Back Roads Tours – 12 Days – The Emerald Isle – Ireland
“……..We then head to a black and white mural which has an image of several men carrying the limp dead body of a seventeen year old boy, the first victim in the Bloody Sunday or Bog Site Massacre when British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians during a peaceful protest march against internment. Our guide is becoming quite animated and vocal in his recitation and I can see that what he is saying is very personal to him. He speaks of the thirteen citizens killed by British soldiers on 30th. January 1972. A fourteenth victim we are told died later from wounds sustained that day. We then see a memorial and the victim’s of the massacre’s names and ages are listed.
It is an extremely sobering tour this morning. It brings the Troubles back to life for much of the group and as I stand there listening to the story told by a true casualty of the event, I quietly remember watching, some forty-five years ago, the news broadcasts’ on television in Australia during that period. I can vividly recall the Bloody Sunday event and daily updates on the hunger strikers and bombings that made news during those years. And as I absorb this man’s heartfelt words I feel not only a deep empathy for the victims of Bloody Sunday and the protesters in the March that day, but indeed the Irish community at large. I have been in Northern Ireland less than two days and I have seen. Murals. Divison walls. Flag filled streets. Political statements. I’ve listened to four local personality’s of two opposing political persuasions’ own personal stories. I’ve been told of numerous documented factual accounts and I’ve heard recollections. I have been schooled about continuing curfews, community life affectations and job discrimination. Evidence of the tensions that “supposedly once” existed in Northern Ireland is still very much alive and all around me. And I fear……deep within my heart although purportedly “peaceful” at present……Northern Ireland is still very much a huge melting pot of simmering political tension under pressure…….”
Day Twenty Six – 10th. October – Monday -We join Back Roads Tours this morning there are fifteen tourers in total and our coach is a luxury mini bus. Mick O’M is driving, an authentic Irish guide and he is THE REAL DEAL. Knowledgable, genuinely laid back and he speaks with a soft musical lilt that is characteristic of natives to Southern Ireland. We depart after a full buffet breakfast at Cassidy’s Hotel in Dublin, at 8:30 am.
The bus travels a short way on the motorway then turns off onto “back roads” which is extremely pleasing! This action in itself, within the first hour of touring, promises a more “authentic” experience of Ireland. We are heading first to Newgrange in county Meath, some eight kilometres west of Droheda to the north of the River Boyne. We will be viewing a prehistoric earth mound believed to be of religious significance built during the Neolithic Period, (circa 3200 BC) so the structure is supposedly older than both England’s Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids.
It’s a refreshingly cool morning, the air is clean and crisp and it’s an easy walk to the Visitor Centre after we arrive at the parking bay. At the Centre the group is given a short lesson on Irish Neolithic Man. We then walk across several bridges to a shuttle bus terminal. Below, light fog is gently dancing above the river which winds and twists it’s way past the Visitor Centre then on across nearby farmland. We are taken by shuttle to the man made mound and are dropped at a small terminal a few hundred metres from the structure. Again we walk, and as the group appproach the huge mound on foot, the views from the edge of the famous earth structure, which perches atop a small rise, are simply stunning. Rich emerald green and brown fallow farm landscapes fall away gently as far as the eye can see in all directions.
The stones at this site were imported and the smaller quarried stones, in two colours, were brought to the site from mines and quarries significant distances away. Around the outer edge of the mound there are larger stones at the base of the mound’s perimeter, and although quarried closer to the site, we are told by our Newgrange Irish female guide, it would have taken eighty men at least four days to transport each stone individually to its final resting place. It is also placed precisely so that light can enter the structure through its entrance aligning with the rising sun on the winter solstice when sunlight shines through a roof opening and floods an inner chamber. So the mound is a marvel of prehistoric construction for a culture that used only the most basic of stone hand tools and flint objects.
From Newgrange our group then heads to Oldbridge Estate, the site of the Battle of Boyne which occurred in 1690 between King James 11 and his son in law Prince William 111. The trek is not much further down the road from the Newgrange Mounds and takes less than an hour. There are no tourists about today as September is the end of the tourist season and this particular tour is the last for the company we have chosen to travel with. So being early October, it is blissfully quiet and we virtually have the facility to ourselves.
The grounds that front Oldbridge Estate are extensive with groomed parks and gardens which have gently undulating gradients. They are green with lawn and are studded with the odd large, leafy tree. It’s hard to imagine 36,000 men in one army here facing off against a further 24,000 men in another army. Today, some four hundred years after the battle, there is no obvious evidence of any combat having occurred on the site. We trek our way into the beautiful Georgian building that fronts Oldbridge Estate and through several displays into a room which features an audio visual presentation. There is an enormous model showing the landscape and our group circles the model whilst an intricate light display and audio commentary shows and explains the exact placement of troops, their movements and the battle strategy that went awry in sequence. Riveting.
