Tag: Ireland

We visited county Mayo from Dublin in February 2019.

This was a part of the 5-day road trip from Dublin covering mainly Mayo, Galway and Clare counties.

Road map- Day 1:

Places covered on Day 1:

1) Termonbarry Lock

2) Strokestown Park House

3) Downpatrick Head

4) Céide Fields

1) Termonbarry Lock (This is in County Roscommon)

Happened to see that the re-opening of Tarmonbarry Lock on the Shannon Navigation was done in Apr 2015. This lock is still operational. This is really an Engineering marvel.

You can spend around 30 minutes in this location, as it is quite near to the main road.

There is a lot of parking space available.

2) Strokestown Park House / National Famine Museum (This is in Roscommon County)

Strokestown Park is a unique historic property in the west of Ireland and is the home of the first landlord to be assassinated during the height of the Great Famine of Ireland the 1840s.

If you are a history lover, this place can be in your itinerary. The museum contains some of the best records from the time of the Famine.

Please note that there is a ticket charge involved to get into the National Famine Museum (around 10 Euros/person).

There is a Woodland Walk which is free of charge and open 7 days a week from 10.30am-3.30pm. This would be interesting for kids. (You don’t have to buy any tickets to use this walkway)

There is a lot of parking space available. Website: http://www.strokestownpark.ie

3) Downpatrick Head

This place should be in your itinerary, if you are going to this part of Ireland.

It’s a place of absolute coastal beauty. It is one of the Signature Points on the Wild Atlantic Way in Mayo.

From the parking area, there is a nice walk. A little bit upwards, but easy to make.

The name Downpatrick is derived from a time when St Patrick himself founded a church here. You can still see the ruins of the church building, a stone cross and holy well here today. This was once a popular destination for pilgrims, who came here each year on the last Sunday of July, known as ‘Garland Sunday’. Today that tradition lives on, and mass is still celebrated at Downpatrick Head on that same day.

There is also a holy well and a memorial to 25 Irishmen who fled from British Redcoats during a 1795 uprising. They hid in the caves at Downpatrick Head, but couldn’t get back out before the tide came in and flooded the cavern. They all perished.

There is a Lookout Post here, one of many around the coast of Ireland dating from about 1939. At these lookout posts in 1942-43, ground markers were etched out spelling EIRE and with a number – this one is 64 – to alert aircraft to the fact that they were now over neutral Ireland.

Be little careful when you go near the edge of the cliffs. Unlike Cliffs of Moher, we don’t have enough protection (steel fence) at the edges.

4) Ceide Fields:

While you visit Down Patrick, please make sure to take the short drive out to visit the Céide Fields. The Céide Fields are the oldest known field systems in the world, over five and a half millennia old. It is a unique Neolithic landscape of world importance, which has changed our perception of our Stone Age ancestors. You can also visit the Céide Fields Visitor Centre, which has exhibitions, audio-visual shows and so on.

Opening Times:

Open Easter to October 29th

Daily 10am – 6pm June to Sept

Daily 10am – 5pm Other months

Available for bookings in winter months.

Admission Charges

Adult: Euro 4.00

Group / Senior: Euro 3.00

Group / Senior: Euro 3.00

Family: Euro 10.00

After Ceide fields, we went back to the homestay.

Road map- Day 2:

Second day, we started a little early as we had to cover a lot of attractions on the same day.

Places covered on Day 2:

Achill Island

Croagh Patrick

Roonagh Pier @ Wild Atlantic Bay

Doolough valley / famine valley

Connemara National park

Kylemore Abbey

Aasleagh Falls

Sionnanach

Clifden

1) Achill Island:

Achill Island is on Ireland’s West Coast in Mayo County. It is on Wild Atlantic Way – a 2500 KM long trail that goes along the Atlantic Ocean in Ireland.

This is a place that you should cover when you are in Mayo.

Achill Island is the largest of all islands off the coast of Ireland. Achill is accessible by the Michael Davitt Bridge, built in 2008 on the site of the original bridge which was constructed in 1887.

It makes a fantastic day trip from Westport, as it’s only one hour away.

Inhabited for over five thousand years, the Irish language is still spoken on the island.

You can see hundreds of sheeps in this region. The sheeps along with the background gives you the best postcard pictures in your camera.

