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Scotland & Ireland 2024
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juin – juil. 2024

Scotland & Ireland 2024

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  • Début du voyage
    10 juin 2024
    Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024Dewit Family Travels
    1Went out for a beverage at a pub near our accommodation on arrival.

    Edinburgh, Scotland

    12 juin 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    And so, another overseas adventure has begun for Laura and I! Day 1 was a long, travel day beginning at 2:30 pm when I left Duncan to pick Laura up from work and drive down to Victoria to meet up with Marc and drive out to the Victoria airport. We had a bit of stress on the Malahat when we came to a sudden standstill just south of the Shawnigan Lake exit and saw traffic backed up for as far as the eye could see! There had been a vehicle accident, but luckily, it was just being cleared as we arrived, and soon traffic was flowing, albeit very slowly for quite a distance.
    The flight to Vancouver and then the connecting flight to London both left on time and we had seats together despite not having paid for seat selections when booking. We were also able to check in our carry-ons for free, which was nice. On arrival at Heathrow in London we made our way on foot and train to terminal 5 where we found a Cafe Costa and stopped for lattes. Emma arrived at Heathrow from Newquay, on the English coast, soon after, and we headed to section A9, where we arranged to meet, just inside the security zone for departures.
    It was great seeing her again! Emma had been traveling through Europe with her friend, Emma for 6 weeks. The “M&M’s” visited England, The Netherlands, France, Poland, Italy, Austria, Spain and Portugal together and now, Emma, would travel to Scotland and Ireland with us for the next three weeks before heading off on her own for an additional month of travel.
    We had to wait a few hours at Heathrow, but soon we were on our way to the final destination for the day, Edinburgh. Once there we made our way to the bus stop and caught the bus to town where we got off just a few hundred meters from our AirBNB accommodation. We were a little concerned on arrival when we couldn’t find the lock box with the key to get inside, but soon realized that the room was on Atholl Lane not Atholl Crescent!
    Shortly after dropping off our luggage in the room we walked a short distance to a local pub where we had dinner. Laura had a vegan chili, I had the meat version, and Emma had Mac ‘n Cheese. I also quenched my thirst with both an Ossian beer (a local beer with citrus added) and a Scottish lager. The pub was packed as it was open mic night. We left shortly after that started at 9 pm.    En savoir plus

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    On our Royal Mile hike in Edinburgh
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    Edinburgh - Day 1

    12 juin 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Did a whole lot of touring Edinburgh on foot today. Over 25,000 steps worth, in fact! The day started with me going across the street to Cafe Nero to pickup coffees for Laura and I to have in our room. Rather pricey. Might want to start looking at brewing our own though whenever we have a coffee maker in our kitchen. We’re already doing our own breakfast and lunches by picking up groceries in the local store. And last night, we even made a nice pasta with salad for dinner using our kitchen.
    We started the day’s touring by heading to the Royal Mile. So amazing to see all the historic buildings that have stood for twice as long as Canada has even been a country! Went inside the Giles and marvelled at the beautiful stained glass windows and massive pipe organ!
    Also, ventured inside a free history museum which focussed on the history of life for those who have lived in Edinburgh. So much that we have in our homes today that we all just take for granted never existed for many, years ago. No running water. No toilets or sewage treatment. No electricity. No heat. No A/C. Tiny rooms for entire families.
    Our tour de foot continued with a hike up Arthur’s Seat to get a great view of the city and surrounding landscape. It’s actually an ancient volcano turned into favourite hiking destination for locals and tourists. Lots of people. Looked liked a scene of hikers going up Everest except that there is not a single trail up. It’s quite wide open with many, well worn routes to the top. The panoramic view from the top made the effort well worthwhile!
    We took a slightly different route back to our room for lunch. Emma went via a route to a camera store so she could get her camera cleaned. Laura and I followed along a popular jogging and cycling route back to the Royal Mile and then to our room. Felt good to take a break and have some food to fuel up for the afternoon where we did a little more touring the sights and a bit of shopping. Laura’s suitcase fell apart on arrival yesterday so we needed to find a replacement!    En savoir plus

