• Andrae Moore
  • Andrae Moore

Ireland Lap 2025

Andrae tarafından 30 günlük bir macera Okumaya devam et
  • Galway

    12 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    So we had a 'relax' day today.... hahaha.

    Left the camper in the campground and took a gentle stroll to Galway city.... 5ish kms away... wandered around the city... both museums were closed as it is Monday.

    Still saw some cute streets, the Spanish Arches, a castle you wouldn't even realise you were passing, walked out to Mutton Island to see the lighthouse only to discover you can't actually visit the island because it is now the waste treatment facility, and stopped into the Atlanticaquaria (like AQWA) and the strolled home again... along the Promenade from 1900. It's a tradition to kick the wall when you reach the end and turn around and go back... we started at the wrong end but still kicked the wall. The promenade is 3kms long.

    Quiet evening planned with washing and camper 'reset'.
    24210 steps
    18.78kms
    Okumaya devam et

  • A castle, a mine, and an abbey

    13 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Left Galway and visited the Aughnanure Castle, complete with its own watch dog through the wall. Very cute.

    As we drove towards Clifden, we saw a sign to the Glengowla mine... so why not. It was a below ground mine that operated between 1850 and 1865 to mine for Galena (lead sulphite) that was used to make bullets during one of the wars. Went down 40m and it was only 8⁰... chilly. Panned for fools gold and had a look around.

    Then a nice drive around through Clifden. The next stop was the Kylemore Abbey and Victorian Walled Garden. Again, hadnt heard of it but by the packed parking lots it must have been good. About 10 tourist coaches... and it was. It is still an abbbey run by Benedictine Nuns and opened to the public.
    The original Abbey used to be the home of Mitchell and Margaret Henry and their 9 children. Mitchell was a politician at Westminster. Their mausoleum is on the site and a neo-gothic church that was built by Mitchell in the memory of Margaret when she died unexpectedly. It had beautiful pillars made from 4 different coloured marble. Mitchell lived another 36 years after her.
    Then there is the Victorian Walled Garden that contained nearly every fruit and vegetable you could imagine and originally it had 21 glasshouses. Mum, you would have loved this one!!!
    15834 steps
    12.28kms
    24⁰... they are saying it could be sunny through most of Ireland for another 2 or 3 weeks.🤦‍♀️🤷‍♀️
    Okumaya devam et

  • Sligo... and all the way up to Donegal

    14 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Look at the terrible weather we are having on this trip..... Fair amount of driving today. We tried to go to the Megalithic Cemetery near Sligo but it was closed for works... went to the Sligo Abbey and then to Parkes Castle on Lough Gill.. Very nicely rebuilt.

    Then we visited the grave of W.B. Yeats (poet) and one of the few High Crosses in Ireland.

    And finally, into Donegal town. Visited the Donegal Heritage Train Museum... Gary is happy.
    And then to the Donegal Castle.
    9650 steps
    7.5ms
    Approx because I forgot to get them from Gary before we went to bed
    Okumaya devam et

  • Donegal to Mulroy

    15 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Lighter day today... I had a crash fatigue day so slept during the drive... except when Gary had to brake suddenly for oncoming traffic or the roads decide to weave for quite a way, rocking me awake.
    Still stopped and went up to the lookouts at Horn Head and then went to Doe Castle.
    Of the parts I saw, it was very beautiful countryside, paddocks hills and lochs... and beaches. We walked down into the water of Marble Hill Beach... tide was out so it literally took 5mins to walk out to the water... hehe.
    Now camped up early at Mulroy Drive Campsite... friends in Perth know the owner so we popped in. Beautiful site. I sleptbfor 4hrs while Gary did the washing etc. Gary did 12857steps
    10kms... he says I probably did 7.5 as he went walking while I was sleeping.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Mulroy Dr to Portstewart (North Ireland)

    16 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Said goodbye to David at the campsite and visited Letterkenny on our way to Derry. Busy town. Visited the museum but didn't get any pictures.

    Then went to Grianan of Aileach.. another Ringfort. Bigger than the last one and more complete. Restored 150years ago. Amazing views.

    Onto Derry, which still has all its walls from when it was a walled town. You can walk all around them. Made it much quicker to get back to the camper when we realised this. Very hilly town so easier too. Visited the Tower Museum which also had the Derry Girls experience... sets and costumes etc, as well as the history of Derry from Bronze age through to the troubles. Worth a look.
    We continued on to find a pitch for tonight... and ended up in the seaside town of Portstewart.
    On to the Giant's Causeway tomorrow.
    14642 steps
    11.35kms
    Okumaya devam et

  • Giant's Causeway, a distillery & a giant

    17 Mayıs, Kuzey Irlanda ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    Stopped into a lookout and visited a castle from the carpark (it wasnt open yet) on our way to the Giant's Causeway...
    Giant's causeway... AMAZING rock formations that are over 55million years old. Spent a few hours there. Well worth the included guided tour down to the causeway. She was brilliant telling us about the geology, the mythology, the landscape, flora and fauna of the area.
    Amazes me that people paid the same to go visit but didn't go with a guide. More notes will be on the photos.
    As the causeway is about 5mins from Bushmills, we HAD to go do their distillery tour too... hehe. Tour was good but the whiskey not as good as at Midleton. Got the recipe for a nice Irish Margarita though.