The 2 other places (I couldn’t go to these places) which are around 15-30 Minutes are:

Keel beach (White sand beach)

Keem Bay

2) Croagh Patrick:

Croagh Patrick is a Holy Mountain which overlooks Clew Bay in County Mayo. Croagh Patrick is 8km from Westport town and its peak can be seen soaring above the surrounding countryside. Spectacular views of the Clew Bay coastline and the south Mayo countryside can be seen from the mountain. This is one of the highest peaks in the Western part of Ireland. Please note that in case if you are not planning to climb the mountain, there might not be anything special for you at this place. There is lot of parking space (paid), available here.

3) Roonagh Pier:

We have not visited this place but heard that this is a nice place.

4) Doolough valley:

This is a magical landscape of lakes and mountains.

It is a high-quality driving route in a spectacular setting on the R335 between Delphi and Louisburgh in Co. Mayo.

There is also a Famine Memorial in this region. This is a stone memorial, in the form of a simple stone cross which was erected in memory of the victims of the famine in this area.

Unfortunately, it was slightly raining when we passed through this area. However, this is one of the journeys that I would never forget.

The last 4 destinations that we visited was Connemara national Park, Kylemore Abbey, Aasleagh Falls, Sionnanach and Clifden. I would like to cover those destinations in my blog related to ‘County Galway’.

After seeing Clifden, we went back to our home stay.

We visited county Clare from Dublin, in February 2019.

This was a part of the 5-day road trip from Dublin covering mainly Mayo, Galway and Clare counties.

Road map- Day 4:

Places covered on Day 4

Doolin Pier Point

Doolin Cave

Burren Way / Burren national park

Fanore Beach

Murrooghtoohy

Ailwee Caves/ Birds of Prey Center:

Poulnabrone Dolmen Tomb

Kilimer Port

1) Doolin Pier Point:

Doolin Pier Point is situated in the Wild Atlantic Way. Doolin is the home of traditional Irish music. Its a nice walk down to the pier, but they’re not great for getting down to the sea itself as there’s no seashore here. Its more like a rocky beach here.

This is not a beach for swimming. But it is a beach for amazing views, listening and watching the waves crash, enjoying the sun, and admiring the dazzling geology of the coastline.

I believe the Sunset view from here will be excellent.

There are high chances that you will find some Dolphins here.

There is enough parking space available here.

The pier has two public restroom spots, one by the boat booths, and one closer to the rock beach.

You have Ferry Services From here to Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher.

It was closed as we visited during Winter.

https://www.doolin2aranferries.com/

https://www.doolinferry.com/

2) Doolin Cave:

Since we had planned to go to Ailwee Cave, we decided to skip the Doolin Caves.

I have seen lots of discussion on internet regarding the comparison between Ailwee and the Doolin caves.

Personally I have visited only Ailwee caves and hence might not be in a position to do a comparison here. I would suggest you to visit both and draw your own conclusions.

3) Burren Way / Burren National Park:

The Burren, on part of the Wild Atlantic Way – from the Irish ‘boireann’ means rocky place.

It is a 123km walking route that takes in the best of what the Burren area has to offer, from the coast at Doolin to majestic wild-flower-decorated limestone terraces and from the remains left by the Neolithic inhabitants of the Burren to the rich heritage of early Christian churches and site.

The Limestone rocks beside the road provides a spectacular display.

4) Fanore Beach:

Fanore is located on the main road from Doolin to Ballyvaughan and this road is well worth a drive on your visit to the Burren. It has some fantastic views on a clear day.

This large sandy beach and clear water is very popular with walkers, swimmers and surfers.

Fanore Beach is on the northwest coast of the Burren and its golden arc of sand with the backdrop of bare limestone hill, make this a very distinctive Geosite.

Ample parking space with clean toilets are available.

The views are spectacular from this beach, especially the rock formations.

5) Murrooghtoohy:

From Murrooghtoohy, you can get magnificent views of the whole of Galway Bay from the Aran Islands to Oranmore Bay east of Galway City, with a back drop of the Connemara mountains.

Another place which you can cover is the ‘Flaggy Shore’. I have personally not visited this place during our trip.

6) Ailwee Caves/ Birds of Prey Center:

This was First discovered by a local farmer in 1940.

Later only in the year of 1973 is when he shared this information with a group of students (Cavers). The cave had been fully explored and mapped in 1977. The cave is not operational currently.

Formed by water flowing through cracks in the limestone hill, it is one of the oldest caves in the Burren. The remains of bears can also be seen inside the caves and allusions have been made to it being the last bear den in Ireland. There is a also a very small water fall inside the cave.

You can also visit the Birds of Prey Center which is in the same campus.

There is a combo ticket to get inside the caves and the prey center.

