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s’est rendu dans 13 pays. En savoir plus Duncan, Canada
  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    Jour 22–23

    Richmond

    1 juillet, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    Laura and Emma both loved the “Ted Lasso” show. It was filmed in Richmond, England. So, with it being located less than an hour from Heathrow, it was decided that would be a good place to spend one night before flying home. We got up bright and early (5 AM) to catch a flight back to England. From Heathrow we took the tube to Richmond. It was too early for checkin at our hotel, but they agreed to allow us to drop off our luggage. Minutes after doing so, while having a snack outside the hotel, we were told we could check in to our room.
    The plan for today was to just tour the town, locating some of the key places used in the filming of the show. So, that is exactly what we did over the next four hours. Along the way we came across a number of other interesting sights as Richmond has a long history dating back at least 500 years.
    With a few hours left before it was time to go for dinner we decided to rent bikes and follow along the Thames River Bikeway. We only cycled for an hour so didn’t get very far from Richmond, but it seems that you can cycle along the route a very long distance in either direction. It is a relatively level pathway and mostly paved so it was much easier pedalling here than what we experienced in the Scottish Highlands. Lots of interesting scenery along the way as well.
    After returning the rental bikes we walked to the pub featured in Ted Lasso to have a beverage and watch EuroCup Soccer, but it was too full. We found another pub instead not too far away. We ended our day with dinner at “Nando’s”, a Portuguese restaurant featuring Peri Peri cooked chicken. We all enjoyed our meals.
    Tomorrow, Laura and I fly, while Emma flies to Budapest and journeys on solo for the next month. It’s been a great three weeks of travel and I am already looking forward to choosing a next adventure!    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    Jour 21

    Blarney - Day 2

    30 juin, Irlande ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Today we started with a visit to Blarney Castle, which is only a short walk away from our hotel in Blarney. We’ve see a few impressive castles already on this trip and have been unable to visit a few others. We found this one to be especially interesting with its fabled Blarney Stone. It is remarkably well preserved considering it dates back to medieval times. As well as the castle, there is also a very large area with a variety of gardens surrounding the castle open to the public. We spent over two hours touring the castle and exploring the grounds and then walked back to our hotel for some lunch.
    We spent the afternoon going for a drive to Cork and Kinsale. We parked in downtown Cork and walked along the extensive pedestrian shopping area. Beyond that, we didn’t see much of interest in Cork so decided to drive about 25 kilometres to the seaside town of Kinsale. We really enjoyed walking along the narrow streets with the many colourfully painted shops and cafes.
    We got back to Blarney in time to go for dinner at an Italian restaurant next door to our hotel and then return to our room to watch soccer and get packed for our trip to the airport early tomorrow morning.    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    Jour 20

    Newcastle to Blarney

    29 juin, Irlande ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Today we left our farm house near Newcastle for our next and final stop in Ireland. It’s a short drive but we stop in Killarney which is on the route. The town has a nice city centre with several colourful buildings and interesting shops to browse. There is a large park near Killarney with a number of hiking trails, so after lunch we decided to follow a short loop trail that leads to a waterfall. It was quite scenic and an enjoyable hike.
    From Killarney we drove the rest of the way to Blarney. In Blarney we stayed in the Muskerry Arms Hotel, in a room located on the second floor directly above the pub. After checking in to our room and taking a few minutes to relax we went downstairs to the pub for a drink and then for dinner at a Chinese restaurant located just across the street from the hotel. Afterwards, we were content to return to our room to watch EuroCup soccer. It was a bit of a challenge getting to sleep with the bar band blasting music till midnight and the drunken patrons shouting and talking loudly just below our window until around 1 am.    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    2
    Jour 19

    Newcastle to Cliffs of Moher

    28 juin, Irlande ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Acting on the recommendation of a former bus driver, we got up at 6 am and hit the road to the Cliffs of Moher by 6:15. We arrived at the parking lot at 8:15. It was almost empty. A good thing. The weather was pretty good as well! Over the next few hours we followed the trails that lead along the edge of the cliffs. Spectacular views!
    From here we drove to Lahinch which is a small town on the ocean and a favourite location among Irish surfers. We walked along the shoreline and through some shops in town.
    After a packed lunch we drove to Ennis, another Irish town with some interesting, historic buildings and a number of quaint shops in the city centre. From there we drove back to our farmhouse to make dinner.    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    Jour 18

