Day 754: Ireland

On the 18th December we were due to leave our accommodation in New York and head to Ireland, Belfast.

We were up at 9am to be out of our room for 10am. We gave our best attempt at killing time since our flight wasn’t till 10.30pm!

After a short walk we caught the public bus into New York City and got some lunch.

Once we had killed a little more time we caught our coach at 5.15pm and headed for Stewart International Airport. Despite the baby crying/screaming for the whole journey the ride was pleasant. There was traffic but luckily we had allowed plenty of time.

After a hour of waiting in the check in line we eventually got our tickets – luckily sitting together. Johns camera set off security and Megs suitcase of needles and medicines didn’t turn any heads whatsoever (?!).

At 4.30am New York time we landed in Ireland, Belfast. We managed to befriend a Irish man on route so our sleep was limited due to unwanted chit chat and card games. We got off the plane feeling pretty groggy and tired. Unfortunately we couldn’t check into our next accommodation until 4pm.

We killed time at the airport by sipping large coffees in cafes and dreaming about when we could get some sleep.

Luckily at 10.40am we got a message from our air bnb host, Bevan. Bevan told us we could now check in from 1pm, we were thrilled!

After waiting under an hour rather than 4 hours we got on a public bus, costing a pricey £5.20 each for a single trip. We soon felt right at home when we saw lovely green countrysides rather than big cities and roads – the air felt fresh rather than polluted.

After a 2 mile walk we reached Bevans place. The room was modern and clean – not that we would have noticed if it wasn’t due to how tired we were! We paid $51 CAD for the one night.

After a shower and a walk to the shop for some food we could finally relax, what a long day it had been! There’s quite a few red heads in Ireland!

The next day we were up at 4am due to the time change, luckily we managed to sleep for a couple more hours before we got up. We had decided to get a rental car as the places we wanted to visit were a little far out (and public transport was expensive).

By 9am we had the manual rental car which John drove very well. We headed for Tesco (oh the excitement to be at a supermarket we knew!) and then onto Dark Hedges. The Dark Hedges is a location used to filmed in the series Games of Thrones. The road is in the top 5 ‘Beautiful Tree Tunnels’ in the world.The Dark Hedges Trees as seen on the Game of Thrones The characters that were part of the Dark Hedges scene

Next we went to a bridge named Carrick A Rede which is a rope bridge that you can cross for £7 each. The walk was lovely and had some beautiful views. The bridge was smaller than expected, we thought it should be £7 total rather than £7 each but never mind. Taking the walk before and after the bridge with lovely scenery The rope bridge Some of the scenery from the walk

We then went to Giants Causeway, which is a natural rock formation allegedly made by two Giants. To visit the Causeway was a pricey £10.50 each, fortunately the ticket includes a guided tour.

The walk was lovely and the rocks were impressive. We were a little annoyed to find a car park that wasn’t listed on the map that linked up to the walk way which was a free entrance. We later asked a worker in the visitors centre if entering this way was free, he confirmed it was – no wonder it wasn’t on the map! Natural formation of the rocks Natural rock formation John at the top of the rocks!Meg at the top of the rocks (abit nervous of slippy rocks!)

We then found a route that climbed up to a view point of the Causeway from above. We had to move quick as it was starting to get dark.John listening to the audio tour – sat in front of the giants organ! Again, all naturally formed.The views were impressive from the top – well worth the 162 steps to get up!

We then started the drive back to our new accommodation which was over a hours drive away. We were staying with a lady called Tanya and her diabetic cat called Rosemary. Tanya’s 3 storey house was beautiful. Our bedroom had the theme of Narnia, we paid $105 CAD for three nights.Rosemary the Diabetic cat

The following day we had a wonderful nights sleep and were feeling much better than we had previously.

First we headed to the Inch Abbey Ruins. Inch Abbey is one of the Anglo Norman monuments in County Down And was used as a monastic settlement since 800 AD.

We walked around the remains reading about the kitchens, bake house, well, infirmary and the guest house. It was very interesting to imagine how busy the place once was.

We also read about the Cistercian and monastic standards to find out what areas were used and at what times of the day including the Chapter house, Cloister, Nave and the Transepts. John and the Inch Abbey remains John and our rental car

Next we went to Tollymore Forest Park where. It cost £5 for the car parking, it is free to walk in by foot. We took a 5.2km walk which was well maintained and only had the occasional incline. The scenery was lovely and there was only the odd one or two people about so the forest was nice and peaceful. We felt we certainly had value for money. Some of the views we managed to capture by camera during the walk

We finished the walk faster than planned so we decided to take a scenic loop in the car around the mountains. Unfortunately there was quite a bit of fog but once it cleared we enjoyed the drive.

As it was our final day in Ireland we returned the rental car at 9am. We then walked into Belfast town centre and headed for a coffee shop to wake up properly. After a hot chocolate and a Chai Latte we were feeling less groggy and went off to explore.Enjoying a cuppa at Cafe NeroWe took a walk around Belfast’s German MarketSanta’s Grotto at the German MarketYet another Christmas tree I couldn’t help but take a picture as it’s so pretty!Belfast town hall Birmingham have a famous Bull, so Belfast have a fish! Known as the ‘Big Fish’A busy mall with everyone doing last minute Christmas shopping – with lovely Christmas decorations.

Later on after exploring we found a local pub to have a drink to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. We had a drink each and shared a half pint of Guinness to try! Turns out Guinness was better than we thought!Officially tried Irish Guinness!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Ireland despite the jet lag. We spent the night packing and watching movies with a bottle of alcohol each. Now we’re on the road home for Christmas – first one in the UK for two years!

Cheers!Rosemary enjoyed a good bye fuss too!

We managed to catch a Uber taxi for the trip to get to the ferry port. For the 5 mile ride it cost us £11.

The ferry was much nicer than expected with a children’s play ground, restaurant, free cinema and much more! Since it was our anniversary John splashed out and paid for a private cabin for us. The cabin had its own bathroom with a shower and two beds plus a television. It was well worth having the cabin as we could catch up on sleep and lie down. We took advantage of the free cinema and enjoyed relaxing as we sailed to Liverpool.

Now it’s time to spend some time at home with loved ones before heading back out.