Ireland Part 3 - Galway to Antrim Coast

06/02



There was no plan for this day and that was nice. Two days to get to the Antrim Coast through Donegal. The morning was spent walking around Galway's street markets and sweater shops. We decided the rental car needed some CDs for the player, so we found a sale and bought:

The Annie Lennox Collection
Tom Jones compilation
an 80's hits compilation
We were going to split the cost, but Laura said she didn't like Annie Lennox, at which point I nearly disowned her but decided to give her another chance and bought it myself. The other two turned out to be crappy live recordings. Boo. Besides all that, the cds regularly got stuck in the rental car's cd player, so I learned to give the "Fonzie-and-the-jukebox" move to remove cds. Mostly we left Annie in and switched to the radio when necessary.

We spent the night in Killybegs since no reasonable lodging was to be found for under €100 in Donegal. It was only 15 minutes away and all we really wanted to do was eat more fish and chips and relax, which is exactly what we did--at the Tara Hotel. We had a view of the water and a semi-fancy room with breakfast included for €38 total. Score.

The next morning we drove into Donegal to do some souvenir shopping and check out Donegal Castle. I look like a real tour guide here, don't I?

While we were wandering around in the castle and hamming it up in the otherwise empty dining room, my camera died and has not recovered. It still takes pictures, and the screen shows pictures that were taken just fine before the "incident" but the screen has gone black and no further pics werwe allowed. The rest are from Laura's camera.

Although we just got hot chocolate and tea here on this day, this pub across from the castle made me a mind-alteringly good tuna sandwich in 2001 which has not been topped, duplicated, or forgotten. I considered a 10:30am lunch just to savor it again, but alas, those Irish breakfasts are just so big that I couldn't the courage.

ON TO BALLYMONEY

In the afternoon, it was on toward the Antrim coast and Ballymoney specifically. We took our time getting there and arrived in time for dinner at the Loughridge's house. Trevor and Emma along with the two children they've had since I saw them last (Angus & Emily) welcomed us with a home-cooked meal. In a moment of wonderful synchronicity, Duke Special's "Freewheel" came on the radio as we neared Coleraine and the coast of Northern Ireland.

08/02

Sunday on the Giant's Causeway--nothing could be better! Laura and I had great weather and took a long time to climb to the top of the stones, do the Shepherd's Walk and generally take in the greatest place on earth.

Afterwards, we took the obligatory trip to Bushmills Distillery where Laura could not be coaxed into drinking the whiskey straight, but she was a sucker for the whiskey cheesecake. I myself splurged on a wee dram of one of the more expensive varieties of whiskey, but just had the one since after all, I was driving (and on a budget).

We still had time to do one more thing--the rope bridge or Dunluce Castle. We opted for the castle and were not disappointed. It's a beautiful ruin right on a cliff that has views to Scotland on a clear day.

After this PERFECT day, we drove to Belfast and checked in at the Stormont Hotel, where we found another great deal for £44 per night. We decided to stay for two nights! We sunk down into our comfy beds and watched Dirty Dancing on tv.