It is fascinating to see and understand how several different but specific factors led to defeat of the Jacobites. These factors included an injury sustained early on by King William 111, the ill placement of Jacobite troops during the battle to one flank, and the movement of too many of those troops to that position. Then we hear about the repercussions that followed. There are costume and tent displays, artillery displays and in a small movie theatre to one side, is a film reenactment of the battle’s highlights. It is a fabulous display, and very, very well done! And it’s extremely entertaining.
From the displays in the Oldridge Mansion the group meanders its way to the Estate’s tea rooms for lunch. The tea rooms overlook amazing formal gardens which feature shaped conifers, flower beds, hedges and patterned lawns. A hexagonal sunken garden is to the rear, there’s a potting shed, beautiful orchards and a summerhouse set to one side and further orchards are on the other side.
I can’t help but think what a stunning location Oldbridge is for a wedding with its main Georgian house and beautiful acreages of landscaped formal gardens. Lunch is a leisurely affair with no real clock watching as we have until 2:30 pm here.
It is a short ten minute drive from Oldbridge to a nearby graveyard at Monasterboice, a Monastery founded by St. Buite who died in 521 AD. There are three high crosses and a round tower here, all dating from 10th. Century. It is a curiously interesting graveyard with graves from the 10th. Century to the current year, an enormous time frame to be depicted in a single small graveyard.
We head on to Belfast arriving at 3:30 pm. With free time until dinner Sandra and I head out walking after having enjoyed a cup of tea in our lovely room at the Malone Lodge. We see several churches and significant buildings including the Ulster Museum, but the most breathtaking of all I think is Queen’s University, which was founded in 1810 and is one of the Ireland’s oldest universities.
Dinner tonight at 7:00 pm is at the hotel and is an “included meal”. We have pre dinner drinks at the Malone Lodge’s Bar and a sumptuous three course meal follows, Entree Pork Terrine, Mains Roast Pork and Vegetables and Irish Ice cream for Dessert, then Green tea. Tomorrow we discover Belfast.
Day Twenty Seven – 11th. October – Tuesday – Well, what a pleasure to get up this morning. Custom breakfast menus individually cooked at the Malone
Lodge in Belfast. Then departure at 8:15 am, which according to Mick, our tour guide and driver combined, is to be our earliest morning exit of the trip.
Two Irish taxi drivers pick up the group this morning, Eugene who is Protestant and Damian who is Catholic. They are a comedy act and bounce jokes off each other the whole journey. There’s a lot of tongue in cheek about the Irish and with their strong Irish accents, I really don’t know whether to laugh or not as I just might offend. And the jibes between the two are so raw and cutting I also don’t know whether the humour is an act or a way of hiding actual insults.
The two guides take us to several stops in Belfast and between them, with us all huddled together in a group in the freezing cold of the morning, they tell us the history of the “Troubles” between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland. Then they tell us how two-thirds of Ireland became The Republic of Ireland and how Northern Ireland, the final third, has been retained by the British.
The currencies used here are Euros in Southern Ireland and Pounds Sterling in Northern Ireland. Our guides outline the years of the bombings and the jailing of political suspicious characters, and they touch on hunger strikes and the deaths that followed, shootings and murders. We go to a Protestant street then a Catholic street. We then see streets with light poles painted red white and blue and Union Jack flags flying, and further on, streets where white, orange and green Irish Republic flags are flying everywhere. There are also Palestinian flags flying.
There’s a 45 foot high wall running through the streets of Belfast which is locked six out of seven nights a week to stop the two group’s mixing, which is, we are told, an aid toward a peaceful existence. I seriously have to ponder the thought however, if everything is so peaceful, why is there still a wall? We are then invited to write on the wall. Legal Graffiti? It is covered with thousands of messages. Rhianna, Bill Clinton and Justin Bieber, amongst others, have all written on the wall. And we are each given a black permanent marker. I pause and think hard of what I might write. Today I feel, we are making history.
We then drive to another wall, one painted with murals on it of historic events including the actions of leading figures during the Troubles and the hunger strikers who have died. It’s all very political and extremely moving.
We leave shortly after and arrive at Titanic Belfast the home of the Titanic Museum which was built in 2012. Titanic Belfast is a visitor attraction and a monument to Belfast’s maritime heritage on the site of the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in the city’s Titanic Quarter where the RMS Titanic was built. It tells the stories of the ill-fated Titanic which hit an iceberg and then sank during her maiden voyage in 1912. The building contains more than 12,000 square metres (130,000 square feet) of floor space, most of which is occupied by a series of galleries, plus private function rooms and community facilities. Titanic Belfast cost £77 million to build and a further £24 million was spent on pre planning.
It is an amazing building. As high as the Titanic, and set over several levels, the displays are fascinating. There are relics and recovered objects from the doomed vessel. Photographs, facts, and written documents during its build and launch phases, and a very entertaining trolley car ride a through a sound and light show across two levels of the building deep inside. The tiny car wove its way around several exhibits and finally through a life size replica of the vessel’s rudder. It is an extraordinary museum and the visitor could easily spend a full day there if they choose to read all the information amnd documentation on all of the walls.