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    Edinburgh - Day 2

    13–16 juin 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    Another big walk about today. Close to 25K steps! What better way to see a city with so much of interest to see though, eh? Our plan for today had been to walk up the castle and tour inside. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones with that in mind. So, admission tickets were sold out for the day and we couldn’t get in! Everyone had bought them online beforehand. Now you not only have to book accommodations and transportation beforehand, you need to do that for popular tourist attractions as well, it seems.
    Sometimes things happen for a reason that isn’t always immediately apparent. After finding out that we couldn’t tour the castle, we walked back down the hill and came across the National Art Gallery. It is free of charge so we decided to check it out. Turns out that the museum contains a very large collection of paintings and art including from the likes of Rembrandt and Matisse. It was more than you could possibly appreciate in one visit, but it was enjoyable to take in a sampling for a few hours.
    From the museum we walked back to our place of stay for lunch and a rest before continuing the walk about. Our next destination was Dean’s Village, a picturesque area of town with a small river where there were once several mills for grinding grain to supply the city’s bakeries. We followed a path along the river all the way to our next destination, The Royal Botanical Gardens. That was also very enjoyable. There are several areas, organized into themes such as Chinese Medicinal garden, Rock Garden, Woodlands Garden … each with a huge collection of plant species, many we had never before seen.
    We had by now covered a lot of area and it was time to pick up some food and head back to our room to make dinner. I had a tasty East Indian curried chicken with rice meal. Laura and Emma had pasta.    En savoir plus

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  • Dewit Family TravelsScotland & Ireland 2024Dewit Family Travels
    Main room in our accommodation.Outside of our stay in Inverness.Incredible number of choices for prepared meals.Ocean view enroute to Culloden.One raised brick in wall for each dead fighter.Interesting bookstore in what was once a church.Ness River1

    Inverness

    14–16 juin 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Yesterday was a travel day. Our first of four train trips in Scotland. We went from our first stop, Edinburgh, to Inverness. About a three hour ride through the Scottish highlands. It was a comfortable ride with the three of us seated at a table.
    On arrival in Inverness we walked the short distance to our next home. It too is an AirBnB and, although its in a very old and somewhat run down building, our accommodation is very nice. Roomy, full kitchen and appears to be recently, beautifully renovated.
    After unloading our luggage and a short rest, we decided to tour the city centre on foot and pickup some food for dinner. We swung by the tourist information centre, got some helpful ideas on what to see, and picked up a map. Unfortunately, Inverness. Castle is a no go as its under renovation and closed to the public. We did tour an interesting historical museum before heading to the grocery store to pick up some food for dinner.
    It was the start of the European Cup soccer competition, and Scotland was scheduled to play the host country, Germany, in a few hours. We thought we might go back downtown to watch it with the fans in a pub, but decided instead to watch it on the TV in our room. Probably the better idea as Scotland played poorly and got whacked 5-1.
    We started off our one full day in Inverness with coffees and breakfast in town. It cost us $40 for three scones, a muffin and two coffees. Don’t know that we’ll do that again anytime soon.
    Following the meal we walked to the bus stop nearby and caught the bus to Culloden where we visited the historic battlefield and museum. We decided to sign up for a guided tour of the battlefield. It was a beautiful day weather wise and having the guide explain the story of the famous battle that occurred there in 1746 made for a very enjoyable experience. Following the tour we explored the museum on our own.
    After arriving back in Inverness we picked up food for lunch and dinner and walked home to eat lunch before heading out to explore some more of the sights in Inverness. Emma decided to go for a run. Laura and I headed down to the Ness River and walked along both sides following a pedestrian pathway. We met up later with Emma in the city centre and visited an historic church, a bookstore inside what once a church, the oldest home in Inverness and followed along a few streets we hadn’t yet seen.
    We ended the day back in our accommodation where we made dinner and then relaxed, watching shows on our devices afterwards.    En savoir plus

