This is the report of my trip to Ireland with my wife Diana in our own car during 2005 Sep 1-15.

DAY 1

We left home in the dark at 0500, and drove uneventfully (thank goodness!) to Liverpool docks, whose location we had checked out on a previous visit. The ferry was far cheaper than those from Holyhead, but its facilities were sparse, basically just bus-type seating, and it was air-conditioned cold (about 16C). There were meals and drinks but they were expensive, and a shop that sold useless souvenirs. The small outside deck was not tempting. We had food and coffee with us, but we regretted we had not brought reading material and more warm clothing from the car. The journey took 4h50m compared with the timetabled 4 hrs. I wouldn't particularly recommend this ferry unless you are travelling with a car. The weather was reasonable and we got good distant views of the Welsh coast, and the approach to Dublin gave good views of the Wicklow mountains, our first destination.

After exit we were surprised to find no customs procedures whatever, and we had a somewhat hairy journey through Dublin port streets and suburbs. At least we were driving our own car on the familiar side of the road. We found a Tesco, and a cash machine nearby. Tesco did a good-value take-out cup of coffee and cake, which was welcome.

We continued our drive, in warm sunny weather now, on good main roads and even a stretch of motorway, before plunging onto narrow roads near Bray. After an easy journey we reached our Bed & Breakfast at Laragh, in a very pleasant spot. The B&B was as nice as they all are, with a comfortable bed, ensuite bathroom, and a substantial breakfast which we had to choose the night before. We could make tea/coffee in the dining room, and they let us make a flask with our own coffee next morning, but otherwise there were no facilities for making sandwiches, let alone preparing an evening meal. The staff were friendly but busy. There was a comfortable lounge with a TV. There were pleasant hills close by, but no evident walks possible.

Since we hadn't had much exercise we decided to walk into the village (1km). Not a good choice. The narrow main road with no sidewalks carried a constant stream of traffic. We found this time and again in Ireland. Ref We sounded out the pubs and restaurants, found we had missed the traditional music night by a day, and found the cost of meals prohibitively high (minimum 13 Euro main course). We walked back along the unpleasant road and this time took the car and drove to Glendalough (4km). At the hotel here, meals started at 16 Euro, but we were then lucky to find, in the tourist car park at 1830h, a food stand still operating that did fish and chips for under 7 Euro.

Later, back in the B&B, we watched the TV news, then talked to a Danish couple who were travelling together after meeting on internet forums. One of them ran a site that offered computing help.

DAY 2 - GLENDALOUGH TO KILKENNY

The Wicklow mountains are, on the whole, a bit bare and uninspiring, but there is one gem: Glendalough, the 'Valley of two lakes' in a beautiful setting with much historical interest as well as magnificent scenery. After visiting the old church and abbey, the location of St Kevin around AD 700 (of interest to us because we have a son Kevin) we set out on a morning walk chosen from a notice board which detailed over 10 colour-coded walking routes. Unfortuntately the information centre was not yet open for us to get a paper map. We chose the white route, passed a nice little waterfall in a wooded valley, then found ourselves on a good well-maintained boardwalk -- with steps -- that went up -- and up -- and along the edge visible in the above picture, with great views over the lake -- and up... and when we saw how far it was going to take us, we decided to deviate along the red route, because this surely would start to take us down again.

Wrong. The red route, off the boardwalk but still on a good track, took us even higher (to 600 m) then on a long walk down through a forest, but it was very interesting. When we eventually got down and obtained a paper map, we found we had completed the longest of the coloured walks at 11km! Adding the walk from the car park made this 14km before lunch! But the views were great.