From Belfast we trek to the 300 acre Ballyscullion Park where we are to have lunch. We enjoy Steak simmered in Guinness and served with Vegetables for mains and a Chocolate Roll with Cream filling for dessert. The house at Ballyscullion Park is a grand Georgian built mansion. The owners are our hosts Rosiland and Richard, and Richard gives us a talk on the history of the building, the family’s land and their current farming situation.
The gardens are beautiful, and quite comprehensive. In the past the land at Ballyscullion Park has seen agriculture diversify from cattle to rabbits, but in more recent times, six three bedroom Holiday Let’s have been built on the property and the property’s stables have been converted to host and house wedding receptions. The wedding area is a stunning venue for weddings with its lovely rural setting and adjoining acres of woodland. The property venue, we are told, was a finalist in the 2016 Northern Ireland Wedding Awards.
Richard then tells us of the house being a target in the 1980’s for bombing during the Troubles in Northern Ireland. He said he disturbed someone at the door one evening after a vehicle skidded in the gravel out front, and he discovered a large bomb had been left on the front door step. The Military were alerted and during the process of ascertaining if the bomb was real, another bomb was triggered in the nearby village. Richard, well away from the property with others at this point had thought the bomb exploding in the village was the bomb that had been left at his house, as he had no idea there was a second bomb. Several people were killed at the village explosion and a number of houses destroyed. The bomb at Richard’s house was discovered to be genuine however the clock mechanism had not been able to be set correctly before the bombers were disturbed, so the house still stands, unscathed. Richard said the house would have been levelled with the amount of diesel and nitrate present in the metal box it was in. A sobering thought.
From Ballyscullion Park Mick drives us on towards The Giant’s Causeway. Mick drops us near the Information Centre, a building designed with large black columns of stone on its flanks, and some of the group catch the shuttle bus down to the formation whilst others, including myself, choose to walk down in the cold, windy, but clear weather. It is a bracing walk down but there are fabulous photo opportunities along the way.
The Giant’s Causeway is a spectacular basalt natural land formation of about 40,000 interlocking columns which is the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast about three miles (4.8 km) northeast of the town of Bushmills. Declared a World Heritage Site in 1986 and in 2005 in a poll of Radio Times’ readers, the Giant’s Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The tops of the earthy brown and grey stoic columns are flat and form a stepping stone like pattern that trickles down curtainlike from the cliff foot across the sloping landscape below into the sea. Most of the columns are six sided or hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest columns are about 12 metres (39 feet) high and some of the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 feet) thick in places.
Tourists are crawling all over the formations as I arrive and they are enjoying the phenomenon as much as I. It’s a very pretty place, structured in a casual sort of way, extremely textural and crazily captivating. I catch the shuttle bus back up after some photos and a rest, €1 one way, and was quickly back at the Visitor Information Centre, but the centre had closed by the time I got back as it was after 5:00 pm. At 5:20 pm Mick picks the group up and we head for Derry a short while later.
We are staying in a fairly flash country hotel The Beech Hill Country House Hotel in Derry for the next two nights and Mick tells us Bill and Hilary Clinton, and John Cain have all stayed here. Bill Clinton, Mick adds, was here in 1995 when he was instrumental in the Peace Process in Northern Ireland at that time. I read about this later and I note that Bill Clinton hails the trip and political outcome as his greatest achievement in foreign policy ever. It is a lovely hotel. We eat dinner seated around the one table and the dining arrangement is a great opportunity to get to know some new people.
Day Twenty Eight – 12th. October – Wednesday – It is a lazy 9:00 am departure this morning. We have a comprehensive breakfast, and although there is a buffet, a chef cooks us all individual meals. Sandra has Eggs Benedict whilst I have a Three Cheese Omelette.
The first point of call this morning is to pick up a Local Morning Tour guide before we are taken to the Bog Site, a reclaimed piece of boggy land useless for farming but considered to be suitable for housing situated in the middle of Londonderry. There is a lot of reclaimed land that has been used for housing in Derry.
There’s still political antagonism and restlessness, I’m observing for the second day in a row, in Northern Ireland between the Catholics and the Protestants. The peaceful country of Northern Ireland seems to be a simmering pot of political idealism and everybody I’m meeting is keen to tell the story, their version (which incidentally is always the correct version and the version that has affected them and continues to affect them, every day of their lives). Interestingly both sides cite peace.
We are shown many of the wall murals in the area. All political imagery, revolutionary images, images of fighting, and rebellion and persecution. They are huge in your face artworks and many have been there since the early seventies when the Troubles in Ireland really began to gain momentum. We are told once they are placed on buildings there is an unspoken rule that they not be removed. We are then told about parking tickets in this area and how religious and political divisions in the community mean parking officers do not venture near this area. And we are also told about the difficulties and process undertaken when getting a job in Ireland. About how Irish surnames and schools and religious affliations determine your career opportunities.