    Then drove on to find a camp for the night and found the Dark Sky Park (observatory). It has one of 3 Giants like we have in Mandurah. The observatory closes at 9pm so no good for looking at the stars as sunset isn't until about 1015pm at this time of year. Gary struggled with his knees at the causeway so we didn't push it hard this afternoon.
    13521 steps
    10.48kms.
    Okumaya devam et

  • N. Ireland is basically closed on Sunday

    18 Mayıs, Kuzey Irlanda ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    Drove around to a lot of sites today only to find them closed... or not opening till 1pm.
    Went to some stone circles early as we knew they were 24hrs... then it took us till lunchtime at the Marble Arch Caves that we found something open. Not bad caves. It floods very regularly so formations get washed away. We also learnt the echoes are brilliant inside the cave... from the 2 toddlers on the guided tour with us... grrr. Poor Tour guides.

    Then we found another distillery to tour... hehe. The Shed distillery in Drumshanbo.. they make whiskey, gin and vodka.
    Found a nice park up in Leitrim Village for the night.
    9632 steps
    7.45kms
    Okumaya devam et

  • Trad music was grand!!

    18 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Went for dinner at the Leitrim Inn... had the best night... we listened for 4hrs and they were still going. They just kept coming into the bar with different instruments... they aged from about 9 with his tin whistle through to the old man of at least 85 with his Piano Accordian.

    They even attempted an 'aussie' song just for us... The Diamantina Drover
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  • Slow paced day. Leitrim to Shannonbridge

    19 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Visited the Rothcraghan Visitors Centre which was small but nice. Enjoyed their morning tea.

    Before lunch we went to an amazing backyard local museum called Derryglad folk and heritage museum... over 8000 pieces to look at from the past 200-ish years... kitchen items, farming equipment, war memorabilia, local sports memorabilia, mock school classroom, cobbler, and chemist. The old man that owns it showed us through a fair bit of it. He was born on the farm next door, the youngest of 11 children.

    Have a guess at what the mystery item is in the pictures... answer when you see us.

    After lunch we went to the Clonmacnoise Monastic site where there are 3 High Crosses preserved indoors (replicas outside) as well as 7 churches in various states of ruin. The smallest is said to be the tomb of St. Ciaran. People go on a pilgrimage to the site and have done for over 1500years.

    We found a nice riverside camp set up in Shannonbridge for the night.
    6903 steps
    5.3kms
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  • Shannonbridge to Mullingar... long way

    20 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    First sign of Irish weather today... hehe. Got less than 30secs of wet stuff midmorning.
    Did a fair bit of driving today.

    We went to a privately run and partly restored castle first... Leap Castle. A creepy feeling filled this one even before getting out of the camper. Even the old guy that owns it was a bit creepy.
    Beautiful views and a good attempt to restore on his own. I really didn't like it when he said we'd need a torch to go up the stairs though.

    Then we went on to Roscrea... beautiful Roscrea Castle and Damer House but we were allowed to take photos inside, so I took a couple from the outside.
    The wet stuff and solid wet stuff (hail) did continue after 3pm, with thunder and lightning too. We camped up just south of Mullingar to do some washing and prep for flights home on Thursday.
    7462 steps
    5.79kms.
    Okumaya devam et

  • Final full day... part 1

    21 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C

    First we drove to Cavan to see the Cavan Museum... on the way we found Garrymore Lane... close enough!!!

    Then the museum. Really good but we were short on time so didn't get to see their exhibition on the 1916 Easter Uprising.

    By going through Cavan, we ticked a bucket list item off... one that we have discovered has not been done by most Irish people in Ireland!!! Between our 6 days in 2023 and the past 3 weeks, we have visited ALL 32 counties of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland... 8 visited in 2023 and 27 this time. (So 3 both times)

    The afternoon is in part 2 as it is too big to add to this part.
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  • Final full day... part 2

    21 Mayıs, İrlanda ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Part 2 is Newgrange and Knowth Neolithic Tombs. Incredible to think they were built before the Egyptian Pyramids. They have evidence dating to 5200 years ago... but this is the physical evidence... the intricacies of the structures and resource used were brought in from nearly 100kms away suggest the planning was some time before construction.

    As well as neolithic evidence there was evidence of the sites use by middle ages, monastic times, the Norman (viking) times, Henry VIIIs invasion, early 17th and 18th century times. Different types of buildings and structures as well as remains.

    The carvings on the curve stones were interesting. Neolithic. They don't know what they mean but one theory is that is was the recreation of what they saw when high on magic mushrooms that were everywhere at the time. The circles are common all over the world, so it adds to the theory of what people saw of different types of highs.

    We couldn't go into the Knowth tombs as they are sealed for protection but were able to go inside the Newgrange Tomb and experience how the sun came into the tomb and illuminated the inside during the winter solstice. We were not allowed to take any type of photo/video in there.
    It was tight getting in that even I had to turn sideways and squeeze through.
    The entrance stone has a tri-spiral pattern (intertwined spirals) There are only 2 of this type confirmed from neolithic times in the world... we got to see both of them. The other was inside the tomb. Pretty cool.

    Gary didn't have his watch on all day so we think it was about 5.5kms today.
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  • Gezinin sonu
    24 Mayıs 2025