North Ireland Travel Suggestions
Mar 13th, 2017, 08:11 AM
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North Ireland Travel Suggestions
Hey there, My Husband and I (both young but over 70) are planning a 2 wk fly/drive trip in September. We are interested in traveling north of the line between Dublin and Shannon (we've done everything below). Is there a good place or two to headquarter and do day trips. We want to do it all including Donegal and Northern Ireland. We're interested in the coast line and historic areas. Thanks a bunch for your suggestions.
Mar 13th, 2017, 09:08 AM
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Portrush always gets my vote for north Antrim. Donegal is a Big county so either Letterkenny or Donegal would get my vote. heading South Sligo or Ballina both fit recommendations. If your dates match Clifden Arts Week thats a great time to stay in the town (never a bad time) and finally Ennis is the best touring base for the Whole of County Clare and only 20 or 30 minutes from Shannon for a flight home?
Mar 13th, 2017, 09:11 AM
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I thoroughly enjoyed a tour of the Belleek Pottery (3 Main St, Belleek BT93 3FY, UK). NW of Enniskillen in the far western point of Northern Ireland, between Sligo & Donegal. http://www.belleek.com/uk/belleek-visitors-centre/
Mar 13th, 2017, 11:31 AM
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Probably the most interesting thing I've seen north of Dublin is the Newgrange monument, older than the pyramids. You have to get there early in the morning if you hope to visit the monument, because they don't take reservations, and are usually filled up for the day shortly after noon. Even if you arrive at noon, you might have to wait for hours to get on one of the last tours of the day.
We spent a week in County Tyrone last summer, staying at the self-catering cottages at the An Creagán Visitor's Center, near Cookstown and Omagh. This is an excellent base for excursions, by car or hiking, in the beautiful Sperrin Mountains. The Glenelly Valley is especially beautiful. There are walking paths that start right at the cottages, and the Visitor's Center will give you information about many more paths in the area.
There is a restaurant on the site of An Creagán, which has good meals every day, and an especially nice Sunday lunch. In the area, we visited the Ulster American Folk Park, and the Wellbrook Beetling Mill, a very interesting visit that illustrated the entire traditional process of linen production, right up to the final step, the beetling, which consisted of beating the cloth for over 24 hours with huge paddles that made a fearful racket. (At the demonstration they're only allowed to use half of them at a time, to avoid damaging the visitors' hearing.)
There are many ancient monuments in the area. We were mostly visiting relatives, so we didn't have time to see them all, but the most fascinating was the Beaghmore Stone Circles, in an enchanting spot. There are seven stone circles here, spread over a fairly wide area. They are not tall stones, but the overall effect is very impressive.
The Lakelands of Fermanagh are in a beautiful region of water and blue hills. My father was born in this area, near Enniskillen. The last time we were there, we stayed at the Benaughlin Cottages, which were very pleasant; we even made a turf fire in the cottage one night. On the grounds of the cottages, we had two wonderful meals at the Tully Mill restaurant, which is only open Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sundays for lunch. The Florence Court House, a National Trust property is just across the road from the cottages. The cottages are self-catering, and there aren't a lot of restaurants in the area.
In the immediate vicinity of the cottages, you can visit, apart from Florence Court (highly recommended), the Sheelin Lace Museum, the Marble Arch caves, and Castle Coole.
The Belleek Pottery is definitely worth a visit. I would also suggest a boat trip on Loch Erne, to Devenish Island, with ancient monastic ruins; or a boat to Boa Island, where there are ancient Irish megaliths; or to White Island, which has an interesting group of ancient statues, mostly Christian, but also a Celtic Sheela-na-gig figure.
If you go to Donegal, I heartily recommend a visit to the Studio Donegal woolen mill, in Kilcar, where you can see the weavers at work and get a tour of the mill, and later drop all all your leftover money in the shop.
The Giant's Causeway is not to be missed, and a few thousand tourists besides yourselves will agree. The nearby Dunluce Castle (in ruins), on a scenic spot overlooking the sea, is worth a stop, and the Bushmills brewery has a very interesting tour, and a shop that sells varieties of their whiskey that can be bought only on site.
Of the two cottages we stayed in, the Benlaughlin Cottages were the most nicely furnished, and there was a washer/dryer combination in the cottage. (At An Creagán, there was a laundry room shared by several cottages.) However, the An Creagán cottage, although more rustically furnished, was more spacious and comfortable, and our cottage looked out over absolutely lovely heath land. We were a large group (six adults and a child), so the cottages we stayed in wouldn't be typical of those for a couple.
