Adventures of journey boy and destination girl

Kinsale Kinsale is sea-side port with a rich history. Our B&B was on top of the hill overlooking the town and a harbour filled with yachts. We walked along the heights and the lovely homes of people no doubt gazing down on their yachts and wondering why they weren’t actually sailing them on this glorious day. The morning after we arrived we walked around the immense Charles Fort, built in the 17th Century and named after Charles I. It had a very commanding view of the harbour, but interestingly was overlooked by the hill behind it. This was commented on by the royal inspector at the time who said it needed fortifications extended to the top of the hill to prevent an assault from land. He was ignored - bureaucracy prevailed even then - and it was taken by land in 1690 by the Duke of Marlborough. Doh! Later that day we visited the Old Head Signal Tower. This was the last fully restored tower of 81 that were built around the coast during the Napoleonic wars and would convey warnings b...

The title of this blog of course references Guinness.  Well we have been putting off tasting our 1st Irish Guinness wanting to build the anticipation and yearning . . . mmm not what I remembered, tastes bloody horrid, definitely an acquired taste.  You guessed it, we wont be having another one. (Christine) Cong - County Mayo Cong was a charming little town whose main claim to fame is a film directed there in 1952 by John Ford, “The Quiet Man”, a romantic-comedy that starred John Wayne. Yes, a romantic comedy. Apart from that there was a wonderful old ruin of an Abbey and a walk through what can only be described as an enchanted forest out of a Grimm fairy tale. The highlight though was a boat cruise out to Inchagoill Island, where we visited the ruin of a 12th Century church, which struck us as pretty old, until we walked another 100m along to the 5th Century church that had been built by St Patrick and is thought to contain the grave of his nephew, Lugnad the Navigator. A bea...

So.. we have been exploring the Antrim Coast, the title of this blog is what Northern Ireland call pockets of nature reserves.   From a 400 year old pub to a horse farm in Ballycastle. This is the view from our cottage you can see Scotland from here.  Today we are off to Carrick-a-rede to walk the rope bridge.  They have improved the rope bridge since 1755 thankfully but I had Temple of Doom visions of machetes and alligators.  We crossed without incident nor a raised heartbeat and explored this old fishing spot and coastline.  Next door is an abandoned limestone quarry and one of the locations for Game of Thrones.   A potential future painting? Next off to Dunluce Castle dramatically positioned on a sheer headland between the giants causeway and Portrush.  Built between 15th and 17th centuries.    The drive up the coast was quite stunning and we finished the day in Portrush, we got a tip of where the locals get there grub on a Sund...

View from lift in Dublin We say goodbye to our posh studio pad apartment overlooking HaPenny Bridge and the Merchants Arch. Onwards to Carlingford we pick up FLOG, our little black Golf car for the next 3 weeks.  Flog on the ferry Instead of expressways we decided to take a more scenic route to our next stop in Crawfordsburn, about 9km from Belfast. With me driving, Bradleys job was navigation, after apple maps tried to take us through a caravan park and up a dead end. I diplomatically suggested we link my android superior phone with google maps to the car to preserve our marriage.  It also took me a few minutes to realise that 30 / 40 / 50 / 60 were miles not km.  Again a slightly fraught conversation with me screaming at Bradley "what the bloody hell is 40 miles in km!". You will all be pleased to know we both arrived safely and are still married ... Mount Stewart Along the way we stopped in at Mount Stewart House and Gardens, a testament to the Londonderry ...