    Dublin to Newcastle

    27 juin, Irlande ⋅ 🌬 14 °C

    Today we left Dublin by train for Limerick where we are scheduled to pickup a rental car. The train trip was about two hours. Along the route we conversed a bit with a young Irish girl on her way to Cork. While doing so another passenger overheard our conversation about the Cliffs of Moher. He gave us some useful advice. He was once a bus driver who took tourists to see this very popular attraction. He highly recommended that we go early because up to 40 bus loads of tourists arrive later in the day and can get crazy busy.
    In Limerick, we walked a few blocks to pickup our car. It all went smoothly and away we drove. Emma was able to figure out how to connect her phone to the screen in the car and enter the Irish postal code of our next place of stay. The drive took a couple of hours but went very smoothly. I didn’t have too much trouble adjusting to driving on the left side of the road and navigating the many roundabouts.
    Our accommodation is a very old farmhouse on a farm in the countryside near Newcastle. We have the whole house to ourselves. Out side are cows, chickens and llamas. After a short break, we drove into the nearby hamlet of Newcastle to do a little walking tour and pickup groceries at Tesco.
    Dinner tonight was butter chicken. We bought a sauce mix and cooked chicken thighs in the sauce and served it up with rice and green beans.    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    1
    1
    Jour 17

    Dublin - Day 2

    26 juin, Irlande ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    Our second day in Dublin began with the host at our BNB providing us with a nice breakfast which included a selection of cereals, bread, spreads, juice and fruit. After breakfast we caught the DART commuter train to Malahide, a stop at the end of the line, and a small, quaint village recommended as a destination to us by our BNB host. Once there we followed a pedestrian walkway along the waterfront to an area with an expanse of beach sand on the shores of the Irish Sea. Very picturesque area and a nice change from busy cities.

    On the return walk from the beach we followed a more coastal route and made our way into the heart of the village which has a few streets lined with small shops and cafes. We stopped for a snack at one place before continuing on to Malahide Castle and Gardens. Once there we toured through a butterfly garden filled with a number of beautiful butterflies, then walked through part of the expansive gardens surrounding the castle before joining in on a guided tour of the castle itself. The gardens include large grassy fields one of which was being setup for an upcoming series of concerts including Arcade Fire!

    On the guided castle tour, we learned all about the castle’s history including the fact that it has been continuously inhabited by the same family for almost 800 years. We also learned about the origins of a few of today’s expressions, the origins of which we don’t always know, but wonder about, such as “plastered” and “watch your beeswax”!

    After the castle tour it was time for lunch as we were all getting hungry. We walked back into town where I had a sub-style ham and cheese sandwich, Emma had sausage rolls and Laura had a couscous salad,

    After finishing lunch, we found our way back to the DART station and took it all the way into downtown Dublin to continue our walking touring of the city. There were still many places we had not yet seen. The photos in today’s posting highlights the places we visited today. The city of Dublin is large and it offers a lot to see and do.

    It is very quiet and comfortable here in our BNB on the outskirts of Dublin and we have access to the kitchen so, after we had completed our touring of the downtown area, we brought dinner meals home with us from M&S that we just had to heat up in the microwave. Emma decided to go for a long run at a nearby park before dinner. I had dinner early and headed back up to our bedroom to watch another EuroCup soccer match and enjoy a big bottle of Italian beer. I tried watching another episode of “The Bridgersons” on Netflix but dozed off several times. The 25,000+ steps I walked today had tired me out!    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    12
    Jour 16

    Dublin - Day 1

    25 juin, Irlande ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We arrived in Dublin by bus shortly after noon today. It was cheaper and simpler to go by bus rather than by train. It was a short walk to the DART line where were able to catch a train to the outskirts where we had reserved an AirBNB for two nights. It’s a short, easy walk from our train stop to the AirBNB.
    After unloading our luggage and a quick break we were back on the DART headed to downtown Dublin. Once there we spent the next few hours just randomly exploring the downtown and all its pedestrian friendly streets as well as a few points of interest such as “The Dublin Portal” which is a big, 2-way, looking glass/video screen with a live view of New York City. You could interact with people gathered in front of the “New York City Portal”. Emma played a game of rock, paper, scissors with someone!
    The city of Dublin has a history dating back at least 800 years so there are lots of historical sites and other points of interest worth seeing. These include Dublin Cstle, The Book of Kell’s, The Spire, St. Stephen’s Green, Trinity College … . I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.
    We went out for dinner at an excellent Turkish cafe where I had a chicken schwarma dinner that was delicious and huge! Laura had falafels and Emma a lamb bowl. After dinner we did a bit more exploring downtown. I wanted to head home to watch soccer so left on my own while Laura and Emma did some more walking about downtown.
    In my haste, I took the wrong DART train out of downtown and ended up a long way away from where we were staying. I had to back track and transfer onto a different train. Instead of taking about 20 minutes to get to the AirBnB, it took more than an hour. I was fortunate that there were still a fair number of trains running at the time otherwise I might have been in a pickle!    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    22
    Jour 15

