Irish Adventure - Derry to Adara

Bogside

St Columbs Cathedral

Day 3

Today we headed in to Derry City where we enjoyed a walking tour of the city which included the Bogside area synonymous with the Bloody Sunday massacre.

our tour guide in Derry

Derry City (officially Londonderry but no one here calls it that) is the second largest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth largest city on the island of Ireland.  Derry is a walled town,  the only remaining city with a completely intact wall in Ireland. The walls were built in 1613-1619 and remain today.

The conflict which became known as "The Troubles" is widely regarded as having started in Derry with the Battle of the Bogside.  Ireland has such a history of troubles and it is so interesting to go on tours and here the local version of the story.  I highly recommend walking tours in general.  Great way to see the city and learn from a local.

 Before departing Derry, we picked up bag lunches and took a drive to the Grianan of Aileach. This is a restored stone fort or castle on Greenan Mountain.  The original stone fort was estimated to be built around the late 8th century.  It was  restored in the 1870's and provided a beautiful spot for a picnic and a little history lecture from Nick.

inside the ring fort

view from above (postcard)

Nick tells us stories and history

View from standing on top of the ring fort

We crossed the border back into Donegal, Republic of Ireland.  Our afternoon walk was through the Glenveagh National Park.  The park is over 40,000 acres of mountains, lakes & woods. There is a beautiful Scottish-style castle on the grounds.  The castle was built between 1867-1873.  There is a beautiful garden next to the castle with some amazing flowers and plants.  Here are just a few of the photos I took while wandering around this magnificent place.

Ending our day at the Nesbitt Arms Hotel in the village of Adara. 

Irish Adventure - Antrim to Derry

Day 2

Nick describes our hike

Breakfast & then up & on the road. We started our day with a 1k coastal walk along Portaneevey Cliffs,  then a test of our love of heights at the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge! This bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede.  It is 20 meters long and 20 meters above the sea.  It is thought that fishermen have built bridges here for over 350 years, some with only two ropes going across.  The fishermen where fishing for Atlantic salmon and by getting on the island they had access to the best places to catch the migrating salmon.   The bridge that exists today is very stable and easy to cross.  It is totally worth the crossing with beautiful views from the tiny island. I wish we have brought our lunch here for a picnic.  The views were phenomenal!

flowers along our walk

beautiful views 

After a lovely lunch stop, we walked along the Antrim Coastline on the Giants Causeway, a world Heritage site since 1986.  Walking along the amazing green coast you end at volcanic rock formations. There are more than 40,00 hexagon tubes/Columns, that look like a man-made puzzle.  The Causeway provides a glimpse into the Earths past with its 60 million year old formations due to the cooling & shrinking of successive lava flows.  Legend has it the formations were a creation of Finn McCool & his dust up with Scottish giant Benandonner.  Locals believed that between the hexagons, the mythical features carved out in the rocks and the sea, that there is real magic.  This walk was one of my favorites of this trip.  There is a visitors center, cafe & gift shop at one end of the Causeway.  You can get a recorded audio tour to walk with if you wish.  There are also Park Ranger guided tours available that last about an hour.

spectacular views on our walk 

Rock formations the Giants Causeway 

Next stop, the village of Bushmills - yes where they make the whiskey!  There is a tour you can take of the distillery or you can head straight to the bar for a whiskey tasting.  Since we were at the end of our day, we went straight for the whiskey!

Our day ended at the Beech Hill Country House Hotel in Derry.  OMGee, I loved this hotel!! Beautiful rooms & grounds, charming and gracious hosts!  We had our evening meal in the lovely dinning room, which had large windows facing the forested grounds in back of the hotel. 

The Grounds at Beech Hill House 

view from the rear of the hotel 

On behalf of our family and all the team at Beech Hill Country House, we would like to welcome you to this wonderful hotel.

Beech Hill epitomizes Georgian elegance and gracious country living. It is the hotel where your comfort and pleasure always come first and where you are assured of warm and genuine hospitality.

Some of the world’s biggest celebrities stay at Beech Hill, a hotel known internationally for its tranquillity, style and luxurious trappings. Come and join them. We’d love to see you here.

Patsy O’Kane and Seamus Donnelly, Proprietors 

Irish Adventure - Dublin to Antrim via Belfast

My Vagabond 12-Day Giant Irish Adventure Tour began in Dublin on Monday, June 19.  I live on the west coast of the USA, so I took an overnight flight that got me in to Dublin at 9:30 am on Sunday morning.  The tour starts at 8 am on Monday from the Grand Canal Hotel.  You can choose to stay at any hotel you like, I used the Grand Canal Hotel for the convenience, and the rate was comparable to like hotels.  I used Aircoach to get from the airport to the hotel. It was very easy and the stop was just around the corner from the hotel.  It cost 7 Euro one way.  Just follow the signs to exit your terminal and there is an Aircoach customer service booth to buy your ticket.  Very easy!

I was lucky that my room was available on arrival to the hotel and I was able to check in.  I hadn't thought that I would get to check in early, but it was a nice surprise.  I decided to take a shower and then head out and explore Dublin a bit.

The Gand Canal hotel is well situated and it was easy to walk around.  I found my way over to Trinity College, Saint Stephens Green, Grafton Street and when I got tired of walking I jumped on the Dublin Hop-on, Hop-off bus.   I got back to the hotel around 7:30 -8 pm and was ready for bed.  Here are just  few pictures from my walk around Dublin.





Monday morning I was up early and ready to roll for my Vagabond adventure!  Our group gathered and I discovered we had a total of 11 people (including myself) on our tour, plus our guide Nick.  Over the next 12 days we would be traveling together all around Ireland. After introductions and loading up, we were off towards Belfast!


We were on the road for about 90 minutes when we arrived at Slieve Gillian Mountain for our first hike.  The site  was the highest burial cairn in Ireland.  A cairn is a human-made pile of stones.  In Ireland cairns are burial grounds for Kings & Queens. Villagers would carry a stone with them up the hill and place it on the tomb to honor the person buried there.  This particular cairn was for a Queen.  The hike up the hill was moderate, the view spectacular.  We were able to step in to the entry way of the tomb, which we all did.  Upon exiting we found a couple of sheep on the hillside having lunch!

The View from the top of the cairn

Our first of many sheep-sitings !

The Titanic Experience building 

After our hike it was back in the van for the ride to Belfast.  We had lunch in the Titanic Experience Cafe and then everyone had a choice- Black Cab Tour or spend time at the Titanic Experience.  While the Titanic Experience looked cool (Titanic was made at the Belfast ship yards) we all picked the Black Cab Tour.  I loved this tour.  We had two cab drivers - one Catholic, one Protestant.  First we when with the Protestant driver who took us to his side of the city and talked to us about 'The Troubles' from his point of view.  Then the Catholic driver took us to his side of the city and gave us the story from his point of view.  It was really fascinating!  I highly recommend this tour if you are in Belfast.

These two picture are from the Belfast tour.  I was surprised at how the city is still divided. While it has been 'peaceful' in Belfast for some years, the city is separated by 'peace-walls and they still talk about 'The Troubles' as if they were recent.

The Londonderry Arms Hotel 

Castle at Carrickfergus

Then it was back in the van with a stop at Carrickfergus before concluded day 1at the Londonderry Arms Hotel in County Antrim int the small coastal town of Carnlough.  Nick told us about a little walk behind the hotel to a waterfall.  What a beautiful walk it was to this hidden spot!!

the waterfall at the end of our hike

Vagabond gals 

Sunset on our first night 

spotted on the walk back from the waterfall