Well, I’m heading to Ireland tomorrow to visit the family. I though I’d start the report before I went so I can update while I’m there, that and I’m bored at work.

I am going to Sligo (Northwest coast) where my parents, sister, granny, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. all live. I’ve been there 20+ times so it’s like going home for me. Since I am familiar with the trip and the area I though I could shed some light on a part of Ireland that isn’t a tourist trap, but is definitely beautiful, friendly, and fun.

Links:
http://www.countysligo.com/
http://www.sligotourism.ie/
http://www.sligococo.ie/
http://www.dublinairport.com
http://www.sligoairport.com/



Travel plans

Continental Airlines, using frequent flyer miles.
Houston (IAH) to Newark (EWR) on Saturday
Newark to Dublin (DUB) arriving at 7am Sunday morning.

Aer Arann, for about 100 Euro roundtrip
Dublin to Strandhill (Sligo) 10:20am – 11:00am

The airline changed the flight schedules so I can fly instead of taking the train. I would normally take the Air Link bus (5 Euro) from the airport to Connolly Station in Dublin, and then take the 11am train to Sligo. However, the train ride is about 40 euro (roundtrip) and 3 hours long so I wouldn’t get to Sligo until 2pm. The extra cash is worth the convenience.

The return trip is basically the same thing in the reverse direction except I’ll spend the night at a hotel in Dublin before catching the early morning flight back.


Sunday
So I arrived to Dublin no problem, but it was pissing rain as it does. However, Sligo was nice and sunny as you can see below. The weather fluctuates from 50 F at night to 65 F during the day.

The plan was to go to the Harp Pub to listen to the Jazz but I was too tired so I just took a nap. Then little sis and I drove out to Strandhill to watch the surfing competition.
http://www.strandhillsurfcam.com/surfcam_enlarge.htm


Sunday night we walked down to Rathedmond to my sister's friend Cliona's (clea-na) place. Had a few drinks there then about 8 of us went out to the Strand Pub. The pub and porch were packed. Ran in to some old frinds and my cousin John. Stayed there until close then walked up to a friends place for more drinks. Made it back to the parents at half five in the morning. Loooong first day in Ireland.


Monday
My uncle Jerry and his girlfriend borrowed a friends 40+ foot boat and we cruised the Shannon River from Roosky to Tarmonbarry (sp?). Great day on the river with wine, pints, food, and sun. Ran in to a sailing club from California. Their leader was addressed as Commodore by the group. Reminded me of the Maestro episode on Seinfeld.
Anyway, here are some pics.

Lough Arrow lookout point. The 'Lone Ranger' is holding the Sligo county team's flag, though we are actually in county Roscommon. ha.


Shannon River in Roosky


Swans on the Shannon. We probably saw 20+ swans and signets.



Going through a lock on the Shannon. The lock will hold about 4 40 foot boats and a little speed boat. The lock master is a joker and just messes with everyone who comes through. The locks are on hydraulics now, but were man powered up until about 10 years ago.


On Lough Forbes.



I’ll update this as the trip progresses. Hopefully you’ll get some good insight on the Irish lifestyle and ideas for trips you might take some day.

[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 8/7/2007 5:11a).]

[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 8/9/2007 4:52a).]

When in Buncrana, stop by "The Exselsior Pub" on Main St. Tell Peter, Brendan, Ciaran, or Mary that someone in Texas said hello. One of them will be behind the bar and they will know who in Texas is saying hi. (Peter was at the game with me when Reggie beat #1 OU as a Fr.)

The Exselsior is a great place to stop. They can point you to some out of the way spots locally that others don't know about.

And don't forget the Dolmens at Glencolmcille. That may be my favorite place on earth.

My family came from the Montallen area East of Sligo. I really like that area too.

I am jealous. Be sure to post as often as you can, WITH PICS !!

Have fun Andrew and tell the folks hello for me.

I hate you by the way.

P, parents and sis say hi. We need to work out plans for a trip at Christmas. Thinking of going to Germany & Switzerland then to Ireland.

How is the house sale going?

Good. I'll email you.

Good morning TexAgs. Here is an update on my trip.

On Tuesday we left Sligo about 11:30 to head North to Inishowen. We went up through Donegal town, Ballybofey towards Derry.

Here is a view from the N15 between Sligo and Bundoran, looking at the Donegal Mountains to the north.


