The trip further up the west coast whilst nice was too cloudy to appreciate fully. There were periods when the cloud/fog lifted and reviled fairly spectacular views but it was briefly lived. We did manage to squeeze in a few nice loughs, peat harvesting on the edge of the road (many peat "bricks" in little teepee stacks) and the picture perfect Kylemore Castle and Abbey neatly positioned between lough and mountain.
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| Kylemore castle |
Tully was as far north as we travelled and was the place of the worst traffic jam to date! The tiny little village so small it doesn't rate a mention in Manda's map book, had it's main street come to a complete standstill for 45 minutes! The problem was that church had just come out and a stream of tourists were trying to go through also. With all the church goers cars parked along the already narrow road it was always going to be tight... when a Winnebago tried to push through out of turn it literally jammed up the road! Oops!
We then headed back east toward Dublin hoping to find some accommodation for the night not too far from Dublin as we needed to get Mum and Dad back to the airport for a midday flight to London. Luckless as we were we ended up back in Dublin despite our best effort to find something outside. They were all either too expensive or not clean enough! We managed to find a decent pub serving a reasonable meal so took that option an hour outside of Dublin in a little place called Mulligan. The Guinness was good, meal servings huge and cheap and the locals a real hoot! Mum even managed to get a hug and kiss from one talkative and friendly chap sitting adjacent to us who actually looked a little like a lepricorn! "Don't be a prude mumma" he said as he grabbed a hold of her encouraged by us bent over in laughter! He'd have paid for our meal too if we'd let him, further confirming our hunch the Irish are bloody good folk!
Later that night we got back to Dublin. We farewelled Mum and Dad as they left to the airport mid morning which left Manda and I to do a few other odds and sods around town before we too left Ireland on the ferry.
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| Bye bye Mum and Dad |
We were thankful for the extra time in Dublin as we managed to squeeze in a Trinity College tour and their world renowned library with the book of Kells (a thousand year old gospel in celtic with the most amazing decoration and paintings) and jaw dropping book shelving (very ornate and old world you needed to use the ladders to reach the top shelved books - the smell in the library slightly musty enchanting if that's the right word).
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| Book of Kells |
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| Trinity college bell tower |
Of course we did some shopping and other than that some exploring of the Temple Bar area.
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| Temple Bar |
Oh, the evening in Temple Bar was terrific; buskers everywhere, some more talented and popular than others, gave the old town area a great ambience. So impressed we were we even bought a CD from one lot of traditional Irish performers. Perfect way to wrap up a great visit of Ireland!
Oh and as a note to myself, the Generator youth hostel in Dublin behind the Jameson factory was terrific! €12 pp in a 6 share mixed ensuite room. The hostel was complete with "cinema" like room, nice bar, free (fast) computers, loads of space, couches chairs and tables and to top it all off we were the only people in the room! Who said youth hostels were all gloom and doom!!!
A few pics of funny Irish signs!
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