Blogs from County Sligo, Ireland, Europe - page 2

Why Hallo there! This last week Dan and I spent the week travelling to Ireland with a group of kayakers from London. We convoyed in two cars and with walkie talkies proving lots of fun. We made our way to Strandhill, on the ocean from Sligo. Unfortunately for us hurricane Katia was leaving America and heading directly our way. We made our way down to Easky, famous for good surf where we pitched our tents on a cliff under the old Roslee Castle! Huge winds drove us out after two nights of horrible sleep and two days of paddelling. One sight on my list was to visit Grandad's home where he lived before he shipped to NZ. We hired a car and found Cartronamarky Lane in County Longford amongst some beautiful lake country. The old house ... read more

Day 28 16th July 2011 Ballycastle to Glenarm Departed 0645 and arrived 0915 We did this 22 mile hop in 2.5 hours!!!! We planned our passage to use the flood SE going tide. This was to start soon after 0700. As we approached Fair Head in a calm sea we were doing 4.5 on the log. I asked Sally to check our speed over the ground (S.O.G.). We were doing 10.8 knots. Six knots of tide…. We rounded Fair Head and for the next hour we had a very rough ride. There was a F4 against us and a mad tide with us. The sea was piling up in to a short 4 metre swell which was breaking in places. At times our log was showing 1.5 knots while our SOG was 8.8 knots. It got ... read more

Dublin to Sligo We left Dublin, driving towards Boyle Abbey – a monastery founded in the 12th century by the local ruling family ‘The MacDermotts’. Although currently in ruins, it is being restored using interesting engineering techniques such as stone numbering to ensure each particular stone that comprises the Abbey is returned to its original position. The lush green Irish countryside rolled on and on, and we came across Tobernalt Holy Well where legend has it that Saint Patrick used this sacred area to bring the Christian God to a pagan people. We drove along the coastline near Mullaghmore Castle and stopped at Sligo for the evening. As we were planning to cross the border into Northern Ireland, we made sure we had pounds handy rather than Euro’s which is the currency of Southern Ireland. ... read more

Saturday June 18th, 2011 Irish Countryside- County Sligo We have become completely at home here in our new Irish community. Days are spent doing odd jobs around the holding (small farm) and evenings are for conversation and stories. Neighbors drop by to see the progress on our projects and “meet the Americans”. Tonight we are going to a Party for about 12-15 people and will meet many more of our charming hosts’ friends. The friendliness and warmth of the Irish people is legendary and I have to say we are thoroughly enjoying our firsthand exposure. We had a day off on Thursday and went driving around Sligo County to visit some sites that have significance for my family history. The old Corcagh Church and Burial Ground near Aughris Head has the graves of over 500 years ... read more

My mum moved to County Sligo in Ireland a few years ago when she remarried. A place she had always told me was of outstanding beauty...she wasn't wrong! After promising for over twelve months we would go and visit I finally got round to booking the flights for my daughter, son and myself. We flew from Manchester in rather a smaller plane which I was used to and in no time at all we landed on Irish turf. There was no huge airport, just a couple of buildings, a small landing strip and a cafe! Mum met us on the runway!! We had a light lunch on the beach which was just around the corner from the airport, then climbed in mums car to make the journey to mum & Johns. They were renting a cottage ... read more