We then head to a black and white mural which has an image of several men carrying the limp dead body of a seventeen year old boy, the first victim in the Bloody Sunday or Bog Site Massacre when British soldiers shot 28 unarmed civilians during a peaceful protest march against internment. Our guide is becoming quite animated and vocal in his recitation and I can see that what he is saying is very personal to him. He speaks of the thirteen citizens killed by British soldiers on 30th. January 1972. A fourteenth victim we are told died later from wounds sustained that day. We then see a memorial and the victim’s of the massacre’s names and ages are listed.
It is an extremely sobering tour this morning. It brings the Troubles back to life for much of the group and as I stand there listening to the story told by a true casualty of the event, I quietly remember watching, some forty-five years ago, the news broadcasts’ on television in Australia during that period. I can vividly recall the Bloody Sunday event and daily updates on the hunger strikers and bombings that made news during those years. And as I absorb this man’s heartfelt words I feel not only a deep empathy for the victims of Bloody Sunday and the protesters in the march that day, but indeed the Irish community at large. I have been in Northern Ireland less than two days and I have seen. Murals. Divison walls. Flag filled streets. Political statements. I’ve listened to four local personality’s of two opposing political persuasions’ own personal stories. I’ve been told of numerous documented factual accounts and I’ve heard recollections. I have been schooled about continuing curfews, community life affectations and job discrimination. Evidence of the tensions that “supposedly once” existed in Northern Ireland is very much alive and all around me. And I fear……deep within my heart although purportedly “peaceful” at present……Northern Ireland is still very much a huge melting pot of simmering political tension under pressure.
A short while later we walk to the town walls of Derry and there our guide points out sights. This church, that building, then…..a cemetery. There is a wall that has been erected through the middle of it to separate Catholics and Protestants and next to me someone in our group states the obvious “apparently you can’t even have the dead mixing”. Schools. Bridges. Our guide then shows us significant buildings and some old cannon guns which still sit upon the wall. The tour continues for a few minutes but concludes a short time later close to where we started. We say goodbye to our guide and then meet up with Mick and the bus.
From Derry we head to the border into Southern Island and then onto The Strand Hotel in Ballyliffin for lunch and the drive is particularly lovely. We meander our way along secondary roads upwards into an area of high rocky hills and then we begin a slow trek down towards the coast. We stop twice for photos on the way and because of the high elevation I can see for miles at both stops. A white lighthouse stands solitary in the distance and there’s a stunningly beautiful handkerchief pocket of natural beach with a beckoning sapphire sea beyond. Houses irregularly dot the landscape and hedges and rocky walls criss-crossing the landscape like the wires of a steel grey ring-lock fence laid flat against an undualting quilt cover of green. The coastline ahead stretches around the landform in a huge “U” shape. It is scenic. It is green. Greener than the greenest green I have ever seen in fact if that is even possible. This is Ireland…….old, earthy and wonderfully endearing…….and with green all around me I finally understand why this island is affectionately dubbed “the Emerald Isle”.
The group enjoys a relaxed lunch at the hotel. And Back Roads, once again, proves it has excellent time allocations regarding our tour’s schedule. We are seated around a huge table and have a great opportunity to meet more of the people in our group and by now we all know everyone’s name and a little about each other. It’s a pleasant hour and a half. A few have a glass or two of wine.
After lunch there’s a short seven kilometre drive down the road from Ballylaffin to the Doagh Famine Village. The guide at the village speaks about life in the years of the famine, the lifestyles of the locals over the years and he describes life here today. The Famine Village is a small reenactment set up. However having seen the multi million dollar Titanic Museum, the audiovisual light show Battle of the Boyne Displays and the Information Centre and displays at Newgrange, we have been spoilt and the Doagh Famine Village appears like a one man show with items gathered, not necessarily ill placed or out of place, but slightly corny in presentation. Some of the mannequins, representing folk from other centuries, are adorned in old rags and clothes, but then the odd mannequin in a group has a crisp white shirt straight from a packet brought from a modern store on its upper half. There are many early Twentieth Century period items like ploughs and rabbit traps, and I see some old plates sitting in a dresser that’s obviously from the 1960’s. I see very little here representing the early Nineteenth Century except perhaps, the replica style buildings the displays are housed in.
So with a stunning coastline just a stones throw away from this collection of mish-mashed items and a short attention span for this endeavour, I head out of the village and down to to the edge of the sea to take photos of the beautiful Irish coast. I have cut the tour short. Understandably, perhaps, and I notice I am not alone.
Leaving the Famine Village behind Mick drives us along a road to a tiny castle ruin just a few kilometres further on. Here the cliffs and beaches are more dramatic and the scenery in every direction I look is captivating. I can hear a blow hole sucking and expelling air below, but I cannot see where the sea is gasping its way through the natural valve like outlet. Mick tells us the local community has managed to raise some €250,000 to start a restoration project. The ruins of the castle perch on the highest rocky outcrop and our group wanders through what is to be restored to a little of its former glory. It is likely we are to be the only visitors here today. The trek that brought us to the ruin was a track, not a through road, and it wound its way past rural farmland and small house to lead us here. The tumbledown abandoned rust, macaroon and oat coloured stone castle ruin is lovely. Dishevelled, desolate, wild……and in its own way……..in my opinion, terribly, terribly romantic.