I had done some research on cell phone coverage, and read that EE and Vodafone were the only providers with decent service in rural areas of western Northern Ireland. So we got one SIM card from EE and one from Vodafone. We found that there was almost <b> no </b> coverage, for voice or data, in these areas, with either provider. I would suggest just relying on Wifi, with email, messaging apps, and Skype, to keep in touch with the outside world. An Creagán had good wifi only at the actual visitor's center/restaurant, and after it closed at night we sometimes sat at the picnic benches outside, battling the midges, to be able to read our email. Benaughlin had good wifi in the cottages.
My efforts to activate my Ee service were comical. I had to register on their website, which was fine when I was within wifi range. But then they had to send me an activation code to the cell phone, which I had to enter on the website. At least five times, the cell phone didn't get the SMS until half an hour later, which was beyond the time limit allowed on the website. It took me three days just to activate the account, and then I got almost no use of it.
We spent a week in County Tyrone last summer, staying at the self-catering cottages at the An Creagán Visitor's Center, near Cookstown and Omagh. This is an excellent base for excursions, by car or hiking, in the beautiful Sperrin Mountains. The Glenelly Valley is especially beautiful. There are walking paths that start right at the cottages, and the Visitor's Center will give you information about many more paths in the area.
There is a restaurant on the site of An Creagán, which has good meals every day, and an especially nice Sunday lunch. In the area, we visited the Ulster American Folk Park, and the Wellbrook Beetling Mill, a very interesting visit that illustrated the entire traditional process of linen production, right up to the final step, the beetling, which consisted of beating the cloth for over 24 hours with huge paddles that made a fearful racket. (At the demonstration they're only allowed to use half of them at a time, to avoid damaging the visitors' hearing.)
There are many ancient monuments in the area. We were mostly visiting relatives, so we didn't have time to see them all, but the most fascinating was the Beaghmore Stone Circles, in an enchanting spot. There are seven stone circles here, spread over a fairly wide area. They are not tall stones, but the overall effect is very impressive.
The Lakelands of Fermanagh are in a beautiful region of water and blue hills. My father was born in this area, near Enniskillen. The last time we were there, we stayed at the Benaughlin Cottages, which were very pleasant; we even made a turf fire in the cottage one night. On the grounds of the cottages, we had two wonderful meals at the Tully Mill restaurant, which is only open Friday and Saturday evenings, and Sundays for lunch. The Florence Court House, a National Trust property is just across the road from the cottages. The cottages are self-catering, and there aren't a lot of restaurants in the area.
In the immediate vicinity of the cottages, you can visit, apart from Florence Court (highly recommended), the Sheelin Lace Museum, the Marble Arch caves, and Castle Coole.
The Belleek Pottery is definitely worth a visit. I would also suggest a boat trip on Loch Erne, to Devenish Island, with ancient monastic ruins; or a boat to Boa Island, where there are ancient Irish megaliths; or to White Island, which has an interesting group of ancient statues, mostly Christian, but also a Celtic Sheela-na-gig figure.
If you go to Donegal, I heartily recommend a visit to the Studio Donegal woolen mill, in Kilcar, where you can see the weavers at work and get a tour of the mill, and later drop all all your leftover money in the shop.
The Giant's Causeway is not to be missed, and a few thousand tourists besides yourselves will agree. The nearby Dunluce Castle (in ruins), on a scenic spot overlooking the sea, is worth a stop, and the Bushmills brewery has a very interesting tour, and a shop that sells varieties of their whiskey that can be bought only on site.
Of the two cottages we stayed in, the Benlaughlin Cottages were the most nicely furnished, and there was a washer/dryer combination in the cottage. (At An Creagán, there was a laundry room shared by several cottages.) However, the An Creagán cottage, although more rustically furnished, was more spacious and comfortable, and our cottage looked out over absolutely lovely heath land. We were a large group (six adults and a child), so the cottages we stayed in wouldn't be typical of those for a couple.
I had done some research on cell phone coverage, and read that EE and Vodafone were the only providers with decent service in rural areas of western Northern Ireland. So we got one SIM card from EE and one from Vodafone. We found that there was almost <b> no </b> coverage, for voice or data, in these areas, with either provider. I would suggest just relying on Wifi, with email, messaging apps, and Skype, to keep in touch with the outside world. An Creagán had good wifi only at the actual visitor's center/restaurant, and after it closed at night we sometimes sat at the picnic benches outside, battling the midges, to be able to read our email. Benaughlin had good wifi in the cottages.
My efforts to activate my Ee service were comical. I had to register on their website, which was fine when I was within wifi range. But then they had to send me an activation code to the cell phone, which I had to enter on the website. At least five times, the cell phone didn't get the SMS until half an hour later, which was beyond the time limit allowed on the website. It took me three days just to activate the account, and then I got almost no use of it.
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sarah
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Jan 13th, 2003 11:40 AM
