Tina Belle at the grave of William Butler Yeats

Castle Coole in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland

 Sunset at Castle Murray House Hotel

 Horses at Castle Murray House Hotel

 Breakfast at Castle Murray House Hote

Friday, August 17, 2012

Last night, we had a delicious dinner at Castle Murray House Hotel and Restaurant on St. John’s Point in Dunkineely, County Donegal.  It was the perfect ending to our vacation.

In the morning, we drove south to Sligo, stopping in Drumcliffe to see the grave of William Butler Yeats.  Tina Belle was all excited as she wrote her senior thesis on Yeats. In Sligo after being dumped by Prince Billie, we picked up a Hertz car rental to drive back to Dublin.  Bill and Tina Belle headed to Westport and the wild, remote Connemara for another week (which one person described as “the back end of beyond.”)   

After shopping in Sligo, we went to Castle Coole in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, for one last tourist stop before driving through the middle of Ireland back to Trim for our last night.  Kevin

Thursday, August 16, 2012

 View from Glengesh Pass in Donegal

Slieve League

 Slieve League

Slieve League

 Irish Cows

We continued our trip down the Donegal coast to Slieve League, which is one of the most spectacular sights in all of Ireland.  The sun came out as we approach the cliffs.  We climbed up to the first lookout for beautiful views of the cliffs and coast.  We arrived at our hotel on St. John’s point for our final night with Bill and Tina Bell, who are continuing on to Connemara for another week.  Kevin

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

 Rope Bridge on Causeway Coast

Royal Portrush Golf Club

 Glenveagh National Park

 Glenveagh Castle in Glenveagh National Park

After breakfast at the Bushmills Inn, we stopped at the Rope Bridge.  However, the rope bridge was closed due to high winds.   We then headed towards the wild coast of Donegal.  We drove past the Royal Portrush Golf Club – Prince Billie wanted to play a round, but we did not have time. 

We stopped at Glenveagh National Park in Donegal, which was the former home of John Adair, and took a tour of his home.  We then continued our drive along the coast of Donegal to our hotel.  Kevin

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

After a leisurely breakfast at our hotel in Belfast, we drove north along the scenic Antrim coast through small seaside villages, up narrow winding roads through the numerous glens, and with distant views of the coast of Scotland. 

We stopped at the

 Giant’s Causeway for a hike down to the base of the cliffs to see the 40,000 balast columns driven out of earth by volcanic eruptions some 60 million years ago.

 Ballygully on the Antrim Coast

 

Cushendum Village on the Antrim Coast

One of the narrow roads on the Antrim Coast

 View of Torr Head in the distance on the Antrim Coast

 Bushmills Inn

Toast at the Bushmills Inn

 

 Giant’s Causeway

 Giant’s Causeway

We had lunch and dinner at the Bushmills Inn, where we stayed with Dad 20 years ago. Kevin

 Shankill Road Mural

 Shankill Road Mural

 Shankill Road

 The Peace Wall

 Falls Road - Bombay Road

  Falls Road - Bombay Road

 Falls Road

 Joel our Taxi Driver on Falls Road

 Titanic Belfast Exhibition - Original Drawing for ship

  Titanic Belfast Exhibition - Ship leaving Queenstown

  Titanic Belfast Exhibition- Building

Monday, August 13, 2012

We had our final breakfast in Trim with Pam and Jimmy, who are heading back to Dublin for three days.

After a two hour drive to Northern Ireland, we took a tour of the sectarian neighborhoods in West Belfast.  Joel our taxi driver, who is a Protestant, gave us an excellent overview of both the Protestant area (Shankill Road) and Catholic section (Falls Road).  There were numerous murals.  The tall and long walls separating the two areas are referred to as the “Peace Wall” as the Catholics and the Protestants are more segregated today than 30 years ago.  The roads between the two sections are open during the day, but closed at 6 p.m. and every weekend.  The Catholics and Protestants do not mix at all.  Most of the fighting has stopped, but both sides are extreme emotional about this issue when they talk about the “struggle.”  The Catholics (Nationalist or Republicans) want to combine with Ireland into one country, while the Protestants (Loyalists or Unionist) want to remain part of the UK. 

The Titanic Exhibit, which opened recently, was outstanding.  It gave an excellent overview of the history of Belfast and the building of the Titanic.  It took over 2 hours to go through the exhibit. Kevin

Sunday, August 12, 2012

 Newgrange

 Newgrange

Battle of the Boyne

Battle of the Boyne

 Lost

Visited the Boyne Valley today, including Navan, Newgrange, and the Battle of the Boyne.  Navan is the town where the Owens family came from, but Dad was never able to find many family records.

Newgrange is the large passage grave mound that was built approximate 3,500 BC.  Marjorie was brave enough to venture into the inner chamber for a tour. 

We also visited the site of the Battle of the Boyne, the site of the largest land battle in Irish history.  Here on July 12, 1690 the Protestant King Billie of Orange defeated the forces of the Catholic King James II of England, which changed the history of Ireland for the next 200 years. 