We return to Derry via a different route through Donegal County this afternoon and the sun is low in the sky as we arrive back at The Beech Hill Country House Hotel. We are a captive audience tonight as the hotel is out of town, so everyone dines in the formal dining room together tonight. We are served a sumptuous meal. Beautifully prepared and presented, and quite, quite delicious. Tomorrow we head back into Southern Ireland and then on towards Galway.
Day Twenty Nine – 13th. October – Thursday – We depart Derry after journeying briefly to a lookout over the city then we head back into Southern Ireland. 
Our first major stop is two hours down the road at the Ulster American Folk Park which is a fabulous outdoor museum displaying the daily life of the Irish over three centuries of Irish settlement and then immigration.
There are forty-three exhibits in the form of buildings and displays within buildings, and the tour of the Museum starts at Exhibit One, a replica basic tiny single roomed stone cottage with simple thatch roof, which has no windows as glass was expensive and virtually unobtainable in those times. Some “crawly stools” and light pallets surround a central open peat fuelled fire pit burning in the middle, and were used by the family to keep out of the smoke ridden cavity above. There’s a guide dressed in period costume and he paints a vivid picture of desolation and desperation of the people who lived in these most basic of structures in an animated recitation.
Each successive dwelling I visit (they are sequentially numbered) is a little more up market than the last, with improvements in living conditions and standards as you progress around the park. The buildings in the park are comprehensive and spread over several acres and it’s a comfortable stroll between each dwelling or building along marked walking tracks. As I amble along I never quite know what is going to be ahead although as I progress I start to have an expectation the next exhibit is going to be an improvement of sorts for the Irish folk represented. And as I pass through the displays I can vividly see a how each facet of the Irish communities lived from the most humble of dwellings through to the prosperity of greater wealth and position.
Firstly additional windows and chimneys and then extra rooms appear in the dwellings then additional stories with stairwells and then later outbuildings supporting the houses such as sheds and barns become part of the exhibits. Finally, on the side of the Park represented as Ireland, there’s a church, a school, a tiny village and a street. The story unfolding is that three hundred years ago Irish folk lived simply and usually with great hardship.
By exhibit 26 I am at the end of the Irish town street and I am bid to enter the building ahead at the end of the street. Through the doorway is a small scale wharf. There’s part of a replica ship to one side, wharf shops and all manner of shipping paraphernalia to the other. The section of the ship displayed is set up to show the living conditions of the Irish emigrants that have chosen to leave Ireland and head to the New World, America. I board the ship’s gangway and walk to the side of the boat. Box style holes are immediately ahead and are representative of where whole families slept on the voyage, and props all around me simulate emigrant living conditions. The spaces for sleeping are small, and for a family, would be crowded. Guides dressed in period costume tell us there were high numbers of casualties on these voyages. Above, on the top deck, I see a painted scene of an Irish city on a wall to the right fading off into the distance and overhead is a blackened sky with a smattering of tiny lights representing stars.
As I head off the replica boat in another direction I enter an exhibit that represents the port area of the New World (America) and here I see shops brimful with all the items early settlers might need. In particular the General Store has thousands of items on display from basic household necessities like food and work tools to more comprehensive displays of household wares including bowls, pots, pans, baskets and so on. There’s also shovels and picks, and tools and equipment used in animal husbandry, as well as building materials. Cloth, lace, shoes, hats, clothes. It’s an excellent display in each shop and I can imagine that the items must have been temptation itself to the new emigrants who had most likely never seen many of these things, let alone had the need nor use for them before arriving in the New World. America promised good fortune, hope and a better life.
The buildings that follow after I leave the American port town are a progression of dwellings replicating those first built in America starting with single or two room basic log wood and stone cabins. The dwellings then become larger and more permanent with weatherboard then finally brick represented. All of the buildings comprising the American examples of settlement are much more elaborate than any basic dwelling in Ireland. The park walk finishes back at the entry and of course, at a gift shop. I thought it was a really, really great place to visit and well worth seeing. Personally I could have spent a whole day here, not just the few hours allocated although the time allocation were were afforded was ample to do the park visit justice.
Mick drives us to Enniskillen for a late lunch where the Belleek Pottery was established around 1849. John Caldwell Bloomfield, affected by the Irish potato famine, had the area surveyed for minerals in an effort to seek alternative employment for his tenants on the estate he inherited from his father. A railway supplying coal to fire the kilns was soon built and building of the Pottery began in 1858. Belleek Pottery is most famous for its Parian Porcelain so popular with Queen Victoria and the nobility and is still operating today.
Yeats’ burial site at Drummcliffe Church is our next destination but Mick detours along the edge of Donegal Bay and takes the coach past the wind swept reaches of Sligo first. Here Mick tells us this was where Lord Louis Mountbatten was assassinated in August 1979. We then drive past Classiebawn Castle, a majestic country house built for a Viscount Palmerston on what was formerly a 10,000-acre (4,000 hectares) estate on the Mullaghmore peninsula near the village of Cliffoney, in County Sligo. I look this up on the internet and read that the current castle was largely built in the 19th. century.
