Blogs from Ireland, Europe

Phew, we had a few things listed on the itinerary today as potential sightseeing from/around Sligo. We knew there weren’t enough hours in the day for all of them so we had to choose what we would do. The short list consisted of the dramatic cliffs at Sliabh Liag (Slieve League), a Yeat’s Country Drive, Enniskillen, National Trust properties Castle Coole and Florence Court House. The decision was made to drive 242 kilometres to see MORE cliffs! We headed north out of Sligo on the N15. From Rathcormack the N15 ran concurrent with the Wild Atlantic Way. To drive ALL of the VVVV would take months as there are so many turn outs to heads and points and beaches. I’m sure that they are all points of exceptional beauty but … we can’t do them all. ... read more

Another day, another island. Today we caught the Aran Island Ferry from Galway Harbour to Kilronan Village on Inishmore, the largest of the Aran Islands. We drove down to the ferry terminal arriving at about 8.45am for our 9.30am sailing because we were asked to arrive that early in an email. Hmmn, we could have arrived later because Bernie had done all our paperwork online weeks ago when he booked the ferry. With rain falling and no shelter to queue under until they opened the gate for boarding, we decided to retreat to the car! When we could see the queue start to move at 9.00am we headed over to tag onto the end to board the ferry. Even though we were far from the first on board we managed to snag the front seats on ... read more

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. When we were mapping out our itinerary and booking accommodation, sailing out to Skellig Michael was an activity high on our list, if not top of our list. To facilitate that we decided to book three nights in Portmagee so we would be really close to where the boat departs from and we booked three nights thinking that if we couldn’t sail on the day we booked for, our first full day in Portmagee, then we ‘might’ be able to re-book for the next day and switch Skellig Michael and the Dingle Peninsula on our itinerary if necessary. As things turned out we were able to sail to Skellig Michael on the day planned so we didn’t really need the spare day in Portmagee. BUT, having to do the Dingle Peninsula ... read more

Another day, another peninsula! Yesterday Brian told us that this south-western part of Ireland is like five fingers made up of the Mizen, Sheep’s Head, Beara, Iveragh (Ring of Kerry) and Dingle Peninsulas. We missed the Sheep’s Head Peninsula as we simply didn’t have time to do it on Sunday after exploring most of the coast between Cork and Mizen Head. After Mizen head we drove across the top of Sheep’s Head Peninsula and into Bantry. Today we headed off to explore the fourth of the five awe-inspiring southern peninsulas of Ireland, Dingle Peninsula. From Portmagee we drove the northern section of the Ring of Kerry along the N70 between Cahirsiveen and Killorglin. Along this section we sighted another 20 coaches taking their passengers on the cookie-cutter tour of the Ring of Kerry. And that’s only ... read more

Bernie’s phone rang at 7.39am this morning while he was in the shower. I had been instructed to keep it near me in case this happened. I answered the phone, and it was good news … it looks like we are good to sail out to Skellig Michael this morning. We were asked to be at The Skellig Experience Visitor Centre across the bridge on Valentia Island by 9.00am for the safety video and short history of Skellig Michael video and hopefully we would be departing for the island before 10.00am. We finished off our breakfasts and we were on our way to the island just before 9.00am. So easy! Having decided to book accommodation in Portmagee we only had a five-minute drive over the bridge to Valentia. There were so many things to consider when ... read more