A month in Ireland

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21st Century Man

40,626 posts

247 months

Monday 7th June 2021
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21st Century Man said:
We're also looking at NI now, and into the republic if we can...

...will probably commit to some bookings this week
Ferry booked, we'll have three weeks.

I'll keep an eye on this thread for ideas.

Quite excited, we've not been to Ireland before smile

cavey76

418 posts

145 months

Tuesday 29th June 2021
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Live in NI now and i gotta agree Giants Causeway feels a bit ripoff but hey you are on holiday so c'mon if it costs it costs.

Some suggestions as a blow in' living here, of things that entertain my wife, kids and I, top to bottom as best i can recall.

1) Benone Beach - much less travelled than neighbouring Portstewart, oh and you can drive onto it for free. From Downhill end to Malligan point and back a solid 10 mile beach walk. See Dan at https://longlinesurfschool.co.uk/ who will set you up with a surfing lesson here or only a few miles along the road he can schedule a SUP lesson on the River Roe, slower pace and if you aren't entirely garbage you could almost stay dry.

2) On your way home/past try Fish and Chips in Chequers in the little village of Articlave https://chequersfastfood.com/articlave-store.html

3) Portstewart Strand. Great Blue flag beach and another you can drive onto, saving any faff with lugging kit - it costs as fiver unless you are NT members. Glorious but bloody busy on a hot day. Fantastic on a blustery day for a walk. Wander all the way back into Portstewart for a lunch and an ice cream at Morellis

4) If you have time for something semi fancy try dinner at Harrys Shack on Portstewart Strand. Nice food if busy and hard to book https://www.facebook.com/HarrysShack/

5) https://www.freedivenorthernireland.com/ These guys are brilliant. In Portrush. Again you can do a few things, paddleboard exploring of caves, snorkelling or freediving. They took me and my kids for a snorkelling cave exploration. £50/head but was the treat of the year. Ran by a very friendly German fella. Great experience.

6) http://www.distillersarms.com/ Tartine in Bushmills, lovely restuarant.

7) Further down the coast have a gander through the woods then afternoon tea here. https://www.hastingshotels.com/ballygally-castle/.

8) Moving in land a bit, nice walks in this forest park. https://discovernorthernireland.com/things-to-do/g...

9) Hitting Belfast now. Park in the Castle carpark its a 40-45 min walk to the top of the Cavehill aka Napoleans nose. Stop in the Castle on the way down for tea and scones, comedically poor service, like i mean proper rotten but actually entertaining....kinda adds to the charm, I haven't been in for a year but you can have a pint in the basement bar too. https://walkni.com/walks/cave-hill-country-park/

10) Just round the coast from Belfast hit Helensbay/Crawfordsburn. You can park here and walk along the coast to Bangor and back. If you are the sort for it, it is becoming a haven for open air swimming so expect lots of middle class ladies of a certain age in Dryrobes during the week. Pop into the https://www.theoldinn.com/ for lunch/dinner/a stay afterwards. If the weather is crap its gloriously cosy, warm and atmospheric bar and restuarant. If the weather is nice having a chilled white in the gardens is also lovely.

11) Moving south, but still in NI, Castlewellan Forest Park. try your hand at Electric Mountain Biking (for hire) or just go for a walk round the lake and trails here. https://www.onegreatadventure.com/

12) National Trust. Castle Ward for decent walks, a nice house tour and poor to middling NT food concession with rubbish service but often has jazz weekends and stuff on so still worth the trip. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/castle-ward combine a trip to this with a relaxed chill out on a beach a few miles away at Kilclief, just outside Strangford. Not much by way of a walk but a lovely beach for a swim or paddle https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kilclief,+Downpa...

finish your day with food in Strangford itself. Try Littlewolf for fish and chips https://www.littlewolfstrangford.com/ or the lobsterpot or the cuan for something sit in.

13) 12) above could be combined with a quick crossing on the ferry to Portaferry from Strangford. Then drive back up the coast to Mount Stewart. A better NT location than Castle Ward for food but much shorter walk. House tour is the main deal here https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/mount-stewart

14) Slieve Donard - Proper walking boot territory. If you are fit you can do it from the carpark

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Donard+Car+Park/...

and back in under 5 hours. We last climbed it in April. We hit a blizzard on the way up, blue skies at the top, blizzard on the way down and it was pissing rain by the time we got in the car. Plenty decent food places around the base but also if you have kids in tow expect to have your wallet reamed for a disgusting high calories count sundae here on the promenade

https://www.nugelato.com/products


15) Rostrevor - Less severe than Slieve Donard but as long a walks, also mountain biking. Nice campsite/caravan park at the base and you could easily do a day or two exploring here.

https://discovernorthernireland.com/accommodation/...

16) A little further in country Silent Valley/Slieve Binnian https://walkni.com/mourne-mountains/slieve-binnian... Again a walk that takes us with kids guts of a day. Can be combined with Slieve Donard if you are a proper outdoorist.

17) Back cross-country to Enniskillen

Great NT sites locally https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/castle-coole & https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/florence-court

We stay in the KillyHevlin which is a lovely wee hotel on the side of Lough Erne https://www.killyhevlin.com/. Ring and negotiate, we do!

17b) MarbleArch Caves https://www.marblearchcavesgeopark.com/. Not much walk but a gander underground to an ancient geological oddity. It is meant to have boat trips but in the decade plus of visiting the water has always been too high or too low to get us in but the guided walking tour is still worthwhile. Again a thing to do for a few hours and just outside Enniskillen.