After our snack lunch by the car we drove to the Irish Midlands. We decided to try the HI hostel at Foulksrath Castle, but the place seemed dead and rather creepy, an ambiguous sign said wait till 5pm, we did and nobody appeared. Later we discovered that An Oige (Irish YHA) had closed 8 country hostels this year, so we assumed that it had closed. We got to Kilkenny, a vibrant and crowded city, and got two of the last dorm beds in the hostel in the main street there. It was a friendly and cosy place; many people were in town for an Animation Festival. We went to a pub that had traditional music. Unfortunately there was none that night, but the publican kindly did some research for us and discovered another pub 500m away that did have it. So we went along there, outside the town centre and not crowded, and we sat there with background fiddle music. A couple sitting near were quite reserved, but when we got talking they turned out to be local and quite chatty, praised the non-smoking pubs, and told us a day's worth of things to see in Kilkenny.

DAY 3 - KILKENNY TO CASHEL

The morning was filled with exploring Kilkenny. We visited the Cathedral, which we were surprised to find was Protestant (Church of Ireland), dedicated to St Canice, one of the many saints of Ireland that most of us have never heard of. It was attractive, and its greatest interest was a tower -- one of the many Round Towers of Ireland -- which we went up to peer through narrow windows at some great glimpses of the City and countryside, and strong winds! We looked round the town, passing the other (Catholic) cathedral, the river and the outside of the Castle. We had our only restaurant lunch which we found at a reasonable price of 9 euros for main course. We found prices as low as this only in cities and at lunchtime.

We then drove on to Cashel. After phoning an An Oige hostel which turned out to have closed down 4 years ago, we arrived at an excellent hostel just outside Cashel, with views of both a ruined abbey and the complex old cathedral buildings adorning the Rock of Cashel, one of Ireland's famous landmarks. We walked round the Abbey, and had a brief uninspiring walk towards the town. In the sociable kitchen we talked to 3 young people from Switzerland and Japan who were studying English in Galway and had rented a car for a short tour.

DAY 4 -- CASHEL to SCHULL

We first walked past the Rock and looked at the buildings from outside, then walked into the uninspiring and dowdy town of Cashel. Then we drove, on a day that became very rainy, along main roads, with a brief stop at the much more elegant town of Mitchelstown, with its large square. On the Cork bypass we went wrong by avoiding the sign to 'West Cork' because we were looking for signs to more distant places. But it meant: 'West Cork County', not City, and was actually the area we were making for!

As we eventually arrived in Schull (pronounced Skoll), the rain clouds were clearing. The hostel turned out to be very friendly and we met a lot of people there. We had an evening walk, then came into town at 2100h and saw a pub that had music that evening (Sunday) starting at 2200h. That seemed a bit late, so we returned to the hostel.

DAY 5 -- MOUNT GABRIEL, SCHULL

At breakfast a lively German couple were speaking enthusiastically about the fine music they had heard last night, with not only a band but people getting up to sing, including older locals! We were very annoyed with ourselves for having missed it, and I first learned the meaning of the expression 'Irish Time'. (I can understand an event starting at 2200h on Friday, but on SUNDAY??).

Mt Gabriel is a modest mountain (407m) just outside Schull. We set out on a road followed by a vehicle track, but as soon as we started to climb we were on our own, zigzagging up grassy slopes and avoiding rocky and craggy bits. In very good weather we reached the first top and had a great view over several islands as far as Cape Clear, a large island that forms the southernmost part of Ireland. There was also a fine view NW towards the next peninsulas. We decided to press on towards the proper top, capped by a giant radar sphere. This stage was more difficult and much slower, with clambering over rocks and avoiding marshy bits, and we decided to stop just short of the radar top, but within a few metres of its height and with a great view towards Ireland's highest mountains near Killarney.

For dinner we bought a steak, which is much cheaper than in England. The butcher had a sign on his wall: "This week's beef is supplied by ..(farmer) of (farm), the herd number is ..., almost everything except the name of the cow! He cut the steak then asked if I would like it peppered, and proceeded to do so! We talked to another German couple in the hostel, and agreed we might meet in a pub recommended as being uncrowded. The couple first decided to take a look at an Irish dancing class in the Community Hall. They ended up going in and joining the class for the evening! We went to the pub, and were joined by 4 other people from the hostel. We had heard that there would be traditional music on Tuesday in the same pub as on Sunday, and agreed to meet there.