First stop was at an ancient fort, Grianan Ailligh, just west of Derry. The giant circular fort was built around the time of Jesus on the sight of burial mounds from 3000 years before Christ. The fort was used at the royal citadel of the northern Ui Neill from the 5th to 12th century. The wall is 4.5 meters thick and raises three terraces. There are also 2 long passageways through the wall itself.


View north from Grianan Ailligh. Looking at Lough Swilley and Inch Island.



View east to Derry (Londonderry). We are standing in the Republic of Ireland, but Derry is across the border in Northern Ireland. The borders are open now and many folks commute from Letterkenny, and surrounding areas to Derry for work. Derry was the site of many uprisings, bombings, etc. during The Troubles.


We then headed further north up the Inishowen Peninsula through Muff to Moville for lunch. Here is the view north across Lough Foyle from Moville. Just below the clouds in the distance are mountains in Port Ellen, Scotland. Camera doesn’t do the view justice.


Heading northwest through Carndonagh we ended up at Doagh Island and the Famine Village.
View looking East. The current out to the ocean is very strong in this little bay.


View looking West, out to the Atlantic.


The beach had these amazing metamorphic rocks with very strange wavy shapes and milky quartzite.


We went on a tour through the Famine Village, which is a museum of the history of The Famine and it’s impact on Ireland and the world. The museum includes typical dwellings, from those lived in earlier times such as Sod or Turf Houses, complete with samples of local food, plants and herbs used for cures. Famine village also includes examples of a typical pre-famine cabin, Landlords Mansion, Leinster House etc. There were recreations of the lifestyle from the past including the Wake House, the Hedge School, the Mass Rock, the Eviction Scene (picture below), the Presbyterian Meeting House, Traveler (gypsies/tinkers) exhibit, etc.
This was a very cool tour, and I’d recommend it to anyone. The tour takes about an hour, but you could spend another hour or more roaming around and reading all the history and explanations of the recreated scenes.

The house on the far right was lived in until 1983.



We stayed at the Lissadell House B&B in Buncrana on Tuesday night. We ate across the street at the Drift Inn, which was the old train station. We met up with some cousins for a few hours in the pub attached to the restaurant.

Heading across Lough Swilley to Rathmullan on the ferry. A wind farm can be seen in the background. There were about 6 different wind farms that we saw in County Donegal. The farms ranged from 10 to 40+ wind turbines.


Port at Rathmullan



Beach on Lough Swilley just south of Portsalon town (in background)



We were planning on eating in ****ord (apparently M i l f is banned) but a traffic jam diverted us to Carrickart. Mil ford was backed up because they allow parking on both sides of the street so there is only one lane for two-way traffic. It was a mess. Here is a pic of the only road in Carrickart and the pub/restaurant we ate at.



Doe Castle, near Creeslough. The name Doe comes for tuath, the Irish word for territory. A branch of the MacSweeney family (my ancestors) built the castle here at Sheephaven in the early 16th century. The castle changed hands many times in battles between the Irish and English.


On the wall of Doe Castle looking out at an inlet from the Atlantic.


On the road heading south out of Creeslough back towards Donegal town and Sligo. The mountain in the background is Errigal, the tallest in Donegal Country. The bottom of Muckish Mountain can be seen in the right foreground.


More to come…..


edit (****ord is the town of M i l ford)

[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 8/9/2007 6:23a).]

[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 8/9/2007 6:27a).]

I'm reading your updates at work and I'm so jealous!!!!!!!

How beautiful! The sky seems bluer and the grass seems so much greener there.

Thursday at the Sligo Races.

It was ladies night and all the girls were in dresses and big hats. Seven races from 5 until about 8pm. I actually won my money back plus enough for an extra pint.






After the races we all walked down to Caheny’s pub for drinks and BBQ. A friend’s family owns the bar so we (about 12 of us) got 2 free rounds of Jager Bombs and numerous pints.
Sunset from the porch at Caheny’s.


Partying at Caheny’s



After Cafeny’s we walked to Toff’s disco and got more drinks and danced until 2:30 in the morning.


We ended up at another pub that was still serving after hours. It was at this point that I thought that night was over, however...

We got a taxi to Trick’s house (owner of Caheny’s) to continue the afters until about 6am. I woke up around 9:30 and called a Taxi to get home. Apparently my sister had left earlier and couldn’t wake me up. Some of the crew was still partying when I left. The Irish know how to have a good time!!!

Party at Trick’s house.


It is now 4:45 in the afternoon here and I just woke up a bit ago and I think I need a nap before the party starts again tonight….



[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 8/10/2007 12:05p).]

Hello again.

