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.  

Iceland's Snaefellsness peninsula

 On our last day in Iceland we drove from the capital Reykjavik to the Snaefellsness peninsula. In warmer weather we would have liked to stop more places along the peninsula but it was very windy again and quite cold, but that's a chance you take when you visit in September. We stopped to see the little black church at Budir, saw some Icelandic horses up close, and took photos of Mt. Kirkjufell with its waterfalls.

The Icelandic horse is a completely unique breed and if one leaves Iceland, it is not allowed to come back.  They protect the health of the breed and the horse population very strictly. Many of these horses had blue eyes! 

The next day we left Iceland for Ireland and Northern Ireland. I'll post about that part of the trip soon. 

Hofn - a mountain and a Viking Village (of sorts)

 The last stop on this very full day of canyon and ice lagoon was Stokkesness to photograph Mt. Vestrahorn. The land is privately owned so you have to pay an entrance fee - one of the few places we paid for anything other than parking. 

I wanted to get a good photo of the mountain with a reflection from the water but the tide was out so that wasn't meant to be. The wind here was super strong! We had to lean into it to walk and the sand from the beach was hitting our faces and stinging like little needles. I realized when we were about a hundred yards from the car that I should have changed to my wide angle lens. A really rookie mistake and you can't change a lens in all that sand and wind so I just did the best I could. We all stumbled our way back to the car after a few photos and it was such a relief to be out of that wind! We drove to the Viking village which was built as a movie set and you can walk around and look at the buildings. The crazy thing is, there was no wind here. We could literally see where we had parked in all that wind earlier but the mountains must have blocked it because it was quite calm at the village. 

                                                              Mount Vestrahorn

                                                                   Viking Village