Then it’s on to Parkes Castle along a road which weaves its way tightly around Lough Gill. Although closed to the public at this time of year we are given a special private tour of the restored castle and a talk by a local guide privately organised by Back Roads Tours. Here the group at large are told about the O’Rourke family who built the first castle at this location before Parkes took it over. Mr. O’Rourke, the guide adds, was executed by Queen Elizabeth 1 in 1591 after being found guilty of high treason for harbouring Spanish Armada survivors who had been shipwrecked and had sought his assistance. We are told Spain was at war with England at the time and that although O’Rourke felt he was merely doing his Catholic duty this action was believed to be an inappropriate during a time of war.
Parkes Castle has been undergoing refurbishment in the last few years and although tiny, it was in excellent shape thanks to workmen who had first carefully excavated the area, followed by local tradesmen who have repaired the stonework as per traditional 17th. century methods. Window glazing was reinstated as well as the timber stairs and a mortise and tenon oak roof. The castle is set on the banks of Loough Gill, in County Leitrim and it sits in a very pretty spot. It is a small and quaint castle, but solid and commanding and immediately the time worn saying “a man’s home is his castle” comes to mind.
After leaving Parkes Castle the group heads onto Kilronan Castle which was previously known as Castle Tenison. It’s a large country house standing in 40 acres of parkland on the shore of Lough Meelagh in County Roscommon and is about 2 kilometres from the village of Ballyfarnon. The castle, originally constructed c.1820, was considerably expanded in the 1880s to form the current building. The newer part is a two storey, irregular building with a large baronial tower adjacent to the older building. It now functions as a spa hotel and it is to be our accommodation for the night. And all I can say is that, the castle turned hotel, is extremely impressive and majestic.
After we find our rooms there’s time for photos and a walk in the extensive grounds. And it is simply a beautiful place to stay. A romantic place to stay, and I imagine the couple’s travelling on this trip must be feeling just a little inspired to be more enamoured of each other in a place such as this. The castle is a hugely popular wedding venue and hosts numerous weddings every day of the week. The venue not only offers an exquisite romantic castle and grounds setting complete with woodlands, a stunning lake and huge expanses of lawn, there’s also a castle gate, castle wall and turrets, a dungeon and room after room of rich furnishings, some featuring stunning chandeliers. Paintings, velvet draperies and even several coats of armour adorn walls and many halls.
Kilronan Castle has generous accommodation, the rooms are large and comfortable, have not only a bed but also lounge seating and a small tea table. The bathrooms are fitted out in marble with a separate bath and shower. Normally our accommodation this trip has been a shower over a bath so tonight we are spoilt. Very, very spoilt. I wander the magnificent grounds for a time enjoying the solitude of walking across expansive lawns, and I absorb the views of the surrounding woodlands and nearby lake. Later I seek out the castle’s drawing room, turned bar, and enjoy a delightful Merlot before dinner. I then venture to the dining room and the evening meal is exemplary with Caesar salad for Entree, Slow Cooked Lamb in a Potato Mash for Mains, Apple Crumble and silky Vanilla Ice Cream for Dessert. It is delicious.
Day Thirty – 14th. October – Friday – It is a beautiful clear morning as we depart Kilronan Castle for Galway via the Irish Highlands. The roads on this trek certainly are “Back Roads” and the group enjoys spectacular Irish scenery outside the coach’s windows as beautiful vistas stretch for miles in every direction. We stop for a spot of shopping and rest break at Westport. Before lunch. We are heading off again at twelve but have time to wander the pretty town. Some enjoy coffee, others do a power shop and buy souvenirs and clothes. It is here that I first notice there is a decided nip in the air and I start seeing some heavier jackets being worn by the tourers now.
The coach heads from Westport up into the Irish Highlands and all arround the scenery is truly beautiful. Here there are highland sheep scattered across the landscape, their long woolly coats forming solid protection against the cold blasts of winter winds and the snow and ice that will thickly blanket the hills and mountain peaks during the months ahead. The sheep here are used to traffic and as we pass some grazing at the single lane road’s edge they ignore us completely. Mick stops the coach so we may disembark and take some photos of the lumbering animals, and then a few kilomteres further ahead, as we gain elevation, we stop several more times to capture images in this inspirational landscape.
Our final stop in the highlands is particularly picturesque. In the distance ash grey coloured water ripples in a small lake as it colours from a leaden sky above. To the lakes left and right there are citron green hills rising dramatically from water’s edge to the deeper maastricht blue of craggier mountain peaks. Between the coach and the lake there is a strip carpet of rich mustard brown and green tall grasses. And closer to my vantage point there are exquisitely rich emerald and lime green shorter grasses. Here and there I see random mounds of slate grey rock boulders whose weathered surfaces are splattered with a rich palette of light grey and russet tones. And atop, gently hugging their curves, are the bleached snowy hues of lichens and macro lichens. The beauty of this area is heart-stirring. It is pristine, unblemished, untouched……virginal.
