It was with a sad heart that we finally left
England and Scotland. We had such a
wonderful time and caught up with so many wonderful people who opened up their
hearts and homes to us. Thank you so
much for sharing your lives with us and our home is always open for a return
visit. Even if we are not there, I am
sure Lisa will look after you. We have had a wonderful time. I must say I was more on my game by the time I
arrived back in West Sussex. The cold
that Peter had so kindly given me had left in a flurry, which meant I could get
up to some mischief.
The week has been one where I spent two days
indoors due to a cold while Denise went exploring with my sister and her
husband (Margot and Shaun) again. I went to the Titanic museum and walked around,
into and if I could manage over, that too. Shaun and I took photos at night and during
the day of the Titanic Museum (I really like this structure). We had dinner the night before in the Titanic Hotel
and it had a replica room from the Titanic. The hotel also had a gathering for dignitaries
with photographers and media and press agents and here I am thinking it was for
us arriving in Belfast.. We were with them in Germany if you remember. We are spending the next few weeks with them
touring Ireland and Zurich. As you can see I have jumped
into the email and not read it all! Sorry!!
So the next day we went on the
Taxi mural trip around Belfast. My
goodness, what a lot I didn’t comprehended in this conflict. The murals are a credit to the artist that did
them. The one I liked the most is the
women’s quilt. Margot and I were put in
the middle between stubborn and loud. Tick
on both of these points.
Our flight to Dublin was on Ryanair and the
tickets were £17 each. The bags on the
other hand cost £43, so I was wondering if we should have just booked two seats
each. The flight was on par with the
Lufthansa flight to London. To my
surprise the flight attendants were selling scratchies to help Irish
children. We caught up with Margot and
Shaun and hopped in the hire car and drove to Belfast. Our accommodation was right beside the
Titanic display and we ended up at the pub(Hotel) for
dinner. My first Guinness – not bad.
From Belfast we followed the Causeway Costal
Route to Bushmills. From Belfast we kept
on seeing locations for Game of Thrones shoots, some of which we quite
spectacular. They were even shooting the
next lot in Belfast behind were we stayed. We wandered
around two habours and had a great time doing so. The best little harbour was Ballintoy. The area for the brother and sister in Game of
Thrones. Shaun and I took lots of photos
and I thought it best not to bore you with too many photos on FB. Also, along the way we had lunch in
Cushendall. Huge lunch for a reasonable
price.
After Bushmills we continued on the Causeway
Costal Route around to Londonderry were we saw the walled city, the spot where
Bloody Sunday occurred and Peace Bridge.
The Bloody Sunday memorial brought back similar thoughts to what I had
in Rawanda when we saw the genocide museum – very moving. We ended up in another pub for dinner. The morning was spent
walking around the Giant’s Causeway. Spectacular
stone formations. Peter had a great time climbing all over the rocks and I took
lots of photos. The afternoon was another
mural walk in Londonderry. Just as confronting as the first.
The next morning we headed off for Doolin
via Grianan Of Aileach (a stone fort just outside of Londonderry with a
commanding view of the countryside, but very windy making it cold), Donegal
Castle, Siya Miraya Pari (apparently where Louis Mountbatten lived before the
IRA got him) point and Kilmacduagh Abbey (an old monastery from the 7th
century. Everyone said the tower was
where Rapunzel lived). On arrival at
Doonlin our host said to walk to the Cliffs of Moher now, so off we went. Instead of paying to get in (€6 each – about $10)
we walked in along the cliff line and the scenery was just amazing. Way better that what we saw when we got to
where all the tourists go. In Donegal, Pete had to part with some money
for a necklace for me and you should have seen the butterflies come out of his
wallet.
The idea was to try to do the Wild Atlantic
Way Route on the way to Doolin, but that would have taken way too long,
particularly with people wanting to take photos every few minutes. A lamb her, a cow there, a church somewhere
else, another **** castle, or something else.
I’m sure Denise’s camera is nearly full of photos. I have 128gig I hardly
think I have got to the end yet. Maybe
by the time we get home.
Once again we ended up at the pub for dinner
with Irish music this time. Does anyone
see a trend occurring?
Before dinner we went to see some more of the
Atlantic and the waves were 2mtrs plus and looked rideable. In the pub I asked if you could surf and he
said only experienced surfers as it was shallow with jagged rocks. The surf still looked good Paul… I also asked about diving and that is something
we will have to check out. Maybe the
next update.
The other author failed to do her part last
night…probably one too many Guiness. Bloody one to many Guinness’s. Sour grapes on his part because he had to
drive.
We are now in Killarney, after stopping off
at Bunratty Castle. The others were
going to go in, but baulked at the €17 entry fee each (about $30). We were going to go via Dingle, but it began
raining and there were weather alerts for wind (up to 100kph) and heavy rain. Instead we arrived early and had a nap before
dinner and drinks.
So, It’s bye from us. He who wants
to be boss is asleep.
Much love to all
Denise and Rapunzel (Pete)
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