    Belfast - Day 2

    24 juin, Irlande du Nord ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Today we started our planned walking tour at the Glasgow City Chambers to book a guided tour for the afternoon. From there we slowly worked our way past several points of interest en route to the Titanic Belfast Museum where we had entry passes for 12 o’clock.
    The museum was fantastic. Located beside the Titanic Slipways, the Harland & Wolff Drawing Offices and Hamilton Graving Dock – the exact place where Titanic was designed, built and launched, Titanic Belfast tells the story of Titanic from her conception, through her construction and launch, to her maiden voyage and subsequent place in history. Everything from the exterior design of the building, which resembles the hull of large ship, to the way you are guided through the various exhibits is amazing.
    How such a huge, complex piece of engineering could be built in the early 1900’s is beyond me. No computers to generate the thousands of blueprints with the design specifications or the templates needed to cut and form the hull pieces. The assemble process for the hull involved no welding. It was all assembled using millions of rivets being tossed in the air between workers from a forge to someone else who would hammer the rivet through precisely aligned holes, while white hot.
    On leaving the museum we ate a late lunch and headed back to the Glasgow City Chambers, which is located overlooking George Square. We missed the guided tour, but nonetheless were still able to enjoy going through the lower floor of the building, which houses a collection of historical exhibits, on our own. This building has for over a century been the headquarters of successive city councils serving the City of Belfast and is one of the city’s most prestigious buildings.    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    22
    Jour 14

    Belfast - Day 1

    23 juin, Irlande du Nord ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Got up extra early to catch an 8:30 am flight from Glasgow to our next destination, Belfast. It was easy to get to the Glasgow airport. Just a 15 minute walk to the bus terminal and then a direct AirPort Express to the airport. On arrival in Belfast we caught a bus from the airport to the city centre. We had all our luggage with us and several hours before we could check in so we found a “Bounce” drop off office close by and left our luggage there.
    Over the next several hours we did what we like to do when we arrive in a new location: we walked around. It’s always enjoyable taking in the new sights. We walked through the shopping district, along a pedestrian mall, past the iconic Belfast City Hall, the leaning, Albert’s clock tower, White’s pub (dates back to 1642) and went to George’s Market to look at the many vendors and the interesting things they were selling. We also grabbed a lunch there.
    After lunch we continued to explore the city on foot, eventually making our way back to the Bounce office and then to our accommodations, which were not far away. Once rested we decided to go to a grocer and get some food for dinner. Unfortunately, on the way out, we couldn’t seem to get the door to lock. In the process of trying to do so we broke the key and the broken part was now stuck in the lock with only a teeny bit protruding.
    I called the owner who said he’d come down with a spare key, but didn’t have tools to get the broken piece out. While he was trying to locate tools I tired in vain to remove the broken key with tweezers, Then, I saw a neighbour down the street and asked if he might have a pair of pliers I could borrow. He did have and I was able to pull the broken key piece out of the lock. I called the owner back to let him know and he arrived soon after with a replacement key. He showed me that there was nothing wrong with the key or lock on the door. All I had to do was hold up the handle on the door while turning the key in order to lock it. I suggested that he might want to put that instruction in the welcome booklet as most North American travellers would not know to do this!    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024
    22
    Jour 13

    Glasgow

    22 juin, Irlande du Nord ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Yesterday we spent the day touring Stirling. Today we did the same in Glasgow. The plan was to walk to the Merchant’s Square Market as a first destination but it was closed so we walked on to see the Barras Market instead. It’s like a huge garage sale in a covered building with hundreds of stalls selling all sorts of goods. From there we walked on to Glasgow Green which is a large park located alongside the River Clyde. The park has a beautiful fountain, Doulton Fountain which is considered the most impressive monument in Glasgow. It is also the largest remaining terracotta fountain in the world. The park also contains Nelson’s Monument which is an obelisk that stands 44 m high!
    Next stop was the Kelvingrove Museum which is both a museum and an art gallery. It is the most popular free to enter attraction in Scotland. We arrived there in time to eat a packed lunch on the benches outside, take a look at a few natural history exhibits and then sit down and enjoy a 30 minute recital on a large church, pipe organ located in the main entrance area of the museum. It was amazing to hear the organist play Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” and a number of other songs. Following the concert we spent another hour roaming through the vast collection of art, Egyptian artifacts, as well as arms and armour dating back to the Middle Ages.
    High on my list of must do’s for Glasgow was the Riverside Museum, also known as the Glasgow Museum of Transport. It was not a long walk to get there from the Kelvingrove Museum and the pedestrian path to get there is well marked. Again, entry was free, as is the case for all museums in Scotland. Once inside it was very enjoyable seeing the historical collection of motorcycles, cars, … trains, bicycles. The highlight, however, was the large, tall ship, located outside on the Clyde river. We were able to get right inside and see the crew cabins, the engine room, captain’s quarters and all other areas of the ship. You could get a real feel for what it might have been like living and working on such a ship as it navigated the world’s oceans.    En savoir plus

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