We return to the coach then travel on past a lake, then on through more of the rugged Irish highlands before we eventually wind our way down in elevation towards Killary Fjord, the largest Fjord in Ireland. Trekking along one side of the fjord, I see tiny doll-like houses edging the roadside far across the lake’s expanse. And towards the top of the waterbody there is a fresh water river feeding in at the small settlement of Killary Harbour. Killary Fjord forms a natural border between counties Galway and Mayo, it is 16 kilometres long and its centre is over 45 metres deep. On the fjord’s northern shore lies the Mweelrea, Connacht’s highest mountain, which rises to 814 metres.
At Killary Harbour the river enters the fjord in a pretty cascade of waterfalls on the final leg of its journey towards the sea. The road curves tightly around the top of the Fjord before winding its way along the side of the fjord we viewed from the across the waterbody in the distance earlier. Travelling along we meet a truck on a bend and Mick hits the brakes coming to a complete, and very sudden stop. The truck reverses as there is a slightly wider section of road about one hundred meters back from the bend. Both drivers have realised that neither vehicle can negotiate the apex of the corner at the same time. We are given the right away and wave the driver as we pass. Driving along these roads requires skill and Mick thankfully has been vigilant at all times.
As we travel along we pass by the first of many peat bogs where the locals have been cutting and stacking peat to drain. Tiny piles of brick shaped peat, turf or bog as it is called here, are being readied for the coming year’s fires or for sale. We then travel onto Kylemore Abbey, which was originally built in 1867 as a romantic gift. Kylemore Abbey is widely known as Ireland’s most romantic castle and the Abbey and Victorian Walled Gardens are 46km from Westport.
The Abbey sits on the edge of a lake. There are a number of tourist buses here today as the Abbey has a famous walled garden and there’s much to see, but we have an appointment for lunch further on so we continue on our way. We start to gain elevation once again. The wind really picks up as we enter Irish peat country in earnest. There are bogs everywhere to the left and right and here we start to see more sheep. The weather turns decidedly cold. Outside the landscape is subtly turning wilder, harsher. And soon it becomes a landscape where a living can only be scratched from the land, raked with raw implements and dug by hand. Mick tells us it is difficult to get machinery onto the terrain here as it’s a landscape of extremes. A landscape where survival itself is a challenge.
Mick takes us to an out of the way stop called the Connemara Heritage Centre near the tiny village of Clifden. The centre is based around the restored pre famine cottage of Dan O’Hara who was forced to emigrate to America in the 1840’s when he was evicted from his home. There is a small cafe here where we eat lunch but by the time we’ve eaten today it is late, about 3:00 pm. We rug up and I put on a lightweight foldaway wind breaker jacket for extra warmth. The centre is high on a hill side and there’s a broad, large, covered trailer pulled by a red 4WD tractor out front as we exit the centre after lunch. Our guide today at Connemara is also a farmer, Martin. We board the enclosed trailer and Martin drives the tractor slowly up a steep path to a point situated two hundred metres above the cafe. Here there is no shelter so he hops into the trailer with us out of the cutting wind and light rain and gives us a talk on the Celts (the natives to the area) and he covers some of the early Celtic history. Martin then talks for five minutes about peat, and cutting peat for use in fires here. There are no trees in any great numbers to be seen on the surrounding hills.
We then get out, brace ourselves against the wind and Martin scrambles into a small bog where he has been cutting peat in blocks about eighteen inches long and four by four inches in thickness. He slices a piece off the end of the brick he has just cut and shows us the wet perfectly preserved fibrous material that it is made of at the base of the brick. Martin explains the material he is showing us is at least three thousand years old. He then shows us a nearby stump of wood that was dug from the same peat bog. It is a stump of ancient northern oak, a species that no longer grows in the area. He says it was dug up from the peat that he’s just dug the brick from and adds that it has been carbon dated as being six thousand years old.
Martin then tells us of two human bodies that were dug up from a bog in the area. The bodies, he says, were dated at over three thousand years old and were two well-to-do men, 6′ 6″ in height. Archeologists, Martin tells us, could ascertain this as the men’s fingernails, intact and well preserved, were manicured. The men were found lying face down, hands raised and spread out in front of them. They had been executed, as their heads had been severed from their bodies. And the bodies were so well preserved in the peat bog that the contents of their stomachs, their last meals, could be ascertained. It is an eerie, fascinating, riveting and oddly revealing delivery by our guide.
Martin then takes our group up to Dan O’Hara’s hut a few metres away. He says the hut is a large house in terms of early housing in the area and inside he talks about Michael Collins and he mentions the 1920’s, and the early rising of the Troubles in Ireland. Martin tells us Dan O’Hara’s story then he produces a bottle of Whiskey or homemade Moonshine and asks who would like a nip? Both Sandra and I indulge. It is like drinking petrol and has a kick like a mule. We sip rather than down it in one gulp. It pools in my stomach, and almost instantly I feel tendrils of warmth spread to my fingertips on this very cold, windy day. Soon after we leave the peat bog poor weather settles in and it starts raining in earnest.
