Three days on Northern Ireland's Causeway Coast - Downhill Demesne

 We stayed in the seaside town of Portrush for three days and it was a great base for touring the sites along the coast. We went looking for a place to eat for our first night and went to Harry's Shack which is right on the beach in Portstewart. The place was completely full but they said we could sit out on the veranda where there were heaters. We had the fish and chips and it was the BEST fish and chips we had ever eaten 

Our first day dawned gray and dreary and we made sure our waterproofs were in the car before we set off for the day. It was a good thing we packed them because there was a downpour as we reached our first stop at Downhill Desmesne and Mussenden Temple. We parked at the Lion's Gate as there is no parking fee there. It's just a slightly longer walk than parking at the Bishop's Gate. We set off on a wooded path and eventually the rain turned to a sprinkle and then we came out into a clearing where we could see the temple and the ruins of the house not too far way. 

The Downhill house was a large country manor house and the ruins were fun to explore. The Mussenden Temple is a Grecian-style building built near the cliff that overlooks the ocean. It was built as a library and had an ingenious fireplace setup below the building for keeping the library and all its books warm and dry in the damp weather. Today the temple is very close to the edge of the cliff, so much so that people are no longer allowed to walk behind it. When it was originally built,  the temple was far enough away from the cliff edge that a horse and carriage could be driven behind it quite easily. The winds and weather have eroded the hillside now and there are discussions about how to save the temple from crashing down the cliff one day. 

We ended our visit at the Bishop Gate and as I was waiting for Mike to get something to drink, I mentioned to a gentleman standing nearby that I liked his dog. We had noticed the dog earlier as it had unusual coloring. Its head was black while its body was brown. The man gave me the leash to hold and I petted the dog while he told me it was a Bavarian Mountain Scent Hound and told me a little about the breed. He said he was at the demesne one day and a man asked if he could walk the dog. The owner handed over the leash and "Rosie" set off with a complete stranger. My thought at this moment was "you're a very trusting guy". It all worked out though and it turned out the stranger was on vacation and just missed his own dogs. When we told Rosie's owner we were staying in Portrush (next town over from Portstewart), he said "have you gone to Harry's for fish and chips? they're the best anywhere!" We told him we had and completely agreed they were the best. 

                                                                Mussenden Temple

                                                     No room to walk behind the building now

Donegal to Portrush - a full day with cliffs, parks, a castle, and an Iron Age ring fort

This day was quite a busy full day with lots of driving as well as sightseeing. We first stopped at the Slieve League cliffs viewing area. These cliffs are some of the highest sea cliffs in Europe, and guess what? We didn't know the shuttle bus only picked up from the visitor center which we had passed a couple of miles before. 

So here we are at the parking area at the base of the cliffs and the man at the gate says we can drive back to the visitor center to catch the shuttle (which wouldn't leave for another 20 minutes) or we can park and walk up. Walk up...sure we can do that, right?  It probably would take less than 20 minutes, right? We looked at each other and at the road that lead upward out of sight and thought "how bad can it be"?  Bad, very very bad! It was so steep that we basically were walking bent at an angle the whole time. And just when you get to what you think is the top, you curve around and it's just another uphill section. Oh my gosh, I was so hot and sweating by the time we finally made it to the top that I didn't even mind the crazy amount of wind that was blowing up there. Seriously. This wind could rival the winds we experienced in Iceland. I had to have Mike stand right next to me just so that I could try to get a photo while the wind was pushing me around. 

I have to tell you that the prospect of walking down that steep road was not a pleasant one and we certainly weren't looking forward to it. I was mentally psyching myself up while Mike went over to a bus that was parked at the top and asked if it was the shuttle bus and could we get a ride down even though we hadn't boarded at the visitor center. It turned out the bus was a private charter full of German tourists but the driver and the tour guide said we were welcome to ride down with them. Hallelujah! 

Glenveagh National Park and Castle and Gardens was our next stop after driving over the Glengesh Pass. Although the castle and gardens are not large, it was a very nice place and a pretty setting on the lake. 

 

The Grianan of Aileach is an Iron Age ring fort with walls that are 15 feet thick and great 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside. We had the place to ourselves most of the time we were there.

Benbulbin and the Gleniff Horseshoe and a failed attempt to see the "Secret Waterfall"at Large

Benbulbin is a flat-topped mountain in County Sligo that rises above the surrounding fields of grazing sheep. It is said to be the home of fairies and of unique flora and fauna, some of which are found only in Ireland. We didn't see fairies but we did see a lot of sheep here. It's a pretty impressive looking mountain as you drive from Sligo to Donegal. 

We drove on, looking for the Gleniff Horseshoe which is a U-shaped cleft in the rock at the top of a mountain. As we drove closer I couldn't see the "horseshoe" but then we came at the right angle and saw it! I will tell you that we were only the second car here, no one else was around at all - just the way I like it! I walked along the road and took some photos, then we returned to the car and continued on toward Donegal. The road was basically deserted for much of the drive here so we didn't have to worry about driving on the left - we just drove in the middle.

