Belfast and the Wicklow Mountains

From Derry we had a short drive to Belfast, and so opted to take the scenic route along the east coast of Northern Ireland.

The drive started out foggy, and I was beginning to wonder if our choice of routing was such a good idea after all, when the fog finally lifted and revealed one of the prettiest coastal drives you'll ever see. Reminded us of Hwy. 1 along the California Coast. Stopped for coffee in one of the "Glens" along the way - this one being the village of Glenarm.


Then it was on to Belfast...and probably the biggest (and most pleasant) surprise of the trip. I debated long and hard about coming here at all before finally booking a place, thinking that Belfast was just another industrial city without much charm. Also had recent history in the back of my mind, with concerns about safety and security so soon after the riots and sectarian violence that plagued the city up until 2006. Boy was I wrong. Turned out that Belfast was a truly delightful place. We stayed in the Titanic Quarter - basically the old Harlan and Wolf shipyard area that had been pretty grimy for years after the yard closed, but which is being redeveloped with a vengeance now that the Troubles have passed. The centerpiece is the Titanic  Museum that was located only about 5 minutes from our apartment.

The Harlan and Wolf shipyard is where the Titanic was built (their motto: "She was fine when she left here!"), and the museum turned out to be really world class. Some very fine exhibits, film clips and interactive displays tell the story of the great ship's construction and launching in 1912. All of the displays were quite good, but the one that we both enjoyed most was a collection of archived video and audio clips from several of the survivors - both passengers and crew - telling of their individual recollections of the night she sank. Really well done all around.

The "Nomadic" was one of Titanic's tenders - also built here - and operated by the White Star Line from the French port of Cherbourg. It was this ship that ferried many of the doomed passengers (including the "Unsinkable" Molly Brown...but not Jack or Rose) out to the Titanic before she departed for Cobh in Ireland and her date with the icevberg. The ship in its dry dock was just below our balcony. Also here were many of the old H&W offices, including the great engineering drawing room where ship's designer Thomas Andrews oversaw the construction of the vessel. 

We very much enjoyed our 4 days here - walked our legs off and even jumped on one of the "Hop on, hop off" buses for a more comprehensive look at the city...something we hardly ever do. They still have some spiffing up to do, but I have to say that we found Belfast to be a terrific place - reminded us both a little of Sydney...which is high praise indeed.

Continued our survey of the pubs of Ireland. This is the inside of the Crown Bar, one of the most venerable in the city. It sits right across the street from the Hotel Europa, which at one time held the distinction of being the most bombed hotel in the world during the Troubles. Thankfully all of that is in the past now.

Now all of the fighting seems to be waged with art work, with "Loyalist" and "Republican" murals laying bare the respective sentiments of the various neighborhoods. Our tour guide assured us that we were quite safe wandering around in the different areas - that both sides liked the tourists, they just didn't like each other very much. Small comfort that.

This "Peace Wall" was erected years ago to keep the two sides apart. No one seems in much of a hurry to take it down.

One of the Loyalist murals.

And one from the Republican side.

This one celebrates the event that started it all - the defeat of Catholic King James by William of Orange in 1690 and, yes, that was 324 years ago - long time to hold a grudge, eh?


Departed Belfast on June 21st for our second-to-last stop - in The Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin.

Stopped along the way in the village of Carlingford - just across the border - another charming little hole in the wall kind of place. Here's Rita standing in front of the gate in the city walls...from the 13th century.

Main street on a quiet morning.

King John's castle was located just north of town and used to command a defensive prospect over both the village and the surrounding area...back in the days when the English were more concerned about the local Irish population than they were about Viking raids.

Our cottage in the heart of the Wicklow Mountains. Made for a great base to explore the National Park - once home to every Irish bandit & revolutionary in the country due to its remote and inaccessible location. The Brits finally tired of the chase and built a Military Road into the back country in the mid 1800's to facilitate moving their troops around. The road is still the only artery thru most of the forests and mountain passes in the area. As usual, it was a narrow (one and a half lane) mountain road that made for some exciting encounters, but by now I was an old hand at this and went barreling along like a real local.

Beautiful view out the back of the cottage. Only neighbors were about a half dozen pheasants in the surrounding fields.

The monastic site at Glendalough was only about 20 minutes away - for my money the prettiest valley in Ireland - and we kept coming back here to hike the trails above. Here's Rita in front of the round tower. Arrived around 8:45 AM and had the place to ourselves until the first tour buses began arriving at 9:30, at which time it started to get pretty clobbered. 