The group heads down to the Connemara shop and some buy trinkets and souvenirs before the coach heads off for Galway. The windows of the coach are completely covered in raindrops, the light’s fading fast and the moisture in the air has fogged the glass. The scenery outside is dreary, grey and overcast in muted light, it’s beautiful but, speeding along, there really is to be no more opportunities for landscape photography today.
Galway looms ahead as a refuge of warmth and comfort tonight. We arrive at the Park Hotel and settle into our rooms briefly before heading out on foot for a brief orientation tour and meal at a local pub. We enjoy a pub meal and good company. Galway is a party town we are told by Mick, there’s a lot of local music, pubs and bars and it sounds like a lot of fun and we have a free day tomorrow so I plan on putting the day to good use, by getting out and about.
Day Thirty One – 15th. October – Saturday – With a free day today I am up by 8:00 am and out the door by 9:00 am. I decide to shop for a lightweight jacket with fur trim this morning, so I head into the city only two blocks across from my hotel. The shops are bustling by 10:00 am and by 11:00 am I’ve covered a couple of kilometres and bought a lightweight but rather dressy jacket. I head back to the hotel to drop off my purchase and check on Sandra as she’d decided to sleep in.
From the hotel I then walk down to the Docks area of Galway and stroll the marina looking at a large naval vessel, a tanker and a plethora of beautiful yachts and cruisers. The road winds its way down towards more open water and then it treks around a corner. From there I walk to a bridge and an adjoining loch area where water is rushing through the main channel. The area closest to the bridge is cordoned off with a makeshift fence and there are dozens of people milling about inside the fenced area and near the edge, watching the water flow rapidly past. Others are lying on benches or the lawn, in the sun, eyes closed, all enjoying the peace of the spot and the warmth of the sun’s rays. They all look rather like lizards. Lolling about in the bright light. This is not a place to fall in as it is quite treacherous, with its turbulent, churning water and life buoys for such a scenario are mounted on several poles nearby.
I head toward a church across from the waterway but as I near I realise there is a wedding inside as there are several luxury limousines with ribbons on them parked outside and people dressed to the nines, are rushing towards the church then heading inside. They are “late”. I duck through the archway but see the church is full of wedding guests with the bridal couple standing at the alter, so I head off again without going further inside, this time skirting around the main road which crosses the bridge. I’m sight seeing but also looking for a place to have lunch. The pavement walkways however lead me on to another church and then an outdoor market in the street fronting the church. I go inside the church but it is full of people selling things so I leave, then start heading back towards the city centre.
Busker’s are out today in force. It is a beautiful day and by this time, warm, sunny and quite clear. I passed four young men with long hair and a range of musical instruments, guitars, speakers and a drum set up earlier at the dock area, and suddenly I come across them again now with their gear set up entertaining a large crowd on the corner of a busy mall type street. They are very entertaining and I video and photograph them for a bit to later put the footage up on Facebook. It is toe tapping music and the crowd is completely engaged.
From the mall area I head back into the centre of town, it is late so I decide to look for lunch. Here I run into Sandra. She is going horse riding. We chat briefly then I go to the pub across from our hotel but after twenty minutes and asking for a menu three times I give up and head across the street to the pub next to our hotel. I order my first Guinness, half a pint in case I don’t enjoy it. It is however, surprisingly good and goes really well with a bowl of creamy seafood chowder soup and spring rolls.
Back to the room for a two hour nap when I am awoken by the blast of a very loud speaker giving a rundown on a rugby match. I head downstairs and out the front door of the hotel to find the street cordoned off both ends and a huge flat screen TV set up. The street is full of spectators drinking and watching the rugby match on the screen. There’s a lot of animated action as the crowd is entertained by the game. I head off to do a quick trek downtown to get something I missed earlier but return half an hour later to find the rugby match over and a DJ tent set up to one side, now blasting out dance music. Then for the next two hours there’s an enormous street party as the sun sets and the crowds filter in from the nearby railway and bus stations. The patrons from the pubs lining the streets spill out onto the street and suddenly I’m dancing with six random strangers, along with the rest of the revellers, enjoying the last of the day’s warmth and clear conditions outside.
From the street party which winds up at 7:45 am Sandra joins me and we wander into the pub where I’d been for lunch to find a meal and drink. Sandra heads off early but I stay til 9:45 pm when a folk singer finishes his live music act and packs up. I then head back next door to my hotel and I collect my iPad to write up my latest journals. There are singers and live music in the adjoining room so I settle in for the next few hours to write and enjoy our hotel’s free entertainment. And it is a fabulous end to a VERY VERY enjoyable day.
Please go to Part Four B – The Emerald Isle – Ireland – Seventy Five Days Around The World …. https://www.travelessae.com.au/part-four-b-the-emerald-isle-ireland/ …. for the second part of my Back Roads Tours 12 Day Tour blog ……