Ireland Friday August 10th - Ballybogey

Downhill Estate & Mussenden Temple - ***

The National Trust group is currently trying to conserve the grounds around the Mussenden Temple and Estate. Also inside is the Downhill Forest and a short nature walk.

The Estate itself is a sprawling stone fort on the road to the Temple and is easily one of the coolest things I saw in Northern Ireland. We tromped around the grounds. There was a wild viking running about on the walls trying to scare us as well, always a pleasure.

The Temple itself is a circular stone building on a cliff edge along the Northern coast and there’s probably only fifteen feet between the edge of the building and the edge of the cliff. I of course jumped on to it and ran around the outer perimeter trying to get some pictures but there wasn’t a lot to capture out there since I was clutching the wall and trying not to have a wee on to the shore.

We hopped a barred off fence into the Downhill forest and walked along the upper paths over the valley just taking in the extraordinarily beautiful day. The paths through the forest were not to be missed.

Dunluce Castle - ***

We probably picked the best day to visit this attraction and the best time of day (mid-morning) because there weren’t a lot of other tourists and we had plenty of time to line up fun shots amidst the ruins of this iconic castle. They have a looped video detailing the history of the castle as it passed hands among the Ulster, McQuillan, and MacDonnel families.

The castle is built on a stone peninsula overlooking the ocean on the Northern Coast. The castle proper is separated from the old town of Dunluce by a bridge that connects the two landmasses. Passing among the ruins really gets you thinking about the kind of conditions that people lived in, and it’s also a great place to take pictures of the coast. We separated and met up fifteen minutes later to bounce back and forth.

Go see Dunluce, if not for the natural beauty, for the fact that it’s a big part of Northern Ireland’s history. And, as always, beware the vikings lurking…

Carrick-a-rede Rope Bridge - ***

Carrick-a-rede is a short ride out from Dunluce castle and is a short hike from the parking lot to the bridge. Don’t forget to buy your crossing ticket before you leave or you won’t be allowed to cross teh bridge when you arrive! Along the way you’ll be treated to plenty of goats lounging along the path and great vistas of the bridge and your fellow pilgrims.

Actually crossing the bridge is completely safe but you will be queued and waiting for a short period as only eight people are allowed to cross at a time. Make sure to make an attempt at getting any crossing pictures you want in both directions, it will be considered rude to stop your fellow daredevils for the ‘perfect pic’.

The bridge leads to a smaller island with practically no safety fences; for the most part it’s just you and your finely tuned sense of balance (further honed by lingering hangover symptoms). The island, however, is beautiful and peaceful, we laid out on a grassy knoll and just soaked up the rare sunshine for a good half hour before turning back and snapping our last pictures of the fabled rope bridge.

Torr’s Head - ***

Something tells me this one is a nice secret ferreted away from the prying eyes of the public, because I didn’t remember coming across any information on it while I was searching for things to do in the North. I could be totally wrong though; the only reason we had any clue of it’s existence was because our hosts at the B&B raved about it long enough to catch our attention.

It’s a ways off the beaten path and we got a little lost on our way. Never fret, however, as stopping basically anywhere and asking something will bolster your confidence in short order. Once you leave the town proper you’ll encounter a series of blind, harrowing turns on roads that are not much wider then your average smartcar. Those will take you practically to sea level you’ll arrive at the landing for Torr’s head.

It’s a small parking lot with a dilapidated 3 story building flanking it which opens a hike at a worse grade then the ride down. You’ll be in for a good stagger up to the bungalow at the top, but if you make it there on a clear, cool day it’s worth every step.

The small building had, at the time I was there, a ladder up to the roof which you can climb up to look across the ocean. That day we were actually able to see the next destination: Scotland!

Ireland Thursday August 9th - Ballybogey

Leaving The Villa Maria was upsetting, it was our longest stay and we had an awesome room, the proprietor was an amateur photographer and we walked out every morning to pictures of all her wonderful trips along the walls. Ireland is, unfortunately, meant for this level of activity. Stay in one place and really enjoy it.

We had a long day ahead of us and unfortunately there isn’t much to say. We were driving all the way from Galway to Dublin then up through to Northern Ireland. We were ambushed by the conversion to the pound at a gas station with a broken ATM! Luckily I had the foresight to take ~30 pounds out when we did our money conversion. I’ll be doing a separate post on how to get around Ireland by car to better explain how this went, but suffice to say we lost a day and many hours to this drive.

