Ireland - 2024

This trip, in August, was to look at a few places we had missed on previous trips, as well as to show family some of our favorite places.

The itinerary was to fly into Dublin (spending the first night in Maynooth), then travel down to Cashel to tour the Rock (and by chance also explore Cahir Castle). Next was a long slow drive down to Dingle in the South West corner. Then it was North via Shanagolden to Athenry (and out to the west coast at Westport) before travelling back to Dublin to meet up with the family. We all travelled north to visit New Grange and Carlingford, and then into Northern Ireland to Belfast and the Antrim Coast Road to Londonderry (Derry). Back in Belfast we were to visit the Ulster Folk Museum and Carrickfergus Castle before heading back to Dublin to end the trip.

Friday 9 August 2024 (Sydney to KL)

Pretty layback start to the day as we didn't need to leave the hotel until 10am (we had travelled to Sydney by train the previous day). Casual breakfast and slow pack-up. The shuttle bus took us around to the International Terminal, although the sound that the tow bracket was making made me think that the trailer might be lucky to make it.

Checked in for the flight to KL and spent some time in the business lounge on comfortable chairs and having reasonable coffee. The 8 hour flight took off right on schedule and I'm always amazed that the first 5+ hours are spent crossing Australia. I had to admit that the standard of accommodation, the food, and the service were all top shelf. Well done to Malaysian Airlines.

Saturday 10 August 2024 (KL to Dublin)

We saw midnight twice as we adjusted to the time difference. The flight to London basically the only MA flight into Europe. It takes around 13 hours so after a very late dinner (second dinner as we had one on the previous flight) there was a long quiet period on 8 hours. Thankfully being able to lie the seat flat made getting some sleep easier and the flight more bearable. I could talk more about the food. It was perfectly cooked and perfectly presented and tasted great.

Just before 6am local time, we were the first long haul flight to land, so this made getting through customs and immigration easier and then we made our way to the railway station to Terminal 2, where our Air Lingus flight to Dublin awaited us, but we had to hang around a couple of hours. The flight was less than an hour and as usual with more local flights there were no gates available and we had to get buses to bring us around to the terminal. Every gate we could see were filled by United, Delta, and Air Lingus Boeing 777's, 787's, A380, & A350s. Immigration was straight forward, but customs was non existent. We had time for some lunch before crossing over to pick up the car.

We drove the 33km to Maynooth and booked into our serviced apartment. Being in the main street on a beautiful summer's Saturday (a very pleasant 23degrees), the place was awash with tourists and there was only 1 hour parking anywhere near us. This meant we had to move the car a few times until 6.30pm and then all day Sunday it is unlimited parking.

Early night for us.....

Sunday 11 August 2024 

(Maynooth to Cashel)

We had a casual start to the day and we  re-organised our bags for the duration until our next flight. We started with a walk down the main street and ended up at the castle. Much of the main keep is still intact and in that area there were some displays. We started chatting to a couple of the local historians there and this ended up being over an hour, with them suggesting some places for us to visit. With this knowledge and over a coffee we decided to change our day a bit. We then drove to Cahir (about 20km from Cashel) to look at the castle there and leave the Rock of Cashel for Monday when it would be a lot quieter - in relative terms.

The drive down along the M7 and then the M8 was good (they have 120kph limit on the motorways, although many seem to believe that to be advisory only!). The castle there was still in great order and well worth the visit. There was a siege there in the early 1500's. After the visit we got some fruit and stuff at the supermarket and set in the park next to the castle to have a late lunch. We drove to Cashel and found our guest house. After a short rest we walked down into town to get some cash out of the ATM and grab a pizza for dinner.

In the evening we finally sorted out our mobile phone. For some reason Telstra doesn't support Ireland in its pre-paid international roaming (although UK and most other European countries are), so we had to set up another sim card and account.

End of a busy day!

First stop was a fort at Dunbeg. This a small stone wall, but was badly damaged in 2014 during a severe storm and it is now fenced off. It was built close to the cliff face and had 5 bank defenses.

We continued our drive along this narrow road, occasionally being held up by cyclists in both directions. God, they are brave!

Our final major stop was at the Gullarus Oratory, a small 10th century church. It is one of the classic sites and shows up on most tourist brochures.

Wednesday 14 August 2024 

(Minard Castle)

A bit wet and windy this morning, so it was a quiet start. Eventually, after lunch and with the rain stopped, we drove out to Minard Castle, about 30km to the east of Dingle. Only the walls remain, and with large cracks running down them, keeping clear was the order of the day. The castle is situated on a small bluff next to the sea and beach next to it is two metres high in huge rounded boulders. 

Thursday 15 August 2024 

Todays drive was to be from Dingle to Oranmore, between Galway and Athenry. It was still raining so heavily when we left that the visibility on down to a couple of hundred metres, so the drive up to Tralee over some mountains was some fun. We took a slight detour to visit Shanagolden and the nearby old castle ruins of Shanid Castle. With the rain continuing we headed on to Limerick to stop for lunch. By this time the sun had come out so the drive along the motorway to Oranmore was pleasant. We arrived right on time to book in. After a short rest to headed into town to do some laundry. In Ireland we have found small outdoor launderettes in service stations and in shopping centre car parks. Amazingly we have always found them clean and working, and today was no exception. We walked over to the shopping centre and got some dinner by which time the clothes were all washed and dried.

Friday 16 August 2024

We started early and drove down to Dunguaire Castle, about 25km south from Oranmore, but as a couple of busloads had just arrived, we decided to move on. Next stop was Athenry, a very old town, to take a walk around town. We meandered into the Heritage Centre and had a long talk with the guides there. Then we walked to the castle and had a private guided tour with a wonderful guide.

With this being our last afternoon in this area we drove a very long 80km to Westport, up to the north west. Stopped there for some lunch and then headed back along some very narrow and bendy roads.

Saturday 17 August 2024

We had an early start as we had a two hour drive back to Dublin in order to meet up with Julie, Steve & the grandkids, as they were arriving from London around 10.30am. We got our car back to the hire people just before 11am, and then walked over to where Steve was waiting in a long queue to pick up there car. By midday and the car sorted we decided that rather than travel into Dublin for a hour or so, we would wait for Michael and Laura's arrival at 3pm. Once they had got the car for the four of us we headed to our hotel for the night at Termonfeckin, 40 kilometres north of Dublin. After a couple of drinks at the bar we called a night.

Monday 19 August 2024

After picking up Millie's favorite jumper that had been left at last nights bbq, we headed up towards the Antrim Coast Road that leads you through the famous Glens of Antrim, including a quick stop to look at the Kilwaughter site where Mun and Dad had a market garden. First stop was the Carrick A'Rede rope bridge where it started to rain, but it was open and we managed to tick off the bucket list. 

Tuesday 20 August 2024

We had a two hour drive back towards Belfast to visit the Ulster Folk Museum at Cultra. We have always enjoyed visiting this museum with lots of activities going on, and the grandkids loved it.

We were heading back to Dublin via the mountaIns of Mourne at Newcastle, County Down. We walked around the town and had some fish and chips that were probably the best had in a long time. Even my son liked them!