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Published: June 23rd 2010
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Off to Yeat's Country
After many months of hints that pampering after her exam finished on the 15th June would be desirable, Angela got her wish as I booked a few days away. After ensuring she had nothing planned for 6 weeks (except a few post exam Coronas at Cutters), I got Lisa & Paul to agree to take in the childer and got booking.
With the 16th as a night out to celebrate the end of exams for Angela, Shannon and Leanne with a Mexican feast; and the 20th as Angela's 100km cycle race around the Peninsula; it left the 17th-19th as the perfect time for the funbus tour.
Some googlering and a few phonecalls resulted in booking two nights at the Radisson in Ballincar (Sligo) with tickets to see Tommy Tiernan and a seaweed bath booked for good measure. Then came the text from Her Maj -
Oh I forgot I have a tutorial in Downpatrick on Thursday morning from 10-12.30
- damn you, Berry, damn you.
So on Thursday morning we set off to Downpatrick and I dropped Ang off at the tutorial. I spent the next two hours trying to rebuild my Macbook following it's harddrive replacement. Fanbois - don't rely on Time Machine is all
I will say..
With a rather elongated stop at the Post Office sending off Sophia's keys to the mechanic (the country moves considerably sloooooooower even at Royal Mail) out of the way, I picked up the Special One and we set off to Dundrum to lunch at the Mourne Seafood Bar. The oysters were bad and so were off the menu but we managed to get by on about six differing dishes of deliciousness. Top stuff.
Deciding to go cross country via a more scenic route seemed fun at the time but after three hours of numb arses we were glad to arrive at the Border and I de-toured slightly to stop at Holywell. Supposedly the coldest water in Oireland this natural spring feeds two rivers and is a place of pilgrimage - if you suffer from nervous ailments or stomach disorders you also get cured it is promised...
It was certainly refreshing and the coldest water I've had my feet in since the Thuner See but we were quickly on our way back to Belcoo and on across into the Unoccupied Twenty-Six.
It's odd how KMPH seems to have made drivers in the south less
fun. They sit in the middle of the road now, few pull left to let you past as days of old, even on nice wide open stretches. Some still batter on like it's the Wacky Races mind you.
We pulled off the N16 at Glencar to see the waterfall referenced in The Stolen Child - the last time I'd been there it was hammering down with rain but today was warm and sunny. Thankfully as it was mid-week there were no coach parties and we got to have a nice quiet dander up to the waterfall although Angela didn't dare to climb into the fields nearby to get the fabled 'view to Rosses Point'.
By this stage it was time to end all the travelling nonsense so we pointed the Mini straight towards Ballincar and with a fair wind we were checking in not too long afterwards. Radissons are very much alike but in a good way. A nice big room with a well stocked and relatively reasonable minibar is always a winner.
To iron out the kinks of sitting in the car, we took ourselves down to the pool where we had to wear some rather
fetching swimming caps. I liked it so much I didn't take it off for the outdoor hot tub. Quite the dandy.
With full tummies from lunch at the magnificent Mourne Seafood Bar, all we wanted was a snack so we nipped into the hotel bar just in time to see Mexico score against the French. I never knew so many Mexicans were staying in our hotel as a huge cheer went up. A few beers/wines later and bed beckoned...
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Helen
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Downpatrick??
Berry did very well! Just how does one go about hinting for such luxurious breaks??