Ireland - Adventures in getting lost

Ireland 2015

The Gap of Dunlow

Overview:

Ireland has two faces.  It's most recognisable one is its traditional face - ancient customs, tragic history  and images of cottages, villages and old pubs.  The other face, is its modern fast online communications, cell phone coverage and a modern outlook on many things in day to day living that make travelling in Ireland easy for the average tourist.
 I have never been to Ireland before, so it was an all new experience.  We went to only two big tourist destinations, Dublin and the Giant's Causeway, and skipped the Blarney Stone in Blarney Castle.  Our goal was to see Ireland as the Irish see it, and explore the places that are dearest to the hearts of Irish people.  This took us to small villages, out of the way ancient monuments and some of Dublin's best hanging out spots.  Imagine, if you will, a one month holiday where you tried to avoid crowds as much as possible, and you will see what we were aiming for.  As a physically active older couple, our highlights were the Giant's Causeway, Sleive League, The Burren, Ardmore, the Ring of Kerry and Killarney National Park, and the west coast trail, including the Cliffs of Moher. Sure, a few of these places attract hordes of tourists, but even then, we mostly tried to do things another way.  More about these places later. Generally, our plan was to land in Dublin, rent a car to drive once around the island, then

Dublin welcome

spend a few days in Dublin before doing a one week pet sitting gig in County Clare near Galway, then fly back out of Dublin.  The total time spent in Ireland was  25 days - longer than most tourists' trips, but we wanted to get our flight money's worth.

Weather

Yes, it rained frequently, according to locals, more than it had in the previous two summers, but getting wet in Ireland is par for the course, so rain gear is essential. As in Scotland, the rain came and went pretty quickly, which makes day plans chaotic.  Tip: always plan for indoor and/ or outdoor activities for each day in any destination. Fortunately, we never got bored in the rain, because there was also lots of indoor things to do,and we dressed well for the rain.

Car Rentals In Ireland

Irish rental  car companies have a bad reputation for adding on costs. This is only partly true.  If you do your homework before you get on the plane, you can avoid a lot of grief.  We rented from Avis, so prior to booking we checked out their "Terms and Conditions" to make sure there were no surprises.  By knowing their rules before you get there, you have a 'leg to stand on' if you need to challenge what the agent says at the rental company.  The only 'surprise' at Avis was the 30 euro charge for declining their collision damage and theft insurance (covered by my Visa card).

General points about Ireland    

Ireland is a land of great contrasts.  First, it has a widely varying landscape from mountains to rolling hills to plains. The vegetation varies too, although it is pretty well always green.  The bustling cities of Dublin and Belfast contrast dramatically with the quiet of Donegal and the western mountains.

Donegal shoreline

 Travelling too is a contrast, with major highways from the big cities arcing out to areas in the west and north that are defined by extremely winding narrow roads that are very difficult to navigate.  Wherever you go, you will come across great hospitality and lots of pubs. We stayed in one village where there were six bars on their only street.  History is everywhere, from megalithic tombs  to famine museums and stories about the uprising and the 'troubles'.  The Irish are very proud of their past, and holidays there could be based just on this one aspect of their culture.  Our adventure was a combination of historical and physical - hiking and learning about the historic Ireland.

Clouds rolling in atop the Slieve League

Tips:

• Dress for all weather
• In summer, we found that most accommodations did not turn any heat on in spite of the particularly cold summer this year.  Adjust for that by taking an extra bedtime layer.
• Ensure that you get Sat Nav/ GPS coordinates or a street address with a number, or both, for any private accommodations you are staying at. Directions to accommodations, on AirB&b from hosts are often particularly vague.  It must be part of the culture, but one host told us, once we had finally found his place by comparing the picture of his house to one on Google Earth,while using satellite internet on the roadside, "you should have asked for Pat's place when you got into town."  Not a word of a lie!  And the town had 20,000 people in it, and there were no numbers on the houses in his street, which wasn't actually the street name in the directions.  Another set of direction led to a neighbourhood which had no numbers on the houses, while a third house had no numbers on houses, but multiple dead end streets in the estate with no names for the streets. 
• Watch out for the M50 toll road which rings around the west side of Dublin.  The toll charge is very small, but you must pay it online by the next day, or at the Spar store at the airport.  A very convenient road, but inconvenient payment system.  Other major roads are sometimes toll roads, but the charge is modest.  Beware,  on the major highways, you can forget which country you are in. For the real Irish driving experience though, take the backroads and leave lots of time.  The advantage of the backroads is that the opportunities to pull over in this village or that trailhead or beautiful vista are boundless.  We sometimes took four hours  to travel a two hour trip, solely because we encountered so many great places along the way. 

Ireland's Regions   

Ireland has six 'regions' ,  five of which we visited, and four of which will be described here.  In this blog, the focus will be on the West Coast, the South West, Dublin and Northern Ireland.

Links to individual spectacular places will be posted as they are written... soon

Ardmore -County Waterford


A beautiful seaside village which has all the charm you might expect from a small Irish community .  Heres the wikipedia description