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adventures / Ireland / maps / photo / video / weekend — Comments Off
21
Mar 26

Northernmost Ireland

This is still at Malin Head, and this was our last visit before pointing south, to Dublin. There’s a place tomorrow morning with our name on it … well, two seats … metaphorically speaking. Unless Delta has started seat embroidery in these last few days. Anyway, that’s tomorrow. There’s a long drive this evening, but, first, this.

When you come to Malin Head you go to Hells Hole about 450 meters in one direction, and to this spot some 215 meters the other way. And, up here, you are at the northernmost point of Ireland. If you could see about 109 miles into the sea you’d see an island off the west coast of Scotland. If you could see another 700 miles beyond that, it’s the Arctic Circle.

And that’s our trip. It’s been an incredible one.

If you want to reproduce it, and obviously you should, the route looks roughly something like this.

Slán go fóill.

adventures / Ireland / photo / video / weekend — Comments Off
21
Mar 26

Malin Head

This was our last stop before heading back to Dublin. And so, of course, I’m going to turn this into two posts. And, of course, I’ll stretch this trip out into the days or weeks ahead with extra material. When you allow a place as beautiful as this into your thoughts, your thoughts never leave the place. People probably say that more eloquently. You go home and always return to your dreams. You always come back to the place you never leave.

Or something.

We’ve come to Malin Head for our last stop. It was a great choice.

The waters here are treacherous. It’s a graveyard for shipping, U-boats prowled these waters, there are mermaids — at least legends about them — and giant, beautiful, basking sharks. It was here that people lit bonfires as one last farewell to people sailing for North America. And here the Titanic exchanged signals with the wireless station during sea trials in 1912. Both of them wonders of their time. (Marconi sent the first ever wireless communication over the open sea just 15 years earlier.)

Imagine sailing by here, seeing this.

Photos, of course, can’t do something such as this justice. Here’s a two-minute video that also doesn’t do it justice.

Beauty comes in a lot of forms, of course, and there’s no sense in arguing subjectivity, but if I could build a back porch anywhere I wanted, this is on the short list for a place to put two comfortable chairs.

We stood there for more than hour, and then we dragged ourselves away.

I spent my time there trying to catch the best crashing waves, watching her watch the waves, and inching a little bit closer, to see more of the dramatic action.

My lovely bride planned another great trip, and it’s a shame it has to come to an end.

The places you love you never leave; they never leave you.

adventures / Friday / Ireland / video — Comments Off
20
Mar 26

From Ballymastocker Strand to Horn Head

We are in Letterkenny for two nights, because there is a lot to see in this area. There is a lot to see in every area of this beautiful country. The next time we come back we might be able to say we’ve seen 15 percent of it’s beauty, if we round up. We returned a wallet, we saw some beautiful places, and they’ll all get posts but, first, a little video overview of the day.

Let’s dive in!

adventures / Ireland / Thursday / video — Comments Off
19
Mar 26

The Wild Atlantic Way — On the way to Letterkenny

After we left Downpatrick Head last night we stopped in Ballina for dinner. This was about a 20 mile drive, into a downtown area, busily bustling and parallel parking. Everything felt a bit worn and damp, like a proper noir film, even though it hadn’t rained today. We walked into Daniel’s Kitchen and Bar, the man working the door took one look at us and told us to leave. I think he actually sniffed when he did it. And what he smelled was America and sea salt. It’s a compelling business model for a new restaurant, one just now barely showing up on the local maps.

We walked down to the corner, to The Junction, which was an American-themed restaurant, but in all of the wrong ways. None of it made sense together. It was a delightful, timeless hodgepodge, an offense to the cultural offenses. The staff were great, though, even as they are in mourning. One of their longtime members just died a few days ago. We had burgers and a chill. The wind had gotten to us late in the day, and it wasn’t the worst kind of cold you’ve ever experienced, but certainly the kind that was hard to shake. We had two pots of tea and then got back on the road to Sligo. It was a check-in, check-out scenario, and today we pointed toward Letterkenny.

The route looked like this.

We got into Strandhill Lodge after a long, lonely drive. There’s less than 2,000 people living in this little community. Almost 40 percent of those people showed up in just the last few years. It all exists because of the sea. A man put in a road in the late 19th century and built a bathhouse and sold lots. If it feels like a seaside retirement place maybe it is a seaside retirement place.

We left there — barely glancing over the retention wall that separated the parking lot next to the beach and the salty water — and set out for Letterkenny. There was a lot to see today. I’ll break it up into several posts again, but before that, here’s a place to start.

We enjoyed some tremendous views, a bit of history, got laughed at by a farmer, and we saved the day. Lets get to it.

adventures / Ireland / video / Wednesday — Comments Off
18
Mar 26

The Wild Atlantic Way — between Gweesalia and Sligo

We got into the Erris Coast Hotel last night just in time for the last seating at their restaurant. I know that because at a certain point, our view from the corner of the rustic looking place showed a lot of empty tables and the music changed mid-song. We had a dinner package at the hotel, which offered us a special menu but was mostly important because you didn’t see anything else on the way in. Lovely little hotel, comfortably modern and in the middle of nowhere. The woman that served us dinner also saw us off this morning. Twice she discussed our plan and her suggestions for the day, and she approved of all of our choices for the day.

And there was so much to see! I’ll break it up into several posts again, but before that, here’s a place to start.

Great views, incredible history, and places we had no idea we’d encounter are ahead of us, so let’s get to it.