of Galway Bay until we headed inland to see Kylemore Abbey. The Abbey had been converted to a private school for the very wealthy, but has now closed down and is only a tourist site. It's beautiful set as this Neo-Gothic style set up against a huge mountain at the edge of a lough.

We ventured to Westport, a little out of our way, to eat a late lunch and found the restaurant recommended was not open until 6PM, much later than we wanted as it was now 4 and we were a little behind. So we forged on to Cong, our destination for the day, had dinner in another pub (pub grub is pretty good here) and then walked around Cong Abbey ruins and wandered through Cong Wood. Both breathtaking in their own right. I have always believed that in the dark, dampness of the moss filled woods is where you will find the faeires and leprechauns of Ireland hiding. These woods could have been any dark forest in a Disney movie.

Our B&B for the night was Ryan's Riverlodge. For some strange reason around town a lot of things are named Ryan's. ;) Ryan's Hotel, Ryan's Pub, and our place. It might come from the fact that the Quiet Man film was made here and John Wayne might have played a character named Ryan. Not sure we'll visit the exhibit for that this morning before we head out.

Today we will backtrack a little to the Connemara Marble factory for a look at the marble and maybe a little jewelry. Then on to Sligo and Yeats country. More later.

As I post this tonight, it's 9pm here and the sky is still bright blue with a few scattered gray clouds. Tom, my taxi driver firiend called just as we arrived here checking in to see if we were okay. He's such a charmer and said he missed me! We're thinking about arranging to have drinks with him the night before we leave. Guess I'll be reporting on that too.

We leave Sligo in the morning and head into Northern Ireland for a few days.
Too be continued...

Journal 5

My new Irish Friend, Tom!

Journal 5 Dingle to Spiddle, Connemara

It was a long day today. Not so much in hours but lots of driving and lots of mileage covered. We headed out of Dingle about 9am for the Conner Pass, a beautiful drive over the Sleive Mish mountians with wonderful views Then on to Adare the “prettiest little town” in Ireland known for it's thatched roof houses.

After Adare it was on the road to the Cliffs of Moher. We had an incredibly sunny and warm day and the Cliffs were clear and impressive as they should be. There was no lack of climbing up steps and paths to get the best view. Exhausting, but well worth it.

On to the Burren with a quick stop at a round fort and the Polnabrone Dolmen. How did the ancients get those stones propped up in such a manner that they have staayed there for thousands of years?

Finally a drive through the center of the Burren where giant slabs of limestone rock make up the majority of the ground cover with flowers and grasses surviving in the harshest of situations. This contrast of harshness and beauty has always amazed me. It takes my breath away.

Our last leg of the trip for today was to get to Galway and to our B&B in Spiddle on the Connemara Coast. This area of Galway Bay has always been very special to me for many reasons. I could sit out on the rocky coast of Galway Bay here and just get lost in the sound of the waves rolling over the rocky coastline. Th e B&B where we are staying was recommended by a friend and Maura and Phillip are wonderful hosts. Mauar and I just finished chatting for a bit as to where we have been and what we are planning and sharing places they have visied in the US at my friends.

So I'm off to “blanket time” as Phillip called it, and will write more as we move on.

Dingle Journal

Slea Head, Dingle Peninsula

Usually I write my posts in a word doc and then transfer, but since I won't have internet for a few days and I have some time tonight - it's 10:30 and we're back from the pub and concert- I thought I'd get some notes down at now.

Today we toured the Dingle Peninsula, another of my favorite places. Not only is the landscape beautiful, but there are tons of ancient sites to see. I never tire of this. Dingle is another place I'd love to take more time to explore, but then I'd need at least a couple of months to visit all the places I'd like to see.

The Fahan Beehive huts that date to about 2000 years ago are a marvel of stone construction without mortar. The incredible white sand beaches are a treat along with the very rocky coast. And then the Gallarus Oratory and Kilmakadeer church ruins were what I've known they were. I'm hoping that Sarah and Georgann enjoy these unique sites as much as I do.

Back in Dingle we had lunch, walked around town, relaxed for a few, then picked up our laundry. It's always nice to have clean clothes. This evening the church 2 doors down had a trad music concert ( how lucky were we to be so close and not even know about it). and after a quick stop in the Dingle Pub to listen to more music. It's been a full day.

Tomorrow we head north and end just outside of Galway in Spiddle, my definite favorite area of Ireland, the Connemara Coast. I can hardly wait.