Below left: A local (Portnoo/Narin) family. They told us that during an
extremely low tide, you can easily walk across Gweebarra Bay to Inishkeel.
Terry decided to come back the next morning and give it a try,
then we went back to watching the best sunset we'd ever seen.
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The sunset seemed to last forever, and the final shot was taken at 10:55pm. |
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"In some parts of Ireland,
the sleep which knows no waking
is always followed by the wake
which has no sleeping."
- Mary Wilson Little
"Its shapes and contours make of it
a paradise that is unhappy.
And so it must forever remain,
far away from the stream of life
and with the sadness of all things
that are a little remote from reality...
This green country on the edge
of the world, with nothing
beyond it."
- Sacheverell Sitwell
Below, pictures from Terry's excursion to the island. Tracy stayed on the mainland. After trying to cross the thistle & nettle & carnivorous fly-infested field, Terry returned to the much more pleasant beach. In the center row, you can see the ruins of a 12th century church with a cemetery in the left photo, and a home on the right.
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Above: The beach, however, was not without its hazards. Terry was chased and repeatedly dive-bombed by these two birds. Upon safe return to the mainland, we found in a bird book that they are oystercatchers, and they nest on the open beach. Terry will vouch that they are determined when defending their territory.
Below: One of our last stops before returning to Randalstown was in Donegal, and the photo on the left is of Donegal Castle. The most exciting thing we saw here was the falling power pole and line that nearly landed on our car as we entered town! Sorry, Terry was too busy driving to get a photo of everyone scrambling out of the way.
Below right: The day after we got back to County Antrim, we found the Black Head lighthouse,
just outside Whitehead, on Island Magee (which is really a peninsula), NE of Belfast and Carrickfergus. |
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Above: Also on Island Magee, we found a dolmen that was vaguely marked on our map.
No signs on the roads, so we just drove around looking, and nearly passed this!
Don't let a 4000-year old tomb get in the way of your new home, just incorporate it into the landscaping!
Our next stop (at last!) Maud's Ice Cream Factory...yum! Visit their web site: http://www.mauds.co.uk/ |
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We wish we could've brought this entire place home with us! At right, Glenoe Falls, which runs right behind the factory.
"Such ancient monuments worn by
time and rain stand in witness and
remind as does the stone of which
they are, that you live only brief
seconds of a life."
- J.P. Donleavy
Below left: Veronica. Below right: Another tomb, in the Glens of Antrim. It's labelled on the map
(and a road sign) as Ossian's grave. Long story short: Ossian's not buried there, he just wrote about it.
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Within a stone's throw of Ossian's grave is this beehive cairn. At first glance, we thought it might be
hundreds of years old...try 13 years old! The plaque reads "John Hewitt/1907-87/My Chosen Ground."
"A veiled sunlight lit up faintly the grey sheet of water where the river was embayed.
In the distance along the course of the slowflowing Liffey...the dim fabric of the city
lay prone in haze. Like a scene on some vague arras, old as man's weariness,
the image of the seventh city of Christendom was visible...across the timeless air."
- James Joyce
Below left: The River Liffey, running through Dublin. Right: Trinity College
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Above left: Grafton Street. Center: How I got the photo at left (Thanks, Sandy!). Right: a corner pub.
"The wonder and miracle of Dublin is its compactness.
Within a radius of eight miles a man can have every experience
he would ever wish to enjoy. It is complete in itself.
Indeed it could be said that Dublin is not a city;
it is a lazy man's continent."
- Anthony Butler
Below left: Reindeer in Dublin's Phoenix Park. Right: our return to Dunluce Castle, on a sunnier day.
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Below, far right: Mussenden Temple built for Frederick Hervey, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry. |
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Above left: "Lion's Gate" (actually leopards from Frederick Hervey's coat of arms), leading to Mussenden Temple.
Above right: Monday 7/3, stuck in Bangor with voltage regulator problem...Brian McAuley of the RAC to the rescue!
Below left: Legananny Dolmen, west of Downpatrick. It was disconcerting, because
there were more signs directing us to this spot than anything else we visited!
Below right, The Thatch Inn Pub (known as the O'Neill's Arms in the mid 1700s), in Broughshane. Prince Charles referred to it as "My favourite pub" during his 2nd visit, in 1999. Sandy took us there for a Guinness on our last evening.
The bottom picture was taken between Kells and Randalstown, as our trip came to an end. |
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"Ireland, Sir, for good or evil,
is like no other place under heaven;
and no man can touch its sod
or breathe its air without becoming
better or worse."
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