Mike saved the life of a poor sheep out here. It had its head stuck in a fence and it couldn't get its horns free. There was no one around anywhere to help, so Mike got out and wrestled the horns back inside the fence. The sheep ran off without a word of thanks or even a backwards glance LOL

Once we got to Donegal, we dropped our bags at the hotel and went in search of the "Secret Waterfall" which is no longer really secret because I and hundreds of others have seen it on Instagram. This waterfall is on a section of beach that requires scrambling over some very sizable sections of rock as you skirt the coastline to reach the cave where you can see the waterfall. This means that you have be aware of the tides and whether or not the tide is coming in. If you don't pay attention to this you can find yourself trapped in  the cave with the water rising and the prospect of a very difficult cold swim to get back to safety. We arrived at the parking area and started down the road to the beach. We met a local man who told us the tide was starting to come in and we basically had about an hour to reach the cave and get back without getting trapped. Having never been there before, we didn't realize how many sections of rock you would have to climb over and around to the next section and repeat and repeat. We tried for a while but the water was coming in pretty rapidly and some of the rock ledges were quite high of a step and I am not a tall person. We finally turned around because it was becoming clear that we couldn't possibly reach the cave and get back out again in time. We have great respect for how powerful and dangerous the ocean can be. 

Kylemore Abbey

The day started with a drive along part of the Sky Road and a visit to Kylemore Abbey. The weather this day was more typical of the Irish weather we've seen in the past - it goes from sunny to raining to cloudy to sunny, and then repeats again. The abbey is on a nice estate and you can visit the abbey (which used to be a castle or manor home), the chapel with its interior columns made of different colors of marble from the surrounding areas, livestock paddocks, a bakery, and a gift shop. The business of the estate today is run by an order of Benedictine nuns. 

We arrived early in the morning before the crowd of tour buses so we managed to tour the abbey without it being crowded. We then walked the path to the chapel and got caught in about 15 minutes of pouring rain so we hung out in the chapel until it passed over. It's a fairly small chapel but quite nice. We had another  leisurely walk past the lake as we returned to the visitor center to catch the shuttle to see the Connemara ponies. After we saw the horses, I made a quick circuit around the gift shop and picked up some soap and chocolates made by the nuns. 

Cong Abbey

The day started out gloomy and we decided to cut back on the driving as we had planned a very long day. We decided to do some quick laundry then move on to the village of Cong to see the abbey there. By the time we got to Cong, it was pouring rain but we had our waterproof jackets and pants in the car so we slipped those on and just carried on with our visit. The abby is in ruins, but I like ruins. I know they're not everyone's thing, but I enjoy having to use my imagination to picture life there as it must have been hundreds of years ago. The monks built a small fishing house on the river so they could catch fresh fish for food. Legend says there was even a bell that the monk could ring to tell the others he had caught fish so they would know what to prepare for the next meal. The path from the abbey leads to trails through Cong Wood which seems basically adjacent to Ashford Castle though we didn't walk far enough to find out. In dry weather I would love a stroll through those woods and to sit in the little fishing house watching the river flow by. 

                                                                    Cong Abbey

                                                             Monks' Fishing House

                   

In and around Athlone

Athlone was a good base to see some of the sites in the center of the island.  There are historic sites in Athlone (oldest pub in Ireland as well as a castle) and the surrounding area. 

The next day dawned bright and sunny in spite of all the downpour the previous day and we set off to see some sites. Our first stop was Clonmacnoise which is a monastic settlement ruin on the banks of the River Shannon. It's a lovely setting and they have some very nice Celtic crosses too. I managed to smack my head pretty hard on an arched doorway on one of the ruins. Mike warned me to duck but I had taken some cold medicine the night before and I was still little groggy so I didn't really register what he said until it was too late. I'm never taking NyQuil again, ouch! 

We then made our way to Birr Castle which has a large reflecting telescope. It was the largest telescope in the world when it was finished in 1845. They have an exhibition of the scientific contributions of the family who owns the estate. It was very interesting if you like science or astronomy. We also had a nice lunch at their courtyard cafe. 

Our final stop of the day was the Rock of Dunamase, an early Christian settlement that was pillaged by the Vikings in 842 A.D. By the 1100's, it was the most important fortification in the area. And the best part? We had the whole place to ourselves! 

Ireland September 2023

We had visited Ireland previously but our trip was spent in Dublin and the southern part of island. Since we were just coming from Iceland and had two more weeks vacation, it seemed a good idea to return to Ireland to see the northern part of the Republic as well as Northern Ireland. After all, we had all our cold weather outdoorsy clothes from Iceland so it wouldn't have made much sense to go somewhere that would require an entirely different wardrobe. It turned out to be a very good thing that we had those warm clothes because the weather was cold, very windy and sometimes rainy!

We did have a really good time in spite of the weather and found some fun things to do along the way. Although I'm not going to lie, I was really sick of the wind by the third week. The weather had been unusually warm in Ireland just a couple of weeks before we arrived so we missed that little window of nice weather. We didn't let the weather stop us though and we mostly just carried on with our plans. Our waterproof clothing came in very handy in Cong and we were glad we had it. 

We did have a slight hiccup on arrival. Our flight on IcelandAir was delayed and our plane arrived in Dublin almost an hour late. Our luggage took 45 minutes to show up on the carousel even though about 85% of the other passengers had theirs within 30 minutes. We were beginning to fear it was lost but there were about 8 other people from our flight that were also still waiting and it was a direct flight so there shouldn't have been a problem. I had Apple AirTags in the luggage but they wouldn't update so I can only assume the bags were somewhere deep in the terminal and not still on the plane.

Once we finally had our luggage we had to stop by the baggage claim counter (ironic, I know) and pick up a portable wifi device that I had ordered ahead of time. We had one in Iceland and it was GREAT having one. We could connect multiple devices and the wifi was usually faster than the hotel wifi. Then we were finally off to the rental car office to pick up our car (1-1/2 hours late) and get on the road. By this time it was absolutely pouring down rain and I was starting to feel a cold coming on, so we skipped our planned stop and went straight to Athlone where we would send our first two nights.