Friday was a waste of a day. Between the hangover and the horrible weather I decided to just lay low. Saturday however was another story.

A friend of my sisters was getting married so we went to the wedding. It was a traditional Irish wedding....
Ceremony scheduled to start at 1 at the church, actually started at 1:40.
Over at 2:50 then headed back by the house to watch a bit of the Ireland v. Scotland rugby match. Ireland lost badly, but it was just a preseason friendly.
Headed to the hotel for the reception at around 4:30.
Coffee and snacks were offered and the 200+ guests hung out and drank for an hour and a half.
Ballroom opened at 6 for the 4-course meal and the bride and groom were lead in by bagpipes. The meal lasted until about 9pm. LOTS of wine was served, and shots of Sambuca (the couple’s favourite apparently) were handed out for the toast.
After the meal the band started and played until about 12am.
During the middle of the band some traditional Irish step dancers came out and danced for 15 minutes.
Then the dj played until 2am.
The wedding party and close friends probably continued the party in the hotel bar until 4am, which is standard procedure here.
It was one heck of a party. Here are a few pics.







View My Video


Today we headed out to Rosses Point to see some of the sailboats and enjoy the beautiful weather.




Here is the swimming hole at the Sligo Yacht Club. The tide is way out as you can see. The tide fluctuates by about 8 to 10 feet.




Well, time to start up the grill and load the cooler for the BBQ.

[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 8/25/2007 11:42a).]

[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 8/25/2007 11:43a).]

It’s been a few days since I updated the travel report so here is what has happened so far this week.

Sunday we had a BBQ at my parents place. It was a bit of a family reunion with three generations from 5 weeks to 85 years young. It was sunny most of the day, but clouded up around 6, then it cleared again. Burgers, sausages, chicken, Murphy’s, Carlsberg, Bass, Bulmers cider, and wine were all on the menu.


On Monday my parents and I went out to Strandhill to check out the surf and walk around. The sand dunes in the background make the dunes on the Texas coast look like ant mounds. That is my mom in the foreground.


Tuesday a bunch of us went surfing at Strandhill. It was maybe 65 degrees, rainy, with about 8 foot waves at about 12 seconds apart. It was the best surf I’ve ever been in, but according to the locals is wasn’t great. Strandhill is a huge surf spot in Ireland and is very beautiful. This is me and my cousin after a couple hours of surfing in the rain.


I went in to Sligo Town on Wednesday to run some errands. Sligo is home of W.B. Yeats and is beautiful little town of about 20 thousand. The middle of town is intersected by The Garavogue River, which us lined by shops and pubs. There is good fishing in the river and many people kayak and watch the swans.








Wednesday afternoon my sister and I drove to Galway (Gaul-way) to visit an old friend. The ~90 mile trip takes about two hours by car just to get to Galway and then about another 30 minutes to get in to the center of town because of horrible traffic. Buses take even longer. The city has grown a lot in recent years and many people commute 15+ miles to work.

Here is a pic of the Corrib River in Galway Town and the cathedral in the background.


Inside the Cathedral near University College Galway (UCG).


The bottom of Shop Street in Galway. The shopping district in the center of town is huge and has tons of pubs, restaurants, and shops. You can find everything here. There are a lot of college students in town and the place reminds me of Austin with the street performers/musicians/hippies. Though Galway is nicer than Austin.


Here is a pic of the field out the back of my friends house near Moycullen, which is northwest of Galway. Moycullen was once a little village but suburbanites and retail developments have overrun it. It’s about 15 minutes outside of Galway.


We drove back to Sligo today in nice sunny weather, but now it’s gloomy again.

More to come…

I don't know how I missed this so far, but this looks like an awesome trip. I wish I had family internationally. Thanks for posting, I am going to save this for my own trip to Ireland some day.

You are either a fantastic photographer or you bought some great postcards. Wow. Thanks for the post.

thanks evermore. It is hard to take a bad picture over here. Everything is so beautiful.


On Friday my sister and I drove to Leitrim “It’s not as bad as you’d think.” Village to visit my cousin and the new baby boy. The village is about 45 minutes from Sligo and 10 minutes from Carrick-On-Shannon. The Shannon river runs through the center of town. Boats can pull up next to the pub, buy some pints and food, and have a picnic in the grass next to the river. We camped there one-night years ago while the parents and uncles and aunts stayed on the boat. Needless to say the campers and boaters were up partying until about 4:30 in the morning. I highly recommend cruising the Shannon!