St. Kevin's Bed is one of the extremely well preserved ruins at the site.

Had to gain about 1500 ft. of altitude to access this boardwalk along the valley rim, but once on it there was smooth sailing for a couple of miles.

Nice lunch spot along the way. Just beyond this point we came across several herds of Red deer (about 50 animals all told) grazing along the hillsides. All females - they stay separate from the males until the breeding season starts in September.

Another stop one day was the tiny little village of Glencree, where we found this old German POW cemetery from WWII.

A final look back at one of the Glendalough valley hikes - last chance to use the hiking boots and trekking poles before packing them up for the trip home.

Have spent the last 3 nights in Dublin before we catch our return flight tomorrow morning to CSprings - Dublin is a great city with lots of history (and the Guinness brewery), but we already miss the peace, quiet and terrific scenery of the Irish countryside. Been a great trip, and we'll miss Ireland, but must confess that we are looking forward to sleeping in our own bed tomorrow night. 

Donegal and Derry

Spent the week of June 7-14 near the village of Dunfanaghy in County Donegal which, as you can see from the map below, is in the far northwestern corner of Ireland. It's one of the "Gaeltacht" regions in the Republic - areas where Irish is the primary language spoken. It's not unusual to hear the locals speaking it to each other in normal conversation. After the language nearly died out during English rule, the government initiated a program to reemphasize the language and it's gradually coming back into common usage again...especially in the north and west of the country.

As usual we found several pretty day hikes to keep us occupied when the weather cooperated. This was Glenveigh National Park - located in a remote valley and along a scenic lough. The English Lord who built the place was roundly hated by the local people after he directed the last of the great land evictions in 1861 - in one day he booted about 25 families from their homes in the surrounding area. 

The hike paralleled the lough for 3 or 4 miles and then followed the river to the head of the glen...really a scenic place. Supposed to be a resident herd of red deer in the area but we never saw any.

One fun side trip was to the Ulster American Folk Park near Omagh in Northern Ireland. The park is really well done - telling the story of the first Irish emigration to America in the early 1700's - something of particular interest to me since I'm about 99% sure that our earliest Mullins ancestor was a Scots-Irish Presbyterian who was swept up in that...probably as an indentured servant in around 1718.

It's an outdoor park spread out among 30 or 40 acres of land and includes period buildings, including one small village, from the era before and after the great migrations. This thatched cabin could be the twin of the one we stayed in earlier on this trip.

Found a neat little off-the-beaten path place called the Ards Friary - a Franciscan monastery not far from us - which bordered a pleasant forest park with lots of trails back through the woods, around a scenic headland, and along this gorgeous stretch of sandy beach. The water was crystal clear, and the whole scene reminded us of some of the pretty beaches in New Zealand or Hawaii.

Next up was Derry (or Londonderry to the Brits) a midieval walled city with a ton of history. It was here that the "Plantation" of Scottish and English settlers began back in the late 1500's - displacing the native Irish and eventually setting the stage for the "Troubles".

We had just arrived in the city and were about to start a walking tour when we were interrupted by this march of uniformed "Apprentice Boys". The original apprentice boys were the ones who closed the city gates to the Catholic king James I in 1688...beginning a siege that lasted for over 3 months until relief arrived from England. The war that was begun here eventually ended a couple of years later when William of Orange was victorious at the Battle of the Boyne...an event that still resonates after over 300 years. It was an Apprentice Boys commemorative march in 1969 that resulted in 3 days of riots and, ultimately, to 36 years of civil war in Northern Ireland, with Derry being at ground zero.

As a result of the sectarian violence that scarred the city from 1969 until 2006, most of the Protestant population moved across the river Foyle. This little enclave is all that remains...located just outside the city walls. "No Surrender" was the battle cry of the defenders of 1688 and, as you can see, it still resonates today.

Looking down in the other direction from the walls at the "Bogside" - the Catholic neighborhood that was the epicenter of the upheaval that wracked the city for over 30 years.

The Bogsiders have long memories too...and know how to hold a grudge. Standing on this spot 15 years ago would have gotten us shot.  There's only been peace here since about 2006 and the city has started to rebuild with a vengeance. What once looked like something from "Apocalypse Now" is today one of the prettiest cities we've seen. Tourists are starting to discover the place and the economy is really starting to take off. We enjoyed it here very much.

