A Trip Down the Road

We took a trip to the famous Lough Gur in County Limerick which has been inhabited for the last six thousand years. I looked at the map and it seemed to be an easy route by taking the M7 down towards Limerick City and to take a left onto the N24 and then a right onto a smaller road. What I had not realised was that there were other smaller roads that were not on my map and so we had to make a few enquiries along the way.  Our main complaint is that it is not very well sign posted and we did ponder on whether they actually want visitors judging by the lack of signs.

For Lady H it was her first time of driving for any distance on a Motorway and it did not please her, she gave me the very same dislikes as I had myself, that they are boring and mesmerising after awhile . Which is why I only used them when it was very necessary.

Nearby locations

Lough Gur locality

The tranquil lake where motorised boats and fishing on the lake are not permitted.

One of the remaining crannogs on lough Gur.

A crannog is a man made island created by the neolithic people as means

of making a safe haven

You might recognise these two from earlier blog posts?

They are taking their ease in front two buildings reconstructed in what is believed to be

a neolithic style -minus the glass windows of course.

Popping out of the trees on left side of photo is Bourchier’s Castle built in 1588 by Sir George Bourchier, the son of the second Earl of Bath.

We had a very pleasant day out and our Toby slept all of the way home.

For more information about Lough Gur please visit

http://loughgur.com

The Trip to Scotland

Our journey to Scotland started at 7a.m. We avoided motorways as far as possible making our journey northwards to Belfast swift and uneventful and so fast that we were able to catch an earlier ferry to Stranraer than the one we had booked to travel on. The Stena Voyager is a catamaran in design with four powerful pumps that push it through the water at a superb pace. The interior to my mind is plush to say the least and we always find ourselves some seating in the quiet area away from the noise of piped entertainment. Up for'ard you get good visibility of the sea, plus a small coffee bar with sticky buns and sandwiches as there is nothing like a snack to pass the time away. Except this time because I wasn't driving, only being the navigator, I took myself to the bar on the mezzanine for a couple of pints of Bass ale and they slid down like nectar.

The Stena Voyager

Disembarking was smooth and we were soon on the A75 heading towards the village, a short journey which took 1 hour 10 minutes and into the welcoming arms of our hostess.

The next day we hit the shops in Castle Gregory, The Gatehouse of Fleet and Kirkcudbright all of us picking up some great bargains; mine were a leather coat and trousers plus a denim cap. Refreshments were needed after shopping & a hotel provided me with a pint of McEwans Export ale revitalizing my tired parts.

The Grey Mare's Tail

The following day saw us heading into the Craigdews of the Galloway Hills, to a place special for our hostess. Our first stop was at "The Grey Mares Tail", a waterfall where three of our members were visited by a familiar in the shape of an Tawny Owl. From there we made our way to a place of high energy where we celebrated Bealtaine in a forest glade close to a fast flowing river and we arrived back to our holiday home with sufficient time to visit The Cream O Galloway; My first visit was two years ago and the taste of their wonderful ice cream cannot be beaten and I have sampled lots of different brands over the years. We are now planning a return visit sometime next year.

www.creamogalloway.co.uk/ice-cream

During the rest of of our stay we visited beaches and bays along the shoreline, explored, relaxed and sampled the haggis.

St Andrew's Kirk at Kirk

The pebbled porch floor of the kirk

An island off the beach entices the mind to create dreams !

Silver wavelets come ashore at Brighouse Bay.

(Brig refers to the goddess Brigit, she is everywhere)

Ross Bay

(In the far distance the hills of northern England are visible as smoky smudges)

A Heron with Attitude

(I could not resist taking this pic !)

Stena's MV Caledonian

Our ferry to Belfast on the MV Caledonian the journey was 3 hours long this time as opposed to 2 hours on the outward voyage. We returned to our home in the Irish midlands both tired exhilarated.