I don’t have any pics from Leitrim Village but here is a picture of the boats docked on the Shannon River going through Carrick-On-Shannon on the way to Leitrim.


On the way back to Sligo we stopped at Lough Key Forest Park. I’ve been visiting this park since I was a child. My uncle ran the tour boat out here for years in the 80’s. There was once an old manor house on the property (where the tower is now) and tunnels underground to the servant quarters and the lake. When we were little we could run all over the place and play hide-and-go-seek through all the tunnels and forest. Over the years the place became run down, but in the last two years the gov’t and a private company started revitalizing the park. There is a nice visitor center, huge playground, an education/entertainment exhibit for adults and kids, and a new tree line walkway. Unfortunately you now have to pay to do all these things and the tunnels/tower, which were once free. The link has more detail and pics…www.loughkey.ie. This park is a great camping spot and fun for everyone.

Here are the ducks and swans near the car park. The old castle can be seen in the background on Castle Island.




The old church and playground. The playground was around when I was little but we never used it, as the entire park and lake were more fun.


This is the Ice House. It was where food was stored for the manor house and castle. Through the entrance are steps that go up about 8 feet then a large hole dropping about 10 feet. The temperature in the Ice House is always about 10 degrees cooler inside than out. It’s very dark and creepy inside and was pretty scary when we were kids.


Here is the lookout tower at the top of the hill. The manor house sat here many years ago but burned down. The base of the tower is in the old basement of the house. There is a tunnel to the right of the tower’s base that goes down to the pier where boats would go out to Castle Island. There are also numerous large rooms in the tunnel. There is another tunnel below me that goes down to the Ice House.


The tunnel to the Ice House


The Tree Canopy Walk goes from the entrance to the tunnel near the Ice House around the edge of the lake to the tunnel entrance at the pier. It looks really cool through the trees. Next time I’ll shell out the money to do the Canopy Walk, tunnels and tower.





Last night left in Sligo is tonight and a bunch of us are going on a pub crawl. Tomorrow its off to Dublin for the night at a hotel near the airport then up early Monday for a 9am flight back to Newark then on to Houston. I’ll add more interesting pictures if anything comes up between now and getting back to Houston.

Hope everyone enjoyed this. If you have any questions about travel to Ireland or anything I posted just let me know.







[This message has been edited by GCRanger (edited 8/18/2007 6:50a).]

great pictures! reminds me so much of our honeymoon there in 2005. we flew into shannon airport, and our first stop was galway city for 2 nights...reminded me of austin, as well. (without the t-sips)

i hope to make it back someday, and hit the northern parts of ireland, as we didn't get to see any of it on that trip.

Great report! Thanks for posting all those gorgeous pictures.

Thanks all.
Well the return trip was uneventful except for some turbulence over the Atlantic. Well that and my right ear still hasn’t returned to normal pressure.
I stayed at Bewely’s Hotel at Dublin Airport on the way back and I would highly recommend it. The hotel has a 24 hour shuttle to the airport, is new and modern, and cheaper than the others around the airport. It was E89.99 a night.
I’ve got some more pics to post and I should get those on in the next few days.

Makes me want to go there!!

Okay, so here are some final pics.


Here is Strandhill Village with Knocknarea mountain and Sligo Town in the background. Strandhill is a big surf spot as I mentioned in previous posts. Knocknarea mountain has a stone tomb on the top for Queen Maeve, the warrior queen of Celtic myth. When hiking to the top visitors are to pick up a stone at the bottom of the mountain to put on Maeve's tomb. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocknarea



Flying in to Dublin from Sligo on Aer Arann. It was a beautiful day when I flew out....figures.



I'll be going again at Christmas to visit the family so I might have some new stuff to add then.

man, i need a vacation. . .

Beautiful places - Sligo and Galway

I've been to Dublin but I'd like to visit these two now.

It may be trite, but I've always loved the movie The Quiet Man (John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara) because of Ireland's beauty.

Thanks for sharing!

So, to sum it up, you saw a lot of water and drank a lot of beer

Just kidding. Looks like an awesome trip. We were in Scotland about 7 years ago and on a whim decided to take the ferry over to Ireland. Great decision--fascinating history and gorgeous scenery.

In your picture from Grianan Ailleigh looking towards Inch Island, you can see the sheep pasture where I attended a Meeting one Sunday afternoon. A meeting being a horse race. It was complete with the handicappers and their ladders and leather bags.

Great experience.

You have some really good pictures. I always enjoy seeing all of the swans near Inch Island.