After dodging rain showers and generally blustery weather for several weeks we finally got lucky with some sustained sunshine and fair weather. Took advantage of it one day to drive out to the "Causeway Coast". Along the way we stopped off at Dunluce Castle, which hangs on the edge of this cliff near the town of Portrush. Built in the 1600's, the story goes that one night the local Lord and his Lady were hosting a dinner for some distinguished visitors when the kitchen (and the kitchen staff) fell into the sea. Must have delayed brandy and cigars...

The end point of the drive was The Giant's Causeway, an ancient volcanic anomaly that features thousands of these octagonal columns stretched out along the coastline - and apparently into the sea all the way across the channel to Scotland where a similar formation exists. Made for a pleasant walk on a sunny day. We even got lucky and timed it to miss most of the tourist hordes. 

Didn't expect to enjoy Derry and the surrounding area as much as we did, and now we're off to Belfast for 4 nights. Hoping the sun sticks around for a while..

Connemara

Haven't had any internet connectivity at either of our last two places...in both Connemara and Donegal. The cottages we rented were just too remote, so I'm way behind on this thing and will try to catch up by just letting the photos do the talking for us. First - from the little village of Clifden in Connemara...about 30 miles west of Galway:

Our house was situated on a perch just above Sky Road, an unbelievably scenic drive around one of the local peninsulas. Had a couple of real stormy days while we were here and it was mesmerizing watching the wind and rain blow up the bay .. with a warming peat fire blazing away in the fireplace.

The view wasn't bad on sunny days either.

We were only a few miles from Connemara National Park, which featured some terrific hikes thru some gorgeous scenery.

An old abbey nearby - built by an English lord in the early 1800's and now a girl's boarding school.

The village of Cong was the set of an old John Wayne movie from the 50's called "The Quiet Man". The town and surrounding area still look like a movie set.

This old fish house allowed the monks from the adjacent abbey to snag salmon from the river without having to brave the elements.

This Guinness beer truck was actually longer than the pub that he was resupplying...talk about having your priorities straight. Note too that he just parked in the middle of the road to make his delivery - something we've found is pretty typical while driving around Ireland.

Another pleasant side trip one day was up to Doolough. Although the setting is beautiful - evoking a scene from the Scottish Highlands, it was the setting for a particularly sad episode from the Great Famine: in 1849 about 2,000 local people trekked through this pass for about 10 miles to the home of a local lord, where several English relief commissioners were staying while touring the district. The people were hoping to get some food for their starving families. Story is that the commissioners refused to meet with them the evening they arrived, forcing them to remain overnight, in a freezing rain, in the surrounding fields, only to sent them away empty handed the next morning. The disappointed people started the return trip home...400 of them dropping dead along the trail from hunger and exposure. 

On one particularly sunny day we caught the local passenger ferry out to Inishbofin (island of the white cow). The ruins across the way are all that remain of a Cromwellian barracks, built around 1650 to house a garrison of English troops whose job it was to guard all of the Catholic priests who had been captured and were brought here after his invasion.

There were some great walks around the island, including this one along an old Green Road. The grazing sheep had trimmed the grass better than a mower could have done...it was like walking on a golf course fairway all the way around - easy on the legs as well as being pleasing to the eye.

A stop along the way to enjoy the view. Just below me are the remains of some old "lazy beds" - the characteristic layout of an old potato field. Hard to tell how old this one was but it looked ancient to us.

A little further along the trail.

Even passed an expanse of peat bog still being harvested for the turf that everyone uses to heat their cottages. Some of the bogs are 10 or 20 feet deep and are composed exclusively of organic matter that's been decomposing for thousands of years. Every now and then they'll turn up an old cache of valuables, and have even found mummified human remains...perfectly preserved in a anaerobic conditions of the bog. 

The end point of the hike was this 1500 year old church. Actually the real end point was a pub near the pier waiting for the return ferry, but I thought it best to end the posting here. 

Valentia Island and The Ring of Kerry

Staying on the Iveragh peninsula this week, otherwise known as the Ring of Kerry. It's one of the most beautiful places in Ireland and, because of that fact, is a magnet for every tourist who comes here. We stayed near Killarney on our last visit and having learned our lesson opted to stay on the other side of the peninsula...on Valentia Island, just north of the little village of Port Magee.

