Trekking

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. - Walt Whitman Song of the Open Road

Travel Destination - NYC



Monday, July 13, 2009

Ireland/Scotland 2008 Travel Journal - Part II

Part II - Ennis to Kilorglin - Southwestern Ireland
Sat. 7/5/08

With a breakfast of blood pudding, sausage, egg, ham, toast, and coffee, we stuffed ourselves after our late night revelries of drinking mead and wine at Bunratty Castle. Then off to Ennis to look for a phone store and to meander around town, while our parents pick up the rental car.

Ennis is a quaint town with single lane streets and shops on either side, much like some of the streets in the North End of Boston. With our new phone card in hand and the rental car ready to go, we left Ennis towards Kilorglin, where we will check into a cottage for the week.

Travelling along N18/N69/N70 route we made our way to Killrush and the Killimer Ferry. A beautiful drive along long stretches of open pasture that reminded us of Stateline, Pennsylvania, led us to the river crossing by late afternoon. Once the Shannon Breeze had carried us over the River Shannon into Tarbert, we picked up N69 to Tralee and then N70. After a long stretch of narrow roads with shrubbery and 80km traffic, we rounded a bend toward Kilorglin and arrived at our rendez-vous point, "The Fishery," over the River Laune.

Finally, we followed our landlord/guide, Sheila West, up the mountain on Banshagh Road just outside of the town center, marked by the Puck Goat. Up the windy mountain road, uphill, past a few cottages, we find the open gate on the right to the Old Ivy House, overlooking the McGuillicuddy Reeks. The house is set back from the low traffic road and serves as a picturesque base for the rest of our trip in the Southwest.


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Ireland/Scotland 2008 Travel Journal - Part I

Travel Journal - Destination Ireland/Scotland July 2008

Ireland July 3 - 16th
Scotland July 16 - 28th

Part I - Enterring Ireland via Shannon Airport and the Southwest coast

My folks and my youngest brother arrived a day prior in Shannon. They spent the day traveling to our B&B in the Ennis area, resting, and then going on a day trip via bus to Galway.

My husband and I joined the trio at Anne's B&B near Ennis on the bus route. We rested for a bit and then headed off to Bunratty for the latter part of the day into the late evening. We explored Bunratty's Castle and then Folk Park, while the weather held off rain. As the rain began to pelt later in the afternoon, we made our way back to the Castle for the mid-hour Medieval Dinner Banquet.

The banquet began with cocktails of aromatic honey-flavored mead and salty bread as a gesture of good tidings and peace. The hall was filled with the lightly plucked instrumental song of Baroque music before we were ushered to the lower Banquet hall. Once in the lower room, we were escorted by costumed Medieval hosts to our long wooden banquet tables and benches. As the meal progressed from bread and soup to meat and wine a plenty, a duke and duchess were chosen, madrigal music elighted through the room, and "Charles" jestered with the festive crowd.