A Road Trip - Part 1

We now had planned a road trip through some of Ireland's notable spots taking us back to Dublin by Friday.

First stop was The Giant 's Causeway along the northern most coast of Northern Ireland. This is a geological wonder and it is steeped in mythology and folklore. There is something here for everyone, and the Visitors Centre is full of information, both interactive and static about both the folklore and the science. A self guided audio tour takes you along a path put to these magnificent rock features explaining as you go. A must see especially for any budding, or qualified geologists. The legend behind the causeway links the Irish and Scottish coasts and the following link retells the story for you.

The Giant's Causeway YouTube

Next stop was another couple of hours away at Glenveagh National Park. We had to drive to Letterkenny and then drive another half hour. It was getting on in the day but decided that we really wanted to see the gardens and castle. It was well worth the effort, and our only regret was that we could have easily spent another hour or two wandering the magnificent grounds. Even our tour of the house was cut short as there is a bus from the visitors' centre to the castle and we needed to get the last one back or risk having to walk the 4 km. The castle was built in the 1880s by a rich businessman. It was designed along the lines of Queen Victoria's Balmoral Castle and was to be used as a hunting lodge in this remote and beautiful part of the country. It has had various owners over the years each adding their own touch to the place. The gardens are a truly a credit to all those who have contributed to them and even still they are being added to and developed by the National Park, who have been responsible for them since 1985 when it was gifted to the government. The walled gardens were a delight to see and they supply all the produce for the kitchen and restaurant. There were large numbers of espaliered apple trees both on the walls and growing on wires among the beds. Early photos show that when the castle was first built it was very desolate area with no shelter. Today it is an oasis on the edge of the lough(lake).

We still had a two hour trip to Sligo. We had hoped to stay in Donegal but all reasonably priced accommodation was booked out. Sligo Bay is mentioned in a song I have sung at school for many years so it was a place I was keen to see. It is another quaint wee town and we found a lovely pub to enjoy some more local fare before retiring for the evening.

The next morning we went into the centre of town for a look around and it was here that we encountered our first group of 'travellers', well at least that is what we decided. The car park we pulled into had caravans parked in it and we thought that strange. Overnight camping in a car park isn't the usual. Still not realizing, we parked up and I went to get a ticket at the pay and display. Immediately a young lad of about 11years came over to help. Very helpful was and once I had my ticket he wanted to know what I was going to give him. Quite an expensive park! Any way he told me they had been living there for many years. It certainly looked like it with all the junk lying around. We went off on our walk but I was not comfortable knowing that they knew we we tourists and had left our car unattended. Fortunately when we returned all was well but thought it was strange that the town council would allow people to live in their official Car Parks.

As Tuesday wasn't to be such a big day as far as driving went, we decided to drive through Westport and detour through the Connemara area, which know for its scenic route, to Galway. We travelled through mountainous regions, along the coastline and suddenly found ourselves on the wrong road. Somewhere along the way we took a wrong turn, which believe me, is very easy as these minor roads are not well signposted. By this stage it was getting late in the day and as we were back in the National road, drove straight into Galway, missing the last coastal road. Some of the scenery we had seen was dramatic. There were bogs, tarns, peat and rocks. At some places it was hard to imagine how anyone could farm this area. Rocks were in piles, made into fences and then you couldn't see where they had come from.

Galway is a town of 70,000 and supports two universities. That evening found us down town amongst a bustling town centre that was full of restaurants, and a crowd to match. It is always difficult to choose in a situation like this but we eventually chose a pub that had a band playing later on in the evening. Our choice turned out to be just 'grand' as the band Alale played both traditional Irish as well as Spanish/Mediterranean music. The following link is to an example of their music.

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