We clubbed together to buy a Birthday cake for the Old Fella
Another trip to the old country for the Boyzz
Landing in Dublin, they wasted no time in heading North to Fermanagh and Belcoo
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| First stop was this quaint Irish pub, where they had lashings of Guinness flavoured Wheaten Bread . We helped the Padres to polish off the requisite "Full Irish" breakfast. It really set us up for the day, as it took the edge off our appetites | |||
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A quaint pub in Bundoran ... |
.. and a serious bun shop there too. |
The bun lady was a bit taken back at our appetites |
The we saw these scary black bulls in Blacklion |
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At Rosses Point we had to borrow the binoculars to see what the funny statue was on a distant rock - turned out to be the Metal Man - he was remarkably clear through the binoculars |
The Glencar Waterfall could make you seriously wet |
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On to the delights of Portstewart
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| We were just walking along the promenade when we spotted Morelli's. and just had to check out the quality - not bad at all | We installed ourselves in the bling of Mr & Mrs Jones, a bit of a poncey hotel, that rather fancied themselves | ||
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| Dunluce Castle. Sooner or later they would take us to the piles of old stones they they seems besotted with. This place has no roof, hardly any walls, and is miles from the nearest bun shop. We don't think we would want to live here | |||
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| The locals seems very colourful, in a three colour way - red, white and blue. Even the kerb stones are painted and the gable ends of buildings. Lots of flags fluttering in the ever present breeze. And they seem to have long memories too - 1690, older than the padres | |||
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We popped in here for a drop of the hard stuff. The shop sold more different whiskies than you could ever imagine |
The locals are a bit besotted with the murphs |
Then we got to this contraption, and decided to leave it to .. |
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.. walk across it. We just wished them well from afar. And it was a long walk to get to the bridge, so we had to stop off at the conveniently placed cafe for a couple of quick ones. The bridge was followed by more piles of stones at Kinbane Castle |
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Portstewart to Holywood and the O'Gormans
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We were not sure why the goat was here |
A local chap informed us that this team all kicked with the left foot |
The we headed south to Holywood... |
...and stayed with Carol & Paul |
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They got this rocking horse in specially for us |
We enjoyed the Northern Ireland sunshine on the Ards Peninsula |
slight problem here, they did not share the ice creams with us lads |
We joined the National Trust as they have nice tea shops |
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| We visited Campbell College, which gave the padre a smattering of education, and were so pleased with his progress that they chiseled his name onto a notice board in the assembly hall | Before you knew it, it was time to move on | ||
Then back to the West Coast of the old country
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Now we have come across Mammy Johnston's before, and can assure you that it is well worth a visit. We tend to get racked with indecision in choosing an icecream flavour. We settled for a healthy lunch of icecream and crepes |
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The Talbot another of the traditional Irish pubs that we stayed at. Odd place mind you, it had a bath in the bedroom - they must have run out of space in the bathroom |
A bit windy at Downpatrick Head |
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And on to Connemarra
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| Off to Achill Island, where... | ..even the locals are colourful | Cold, but sunny. It is windy here | We get installed at Rosleague Manor |
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| A couple of lagers please, my man | Please Miss, he stole one of our lagers | Posh dining room here. | And a bottle of Champagne on the house |
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| I don't think I want to be a fisherman | Then we are off on one of their road trips round Connemarra | ||
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We took in all the sights, with a couple of pit stops for refreshments |
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Then south to the Burren and County Clare
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| At least this one has a roof on it | Its awfully lonely out here | This is the sort of old stones that the padres really like | We have just come from Spain. A bit confused by this sign |
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| It the king of Spain has been here, that's good enough for us | Now what is this then. Not THE Donald surely | We did't see him - Trump is rarer than a leprechaun in Ireland | Looks a bit windswept there |
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| Think we will miss out on climbing this tower. Done too many | And so to the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis - not our favourite hotel, but the room was comfortable, and we got our lagers down in the bar | ||
So on to the delights of Kerry
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A flying boat museum is our sort of museum |
Then they made us walk up to the top of this pile of old stones, it was a long way up, and even further down |
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We are not sure who he was, but he seems very famous locally at Banna Strand, or so the padre told us. |
More piles of stones - this one is or was a cathedral at Ardfert |
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The Victoria Hotel was not the padre's favourite hotel, but they did give us lads very nice chocolates every day |
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We saw a lot of beaches during our stay in Ireland, but it was too cold to swim - otherwise we would have been in like a shot |
Would you believe it, they built this as the local police station |
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The old flag flying over Valencia Island |
Whilst we enjoyed iced coffees and buns |
Back to the piles of stones |
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Ring around Kerry
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| We stopped to admire the view and found this American | Then we were really excited to find a Leprechaun crossing .. | ..they are difficult to spot, but there are a lot around |
When looking for a bun shop all we could find was a Mussel shop |
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We don't go big on Fishing Capitals .. |
.. but we loved the Ring of Beara |
Then we reached O' Casey's of Baltimore, a really nice Irish pub. |
Once we got settled in, we were delighted to find that .. |
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..they had given us some free buns, well made scones .. |
..with jam and cream. Unfortunately the madre grabbed them |
Still we had a decent dinner ... |
.. followed by Irish music in the bar |
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| Nice old fellow, propping up a seat in the street | Then we are off on our travels again. Ring of something or other. | Long way south here, in Irish terms | |
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| We gave this chap a help with his fishing... | ..before turning our attention to sandcastles - more interesting | Mizen Head is the most southerly point in Ireland (perhaps), so we celebrated with an icecream. We got to like icecreams | |
Time to head north to Trim and eventually Dublin Airport
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It was the old feller's birthday. We did buy him a really big cake, but ate it all while checking the quality. So he only got this tiny bit. |
Nice view from the cafe |
and a lighthouse |
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We eventually got to Trim Castle Hotel, and would you believe Trim Castle was right outside our bedroom window |
Still his birthday, so we were on Fish & Chips tonight, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to butter him up |
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Next day they made us pay, by marching us all the way to the top of Trim Castle. We can tell you it is a long, long way up thousands of winding steps. Mind you here is a great view from the top. But after that you have to go back down the thousands of winding steps |
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| Bit of culture now, the Hill of Tara, where Irish Kings, and us, were crowned on the Stone of Destiny | For some unknown reason the padres took us down this road | ..to get to Newgrange a World Heritage site | |
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We caught our first sight of the River Boyne - very famous in these parts. Somerville caught sight of Newgrange |
Some book writer who thought the old feller was knowledgeable |
Before we got onto examining the guns from the .. |
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Battle of the Boyne - King Billy crossed the Boyne here |
Don't know who this is, don't think it's Billy |
We will be OK as long as they do not fire the gun |
And we round off the holiday with some buns on the battle site |
Unfortunately it was Ryanair back to Spain, and we got to enjoy our souvenirs - Irish Murphs - back in Moraira. Have another Guinness, Pembroke
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