Kevin

 Curraghmore House in Kilcormac

 Ballylevin House in Killeigh

 Home of Cecil and Jacinta Cox in Killeigh

August 11, 2012 - After dropping off the Kinne clan, Sheila, Marcia, Paddy, and Denise at Shannon Airport, the rest of the group headed to Trim for two days.  On the way, we visited the Curraghmore House in Kilcormac, where our Great Great Grandmother Susan Whitfield was born on January 1, 1801.  We met the current owner, Hugh Gleason, who is not related.  He has a dairy farm.  We then visited Ballylevin House that was owned by the Cox family for many years - sold several years ago.  The Cox family are descends of Susan Whitfield.  We stopped at Cecil and Jacinta Cox's home, which is next to Ballylevin House, but there were in London visiting their daughter Tara and attending the Olympics.   Cecil is a fourth cousin.  Kevin

 Prince Billie has the proper set-up on the Tee

 Prince Billie looks good on the 2nd hole

Prince Billie of Orange made one valiant but futile attempt to defeat Kevin King of Kildare and Waterville in golf at Dooks.  As in the battle of Waterville, Bill conceded defeat after the 17^th hole with Kevin up two holes with one to play.  Prince Billie started great – parring the first two holes.  It looked like the Prince would finally win one round in Ireland.  As before, he faded quickly.  Dooks proved too difficult.  He soon was lost in the heavy grass.  Kevin demonstrated good sportsmanship by graciously accepting Prince Billie’s acknowledgement of defeat, once again.  Later that evening in acknowledgement of his great accomplishment, Kevin was given the additional title of King of Dingle.  Prince Billie has challenged Kevin again for their next meeting in November – the battle of Savannah.  Stay tuned.  Kevin

Our last full day together

Friday, August 10 - today the guys & Margie went to play golf at Dooks while the girls went shopping & sightseeing.  Zita, Marcia & Kelly went shopping while Pam, Denise & Sheila toured Muchross House, a Victorian mansion built in the late 1830's.  Queen Victoria stayed there for 2 nights in 1861.  A gorgeous setting with beautiful gardens and the latest in conveniences for its' day.

Tonight Tim's brother, Kevin O'Donoughe, and his daughter, Aoifa, came and prepared at wonderful dinner for us.  I don't think any of us are leaving Ireland hungry.  We enjoyed a great selection of cheeses & crackers before hand and our choice of lamb, salmon, chicken & quiona for entrees.  Of course, this is Ireland so we had mashed potatoes and roasted root veggies as well.  For dessert there was homemade apple pie with whipped cream and Irish coffees. 

Young Denny wasn't here to enjoy this last meal with us.  He took the train to Dublin tonight to catch an early flight back to the States tomorrow. 

Not all of us will be heading home tomorrow.  Pam & Jimmy will be here for 3 more days, Kevin & Margie for another week, and Bill & Tina, the lucky dogs, will be staying for another 2 weeks.  They've rented a house near County Mayo where our ancestors are from.

I probably won't have time to post anything tomorrow as we'll be leaving early for the airport.  But as you can probably tell from these posts, we've had a fantastic time.  Being together was top of each one's list of best of Ireland, followed by meeting such friendly folks.  The weather turned out to be great these last few days and we've all enjoyed that.  Everyone we've met - from folks on the streets or in the shops/restaurants to the ones who took such good care of us this week- they couldn't have been nicer.  Our trip is over way too soon but we're taking wonderful memories home with us. 

On the way back from Dooks Golf Course

Tina, Dennis, Denny, Bill, Margie & Pam - as Denny's ready to leave

Kevin O'Donoghue and his daughter Aoifa along with Pam & Tina

                                                              

Part of our meal by Kevin

Posted by Sheila

Golf at Dooks

Michael, Kevin, Margie, & Bill at Dooks

Margie's famous back swing

Today we played Dooks, a links course that is the second oldest course in Ireland. It was founded in 1889. The course was very challenging, especially because the wind was stronger today than at any time this week. It was a typical links course with some of the toughest fescue we saw all week.

The vistas were spectacular, mountain backdrops, Dingle Bay, and rolling green fairways.  The temperature was close to 80, with a bright sun the entire round. Our caddy says it was the best weather in over a year. The consensus was that this layout was comparable to, if not better than, Ballybunion. You had to bounce the ball onto the greens because the ball did not check up like it did on the other courses we played. The greens were beautiful and extremely undulating, leading to several three putts. However, the greens were fun to putt and the caddy did his best to keep the three putts at a minimum. Each of us had some memorable holes, some horrendous and some very good. In spite of the fescue, Jim did not lose a ball, Dennis one, Pat two, and Denny several. We did not get a lost ball count from the Kelly foursome, but we did see Marjorie hit a beautiful shot to a par three, the only tee shot on the green.

We played in four hours, in spite of a good deal of searching for errant shots. It was a great day to finish our golfing. We played on four days free of rain which was the first time this year that this occurred in any given week.It would be fun to return some day to this beautiful, most scenic country.

Posted by Dennis

Paudie, Sue, & Bernadette

Denny, Mike & his mate, Donal

We thought you might be interested in the websites for the Priory (where we stayed) and Olm Executive Travel (Mike our van driver).  We were so pleased with all the help we received from both.
 
 Tim & Bernadette O'Donoghue, owners of the Priory  www.thepriorykillarney.com
          Tim set us up with:
               Bernie & Mark Doe, chefs who did a wonderful dinner for us - www.justcooking.ie
               Tim Gleeson, our Irish balladeer, who sang for 2 hours for us and told wonderful stories

Michael Guerin, our driver, was worth his weight in gold.  His -  web site is www.olmexecutivetravel.com Driving on the opposite side of the road and trying to keep 3 cars together would have been a nightmare.  Michael showed up with a 20+ passenger van when we asked him to, told us a lot about the areas we went through, and made us laugh a lot.  His personality and Tim & Bernadette's made our stay in Ireland memorable.

Restaurants we enjoyed:
     Bricin - Killarney
     The Boatyard - Dingle
     Crack Pot - Kinsale
     Dunraven Arms - Adare
     and for traditional Irish - Kate Kearneys Cottage and Jaunting Carts