Individual tickets will cost around 7 Euros and the 2 attractions combined will cost around 12 Euros. The cave ticket charge includes a guided tour. The tour takes approximate 30-35 minutes and is a great option for people who have never visited any caves in their life time.

The bird centre is the home to one of the largest and most varied collections of Birds of Prey in Ireland – Eagles, Falcons, Hawks, Owls and Vultures to name but a few.

It’s a nice place where you will get a chance to see some trained birds in flight. You can also have them land on your hand which was very exciting for the younger members in our group. Birds flying display are daily at 12noon & 3.00pm

There is a also a Café and a gift shop within the cave campus. Lot of parking space is also available.

7) Poulnabrone Dolmen Tomb:

It’s an amazing view to see the rocks (that heavy), that high off the ground and that too around 5000 years ago when there was no much machinery available.

I know from reading about this tomb that it was put back together a couple of years ago as one of the supports fractured or was going to collapse, but it still doesn’t take away from the sheer wonderment of something so old.

The site is very quite and free of charge. There is parking space available and information signs on the way from the carpark to the tomb itself. It is off the beaten track to get to this.

8) Kilimer Port:

We desperately wanted to cover a Ferry trip during this 5 days but unfortunately most of the services were not operational due to winter.

Finally we decided to take Shannon ferry which goes from Kilimer port to the Kerry island (Tarbert Port)

You can keep this as an optional plan in your trip as the driving distance is more.

Kilimer to Tarbert takes around 20 minutes one side in the ferry.

Website –> https://www.shannonferries.com/

Detailed Schedule can be found below:

Shannon Ferries also provides a discount (15%) for the online booking.

The return Car fare cost is around 30 Euros (25.50 for Online). They charge only for the vehicles and no additional charges for the passengers in the car. You can simply drive in to the ferry and the tickets will be given during the journey.

There is a snack shop inside the ferry but it was closed (not sure if its due to the Winter season)

There are Toilets available within the ferry.

In case if you plan to take this Ferry to explore Kerry, I would suggest you to take morning trips.

The main attractions like the ‘Rings of Kerry’ would take a minimum of 2 hrs from the Tarbert Port.

We took the return trip in the ferry back to Kilimer Port and went to the Airbnb accommodation that was prebooked near ‘Cliffs of Moher’.

In case if you are near Kilimer and want to explore some other places near by (avoiding ferry to Kerry), I would suggest some of the below places:

Scattery Island

Loop Head Light House

Lahinch Beach

Places covered on Day 5:

Cliffs of Moher and then Back to Dublin

Cliffs of Moher:

This was the last day of our 5 day road trip. We wanted to spend some quality time at the cliffs and hence decided to reach there in the morning itself.

One of the important things to be noted is that we need to take tickets to visit the cliffs.

At the gate, it’s a flat rate of 8 Euros. (For adults). For Children up to 16 years, it’s a free ticket.

If you book online (at least one day in advance), you need to pay only the half amount of 4 Euros for the morning and evening visits.

Morning visit time is between 08:00 – 10:59 (Means you can enter any time between 8:00 and 10:59)

Evening visit time is between 16:00 – 19:00

More information and ticket booking @ https://bookings.cliffsofmoher.ie/

The Cliffs of Moher are located about 90 minutes south of Galway or 3 hours from Dublin on Ireland’s west coast in County Clare. This might be the most famous destination in the entire scenic wild Atlantic way. The cliffs run for around 10+ kms and at some places, it rise to a maximum height of 214 metres (702 feet) above the Atlantic Ocean. It ranks one among the most visited tourist sites in Ireland, with around 1.5 million visits per annum.

You can also visit the Cliffs of Moher visitor’s center. This state-of-the-art underground visitor centre features various interactive exhibits, images and displays that can be enjoyed by people of all age groups. There are some restaurants and public toilets available within this center.

There’s also a observatory tower here with a ticket of 2 Euros. But now its closed for some major maintenance work.

The parking area is huge. But you will have to walk a long distance to reach the cliffs from the parking area (Private vehicles).

There are safety barriers which prevents visitors from going near the cliff. However, if you keep walking away from the Visitor’s center, the barrier ends. So be a little careful and dare not to go near the edge. Already many have lost their life here.

During summer, you can use the boat trips to experience the cliffs from the water and there are Helicopter rides to see the cliffs from the top. In winter, such options are not available.

If you have only limited time in Dublin and want to cover this scenic cliffs, you can search and book for day trips. There are many companies like ‘Wild Rover Tours’ , ‘PaddyWagon’ and so on arranging such trips.