18) Last one Cuilcagh - Boardwalk trail. About a 3 hour structured walk just outside Enniskillen https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g1... Last done by us into the face of a blizzard in January...it got so bad that my kids even ate the rich teas in my rucksack! Glorious in summer


Other random things to do

- Have a pint in the Crown Liquor Saloon in Belfast, try and get a booth. Been yonks since i have been so i am not sure if they still do oysters etc for Breakfast.
- St Georges Market for a couple of hours wandering around central Belfast.
- Cathedral Quarter for the trendier end of towns bars and a nice atmosphere.
- Titanic Museum - m'eh....we do museums poorly here but you might aswell. Id include it in a walk about town as you can cross the Lagan and get to it from the City centre easily enough.
- https://visitbelfast.com/partners/botanic-gardens/ Botannic Gardens in Belfast and a short wander (200yds) up the hill to the Ulster Museum https://www.nmni.com/Home.aspx. You are in "Stranmillis" here with a few decent eateries within a stones throw.
- Let's Go Hydro - https://letsgohydro.com/ About 10 mins drive from central Belfast. This is an outdoor water park. You can hire wetsuits etc. They have a floating inflatable climbing park for kids to fool around on for a few hours and the other side of the resevoir has a cable wakeboarding park so kids and parents both entertained.


Edited by cavey76 on Tuesday 29th June 23:38


Edited by cavey76 on Wednesday 30th June 09:55

21st Century Man

40,626 posts

247 months

Wednesday 30th June 2021
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Wow! What an amazing helpful post. Many thanks cavey. Brilliant! We will be sure to take in several of your suggestions.

clapbow

oblio

Original Poster:

5,391 posts

226 months

Thursday 1st July 2021
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Sadly, we have decided against booking to travel to Ireland this September. I don't want to be stuck with an unused ferry ticket if the covid situation worsens and we can't travel.

Instead we have decided to do a month in northern England instead: York; the east coast seaside towns (we fancy visiting all those places that used to enter teams on Its a Knockout in the '70's hehe ); then a week in Northumberland; a week in the Lakes; and then Blackpool and Liverpool.

21st Century Man

40,626 posts

247 months

Wednesday 4th August 2021
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We're in our late fifties and have been all over Europe, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia and the wider world travelling and on holidays. We've never been to Ireland, and we've just discovered what a waste of decades that has been. We're a week in now, and whilst there has been the odd miss, it's mostly been wins. What an amazing country and people! We're loving it. We're working our way around the coast in our campervan anticlockwise from Belfast to Dublin and have another couple of weeks to go. The Wild Atlantic Way has been awesome, a night or two wild camping, the odd campsite to sort tanks/waste out, a hotel or B&B every few days, finishing off with four days in a posh hotel in Dublin before returning to Belfast for the ferry home. We are sure to be returning time and time again, France and Europe has just been relegated big time!

No covid issues at all, for travel, border control (none) and things are very similar here to the UK when out & about, though face coverings are still mandated indoors, not optional.

mercedeslimos

1,654 posts

168 months

Monday 6th September 2021
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Did you make it over here? Living in West COrk if you need a hand with anything thumbup

jeff666

2,306 posts

190 months

Tuesday 14th September 2021
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I realize I am late to this and the OP didn't end up in Ireland,

Speaking to my Father today (81) and he mentioned his time travelling around Ireland in his old Vdub camper van, his words were "the best place in the universe to visit with the greatest people on earth"

He is partial to a Guinness so that may have swayed his thoughts somewhat biggrin

It's also on my list of places to visit.

Kenty

5,029 posts

174 months

Friday 17th September 2021
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I know the OP is not going now but we have just booked for next June doing this:-
Stena Ferry Liverpool to Belfast - drive to just south of Dublin
Round trip Dublin, Kilkenny, Cork, Kenmare, Dingle, Limerick, Galway, Birr and back to Belfast.
Night ferry, after 2 days in Belfast, back to Liverpool.visiting giants causeway and the Titanic exhibition.
We are taking a month and stopping several days or more in each place and exploring from there.
Stopping in a mix of Airbnb and Hotels.

We tried to get any sense out of P&O ferries from Liverpool and failed so opted
to go to Belfast with Stena line, will not use Irish ferries after being ripped off when
I had to cancel last year.
Staying at the Titanic hotel in Liverpool and then in Belfast on our return as a bit of a treat!
Will be doing the ring of Kerry and about half the wild Atlantic way.

74merc

594 posts

191 months

Friday 17th September 2021
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You should consider visiting Carlingford on the journey between Belfast and Dublin. Wicklow which is just south of Dublin is also very nice and could be incorporated on the way to Kilkenny.

cavey76

418 posts

145 months

Friday 17th September 2021
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74merc said:
You should consider visiting Carlingford on the journey between Belfast and Dublin. Wicklow which is just south of Dublin is also very nice and could be incorporated on the way to Kilkenny.


This Carlingford? :-)

Taken in May from Kodak Corner in Rostrevor MTB Park. Above poster is right some nice old gaffs to eat in Carlingford. Its the little harbour town in the top left of the picture

74merc

594 posts

191 months

Saturday 18th September 2021
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Just remembered that last year I hired a camper van and visited Carlingford on the way to Tayto Park. We parked up for the night on the harbour wall which was a beautiful spot. No one seems to mind as long as you leave access clear for the boats. I think there were 5 vans there that night.

74merc

594 posts

191 months

Saturday 18th September 2021
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It was a bit of a murky day but we enjoyed the stay there nonetheless. When the tide came in that night we spent an hour or two jumping from the pier wall into the water. I was in the silver Trafic second from the left.