We stayed in another remote little cottage in the country, in fact I adjusted our itinerary just so we could stay in this particular place because both the cottage and the area looked so inviting. it certainly hasn't disappointed - been one of the most pleasant weekly stays we've ever experienced.

The view from the front porch looking out across Dingle Bay. Our only neighbors were a small herd of milk cows and some sheep. Several times this week the local dairy farmer next door moved his cows from one pasture to another down the little lane that fronts the cottage, and when he did we had to close our gate to keep the little beasties out of our yard and driveway. One interesting factoid: when Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in 1927 his first landfall was right here - apparently he flew right across the fields you see in front of us at about 100 ft, waved to the farmer and a couple of guys working in the field below us, cut his engine and shouted down at them asking where he was...he thought he was in Dingle Bay but wanted verification. The boys were so amazed at the sight of his airplane that all they could do was wave back, and after a couple of circles Lindbergh continued on his way to Paris.

Another look at our "front yard".

Just below us down the hill was St. Brendan's Well, where the ancient monk brought Christianity to the locals. He apparently was quite a sailor and navigator too. Local lore has it that one of his voyages took him to the shores of the New World (Newfoundland) about 900 years before Columbus.

The little village of Port Magee was a scenic place to wander around...had a couple of very nice pubs too.

In fact it was so nice that we thought about making an offer on this "fixer-upper" on Main Street, but eventually decided against it.

At the other end of Valentia Island was the village of Knightstown - another picturesque little spot. Had lunch in this cozy little coffee shop one afternoon.

The rhododendrons are in full bloom all over this area. They were introduced a couple of hundred years ago as hedges and have since spread over the surrounding hills - absolutely covering them in some cases. Makes for a very pretty scene on a sunny day.

Same with the Fuschias, which were also introduced as hedges and which now seem to line every country lane in Ireland. Had several warm sunny days recently that has caused them to explode.

Had to drive up to Kerry airport on Wednesday to swap out our little rental car and pick up another - can only rent a vehicle for 28 consecutive days in Ireland and our time was up. Opted to trade up and get a compact instead of the little POS economy car we had been driving and boy - what a difference - feels like I'm driving a Cadillac by comparison. I will say one thing about the first car - it got about 50 mpg and took some of the sting out of the $8.25 per gallon gas prices - but was so tinny that it felt like we were driving without any floorboards. Nice to get rid of it anyway.

On the way home we stopped off at the Gap of Dunloe - one of our all time favorite hiking places and maybe the prettiest little valley in Kerry. It's about 3.5 miles through the gap and all of it it absolutely gorgeous as you can see from the photos below.

 The sun finally made an appearance which made for a terrific day out.

Our lunch stop. Just us, the sheep, and about 20 jaunting cars going by on the road just above us.

Another excursion was over to Staigue Fort, one of many ancient ruins in the area and supposedly the best example of an old ring fort in Ireland. Dates from about 400 AD and was built by a local warlord. We opted to walk up to it from the village below. 

After a rather warm 6 mile hike up to the fort and back we felt we'd earned a pint, and so drove a few miles up the road to Sneem...another one of the prettiest villages in Ireland and home to Dan Murphy's bar. The poem on the wall outside the entrance was pretty cute, and the bar tender did know how to pour a good pint of the Black Stuff.


On our last day we opted to take a boat ride out to Skellig Michael - an island about 9 miles off shore and home to the ruins of an old monastic settlement dating from around 600 AD. The monks who founded the settlement and toughed it out here for a few hundred years must have REALLY wanted to be isolated, because this place was about as isolated as you can get. After enduring centuries of Viking raids, every kind of privation, and epic winter storms they finally resettled back on the mainland in the village of Ballinskelligs...about 10 miles up the road from us here at Port Magee. The islands seems to float above the sea when viewed from the mainland, and look like an illustration from a child's fairy tale...or maybe a Tolkien novel.

You can just see the beehive huts that mark the settlement on the cliff face above.

Takes 682 steps to claw your way up from the boat landing to the settlement...and no hand rails.

Looking back at "Little Skellig" from the monastic settlement - now home to a colony of about 40,000 nesting pairs of Gannets.

Leaving tomorrow and driving up to Connemara...about 30 miles west of Galway near the town of Clifden. Saturday seems to be bicycle day in Ireland - we constantly see them out and about (in the hundreds) as we're driving on Saturday afternoons. Hoping to get an early start to avoid the worst of the congestion on the narrow roads.