Take it in parts if you must, trade with your other driver if you can legally, and get some soft serve at the midway point, just for your own sanity.

Side note - Northern Ireland stinks! No, just kidding, but we did happen to visit during the one month out of the year they are allowed to harvest animal dung. We had some very stinky drives because of that.

Kilmail Country Chalet - ***

The country chalet is hidden away off a main road inbetween a few nearby towns and, as advertised, is centrally located to most of the main coastal sights. You can stay one day over in this area and trust yourself to the owners. We took their advice several times and even pegged on a sight at the end of the trip that really tied everything up perfectly.

Portrush - **

Cute little town that we stopped in for dinner. A big pain in the butt at dinner time though! Most of the places had more then a forty-five minute wait. We ended up finding a nice restaurant on the second floor of a theatre that had some good food.

Giant’s Causeway — ***

We took the advice of our hosts and checked out Giant’s Causeway that night. The causeway is a natural phenomenon created by volcanic activity off the northern coast creating several huge clusters of stone pillars you can climb on and take pictures from.

There's also a cultural center at the top of the path that leads down to the causeway. While we were there it was closed but it looked very modern and sleek and I'm sure there's a ton of information there. We would normally had to pay for parking but there was no one there for it besides two guys who were clearly employees but couldn't be arsed to have us pay since they were on their way out. Hey, I'm not complaining!
 A friendly tip though: the big clusters of yellow flowers are called Ragwort which happens to be poisonous.

Do not try this at home, Vikings only

So unless your significant other is like a viking or something, and they find the flowers haunting the area to be cool and wants you to pick some, you may want to inform them that those flowers are toxic. (Seriously though, you can’t really hurt yourself with these unless you’re eating them fairly regularly. But I think I’d play the straight man on this one)

Ireland Wednesday August 8th - Kinvara

Galway - **

Galway was a chill town with an active medieval quarter we wanted to check out along the way. We had planned for a little time to putz around and check out the shops in the area. I know Janet got her money’s worth in slammin’ dresses and there was a pretty cool Army Surplus store in the area. The quarter got pretty busy with performers and I think a major Irish (euro) soccer team was there kicking a ball around and taking pictures.
Parking was a bit of a nightmare and at one point between arrival and lunch I had to run back to the car to move it and put more time in. It’s a pretty busy place and if you’re not there early or at the right time, I’m not sure how you’d really find parking.
All around there were kids and adults setting up with instruments and singing. Once of the nicest places to eat turned out to be here. There was a small bistro at one end of the quarter where a young girl had set up shop across the street. We picked out this restaurant because the menu sounded good and it was a beautiful day.
We spent probably a good two hours there, listening to traditional irish folk music from a variety of instruments (she cycled through bagpipes and a flute). Sitting in the open-air restaurant and reading a book on the Kindle turned out to be one of my clearest memories of my time there.

Knappogue Castle Banquet - ***

To start the experience you drive in from an entrance far from the castle to a verdant green lawn lined with trees. Your first glimpse of the castle through the trees and the grounds are beautiful, I remember turning to the girlfriend and flashing her a shit-eating grin, proud of my ingenuity in finding the site. Once you’re squared away and parked you get to tour the gardens right outside of the castle. There’s also a separate garden you can check out early on any night the banquet is open so I’d suggest getting there early to check it out, we were told only good things.
Unfortunately we missed the other garden because we got there late but I had a great time just taking pictures outside and checking out the area. We were decked out for the experience in our Sunday bests (Janet wore one of the dresses she got in Galway and I had on the best sweater in existence).
We were ushered into a small room shared by every other tourist in County Galway. The show begins in this first room where you’re handed a complimentary cup of mead and given a little time to talk. We had a great time chatting about the Cliffs which we had so recently conquered and hearing about all the other things the people around us had been doing. They opened up with a choral piece about the show and the castle then moved us on to the main banquet room.
The food was delicious and they keep you placated with a never-ending supply of red or white wine for the duration of your visit. Throughout the meal right as you get tired of talking with people they start the show which involved more singing, dancing and folklore. Janet and I agreed that though the show bordered on goofy sometimes, it was fun overall. I liked it enough that I’d trust Shannon Heritage sites with a night of my vacation again.

Unfortunately at Knappogue we also had our car hit by someone. We didn’t catch them and had to call the Gardai to get a police report. They were prompt despite the obvious fact that we were tourists, did the normal ‘ask them questions to see how drunk they are’ thing and were generally pleasant. The Gardai get ***!