If you’re into photography you’ll want to stick around and wander along the coastal walk since there are many different vantage points to enjoy.

Being one of the busiest attractions in Ireland, you are bound to find visitors all year round, however July and August are the peak months.

It’s recommended that you leave at least half a day (or atleast 3 Hours) for your visit to the Cliffs of Moher, as the site isn’t simply a pretty tourist destination but also includes an impressive number of hiking trails that offer spectacular views of their own.

We had stayed in Pake’s Cottage (Near to Cliffs of Moher)

We took the ‘Go Bus’ service from Dublin to Cork..

The starting point was Burgh Quay (Dublin). It’s a 3 Hours journey (Direct-28 Euros including Return). The bus service was prompt and on time. The dropping point in Cork was St. Patrick’s Quay.

https://www.gobus.ie/booking.php

I have also seen bus services which take more than 4 hours (one way). I believe Go Bus is a good option. The train charges are more and hardly you can save 30 minutes by train.

We stayed in Cork on the First day at my relatives house and went to ring of Kerry on Day 2.

Area wise, Cork is the largest county in Ireland.

All year round, Cork is a great place to visit — whether it’s to relax or to explore, there are plenty of activities in and around this place. It’s one of the more popular cities in the country with a lot of good food and pubs.

As Cork is a small compact city, getting around is really easy. Walking is a great way to get around.

The main intention of this trip was to cover Ring of Kerry and hence did not explore much of the tourist destinations in Cork (Hopefully I will go back to Cork again to explore more).

In case if you would like to explore Cork, you can keep the below places in mind:

Mizen head

English Market

Hike around Gougane Barra

Cork Butter Museum

Cork City Gaol (Old Prison)

Courthouse (Washington Street)

City Hall

The National Monument at the top of Grand Parade

Walk down the Oliver Plunkett street

Echo Boy

Kiss the Blarney Stone (Nearby)

Patrick’s Hill

Holy Trinity Church on Fr. Matthew Quay

University College, Cork

Shakey Bridge (Daly’s Bridge)

Fitzgerald’s Park

St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral

Day2: Ring of Kerry:

The Ring of Kerry is a scenic drive around the Iveragh Peninsula in southwest Ireland’s County Kerry.

Its (100+ Miles) one of Ireland’s most popular drives whether you choose to cycle it or drive, it is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful scenic routes in Ireland. Fortunately, or Unfortunately, it rains almost most of the days here in Ireland. If you reach here on a rainy day, you might not be able to enjoy this place fully. Unfortunately, it was raining on the day, we travelled aswell.

People say it takes around 3.5 Hours to complete the entire ring. Obviously the time would increase, as you cannot avoid stopping the vehicle for capturing some scenic places. But for sure you can complete the entire trip in 7 hours or so. Some people extend it to 2 days.

Some people go in a clock wise direction and some others in the anti-clockwise direction. Most of the guidebooks say to go clockwise so you’re going the opposite direction of the tour buses, which go counter-clockwise.

We did not see any of the restaurants (common chains) in the route we travelled. So, keep some snacks handy with you. We also faced network coverage issues in many places.

Views of the Atlantic Ocean:

The views of the Atlantic Ocean is simply superb.

Waterville Village/Beach:

This large village is famous for golf, its beach and its association with Charlie Chaplin. It is a great place to stop off and have a tea/coffee or something stronger and there are a number of pubs you’ll enjoy along the sea front. You’ll also notice the monument of Charlie Chaplin which of course is worth taking a photograph with.

Caherdaniel:

The best stop off point is the beach between Caherdaniel and Castlecove. Parking can be scarce here but it is so worth stopping off. You will know it because it has a caravan/mobile park and a beach side pub, so keep an eye out for those signs so that you can turn off the road in plenty of time. This is a small beach but its really magical, especially on a sunny day. This can be a peaceful spot, even if its crowded.

Some other places that you can explore in and around Ring of Kerry:

Molls Gap

Ladies View

Staigue Stone Fort

Ballinskelligs Castle

Kerry cliffs

Skellig Michael / Beehive Huts on Skellig Michael

PortMagee

Valentia island / Harbour

Stopping in Sneem

Kenmare (One of the cutest towns)

Geokaun Mountain and Fogher Cliffs

Caragh Lake

Rossbeigh Beach

Derrynane Bay and Ballinskelligs Bay

On our way back, we also visited Torc waterfalls (inside Killarney National Park).

Parking is free, and the falls are only a mere 300m walk from the car park.