DAY 6 -- SHEEP'S HEAD

The next peninsula is called Sheep's Head, and has a hiking trail the whole length of the Peninsula, keeping to the ridge at 200-250m. We drove up a hairy mountain road to a spot where the road crosses the Way, and then had an amazing walk along a ridge trail fairly well signed with posts, and with uninterrupted magnificent views over Bantry Bay (picture) as well as back the other way, towards Mt Gabriel. As we saw the cloud lowering on to its summit for a short period, we thought about the German couple who might be there right now. But the day was largely sunny with crisp cool air. We went back to the car for picnic lunch, then drove round the whole peninsula before returning to Scholl. The German couple were disappointed to have been at the top of Mt Gabriel just as the cloud came down!

In the evening we went out to the music pub and met up with Kevin (Belgian/Irish), Stefanie (German) and Marcelle (French), all independent travellers who had met in the dorm at Schull. Kevin and Stefanie had taken a boat to Cape Clear Island that day. The singer, Derry Kennedy, sang Irish and pop songs; he had an amazing repertoire and performed requests ranging from Fields of Athenry to The Green Green Grass of Home. Kevin had arranged a surprise birthday celebration for Stefanie (whose birthday had been 3 weeks previously, but she had not celebrated it then!). The pub was not too crowded and the music not too amplified, by contrast with many pubs we came to later.

DAY 7 -- SCHULL TO BALLINSKELLIGS

The day dawned with low cloud and drizzle which continued, heavy at times, all day. At least it was a day of travelling, but unfortunately we missed lots of great scenery -- except for just one, wonderful interlude.

We left Schull and drove to Bantry, a pleasant town with a wide square opening into a harbour, giving a spacious feel. As well as food shopping we bought, for 20 Euros in a discount store, a folding picnic table for the car. Though very ordinary, we had been quite unable to find such a thing in our local stores at home. We drove on to Glengariff as the drizzle got heavier. With cloud down to 100 metres it seemed pointless to drive round the Beara peninsula. Even so, we decided to drive a third of the way, to Adrigole, where we stopped by the harbour under fitful glimses of the sun through the scudding low cloud, very wetting drizzle and strong wind. We then took the Healy Pass that cut through to the north side of the peninsula, looking without much hope for a place to stop for lunch.

As we snaked up the hillside, the cloud seemed to rise with us and gradually dissipate. Amazingly, the top of the pass at 300m was clear of cloud, and turned out to be the perfect place to stop and use our new picnic table. Patches of cloud passed above us interspersed with beams of strong sunshine, the drizzle was slight and even the wind decreased. Certainly not what you expect when going UP! And there was a view over to the bay on the other side, the Kenmare River estuary. But that's just half the story.

Between us and that view, a lot more heavy drizzle was falling. But the sun was shining from behind us! The result was the most superb land rainbow I have ever seen! Everyone who came over the pass was amazed, and stopped to take photos.
(Meteorological explanation: The drizzle and low cloud came from a shallow layer of very moist air blowing in from the Atlantic on a SW wind. The wettest spots were on the windward side of hills where the air was forced upwards. But conversely, on the lee side the air descended, clearing the cloud and drizzle. The Healy Pass happened to be just 5km downwind of the highest mountain in the area (685m), producing a local hole in the cloud layer!)

The rest of the drive was uneventful as we went back into low cloud and drizzle and we could not see anything of the superb scenery we were told was there. When the road went above 100m we were enveloped in dense fog. We ended up in a strange scattered village called Ballinskelligs. The village comprised many isolated buildings, one of which was a very new, high-class hostel. Few people were staying there, but there were 2 German girls who had come there (even using a taxi!) specially to visit the Skelligs, some very rocky islands, and they could not sail because the sea was too rough! From the hostel, though the view was muted by the weather, we could see the sea breaking on cliffs 2 km away.

Diary day-by-day (Second week)
Where we stayed

IRELAND TRIP HOME PAGE