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    Isle of Skye

    16–18 juin 2024, Écosse ⋅ 🌬 11 °C

    After a full day of train and bus travel yesterday, going from Inverness to the Isle of Skye, today we went on a full day, guided minibus tour of Skye. The photos will speak for themselves, but in a nutshell, it was an amazing tour! The stops were all very scenic and we had a knowledgeable, Scottish guide who gave us lots of history and interesting facts as he took us from site to site.
    We were very lucky to have gotten on this tour. I tried booking it on line months ago, but there was only one spot available. I emailed the company and got a quick response from Bill (who turned out to be our tour guide today) who magically made two more spots available! There were no other touring companies with spots available and our only other option would have been to rent a car. Well that would have been a nightmare! Most of the roads we were on today were single lane, narrow and winding. All along the routes were very, very short sections that were slightly wider to allow two vehicles traveling in opposite directions to pass each other. They were all identified with a little sign, “Passing Place”. Our driver was constantly scanning the road ahead to see if he needed to use an upcoming passing place to allow oncoming traffic to pass. On more than one occasion we would be caught in between, and one or the other drivers would have to back up to the nearest passing place. Fine, if you’re not having to drive!
    The touring, day trip started at 9:15. Our first stop, after we left our home base of Portree, were the Fairy Pools. Here we hiked along a trail and saw a series of small waterfalls in a grassy meadow setting at the foot of a towering mountain. From there we drove to Neist Point and hiked along another trail to get a number of amazing views of the ocean and surrounding landscape. Soon after, it was time for lunch so we stopped at a cafe on the route. Our touring group of 16 were seated at a number of small tables. We got to know Kevin and Nancy, a couple from Virginia. After lunch, the tour continued with photo stops at Quiraing, Old Man of Storr, Cuillin Mountains, Kilt Rock as well as time to walk through Fairy Glen.
    Back in Portree we stopped in at our accommodation to drop off some things and headed straight to the church around the corner. Not to attend a service, but to eat dinner! It’s a church that’s been turned into a restaurant. Quite a cool setting. And we were able to watch a bit more EuroCup Soccer on their big TV screen while waiting for the food to be served. I had a big plate of fish and chips. Emma had a burger and Laura had scampi.
    We ended the day watching France beat Austria in EuroCup soccer back in our room.    En savoir plus

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    Fort William

    18–20 juin 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    It’s once again time to hit the road. We’ve really enjoyed our stay in Fort Williams. It’s a very pedestrian friendly city with a vehicle free Main Street running through the downtown. Lots of restaurants and shops to explore. It also great for outdoor enthusiasts with Ben Nevis nearby offering hiking and biking with a ski lift to take you to the alpine area if you like.
    Yesterday, we opted to tour the valley between Fort William and Spean Bridge by bicycle. We picked up our bikes from Off Beat at 10 am and reached Spean Bridge at around noon where we found a picnic table, rested and ate lunch. That leg of the trip was flat and easy. The next leg, which followed along the slopes of Ben Nevis was much more challenging. Much of the way we were on fairly rough logging roads with a number of reasonably challenging hill climbs. It took us about 3 hours to complete that leg and arrive back at the bike shop.
    We then walked back to our hotel to relax and watch a bit of EuroCup soccer before heading to The Tavern for dinner. I thought I’d try nachos. Bad idea. All I got were chips, a bit of cheese and salsa. Laura and Emma got better value with a soup and a pasta dish.    En savoir plus

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    Stirling

    20–23 juin 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Yesterday we took the train from Fort William, where we had stayed for two nights, to Glasgow. We arrived just in time to walk 1.1 km and check-in to our next accommodation. After a short rest we did a walking tour of George Square and the downtown area as far as the riverbank. Glasgow city centre is another pedestrian friendly area with a large vehicle-free promenade. Right now considerable work is being done on putting down new paving stones so there is a lot of fencing in place so it wasn’t quite as pleasant as it will be once the work is completed.
    Today we took a day trip by train to Stirling, about 30 mins away. We wanted to tour Scotland’s oldest, intact castle as well as walk the historic city’s streets. We made our way up to the castle, positioned on a hill overlooking the city, by following along a paved path which hugged the original city wall. The castle visit was much enjoyed. The palace rooms where the king and queen slept, met with visitors and spent much of their time have all been restored to their original splendour. Other areas such as the Great Hall, once the largest, non-ecclesiastical building in the country, have also been restored and are accessible for viewing.
    After touring the castle, we walked to, and toured the historic, City Jail, which replaced the notorious Tolbooth jail. It was a guided tour which turned out to be a lot of fun as Emma was selected to participate in a bit of role playing as a former inmate.
    By now it was late afternoon so we walked back down to the train station to catch the train back to Glasgow.    En savoir plus

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    Glasgow

    22 juin 2024, 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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    Belfast - Day 1

    23 juin 2024, 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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    Belfast - Day 2

    24 juin 2024, 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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    Live portal to New York City!
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    Dublin - Day 1

    25 juin 2024, 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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    Dublin - Day 2

    26 juin 2024, 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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    Newcastle.

    Dublin to Newcastle

    27 juin 2024, 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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    2Ennis street scape

    Newcastle to Cliffs of Moher

    28 juin 2024, 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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    Newcastle to Blarney

    29 juin 2024, 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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    Blarney Castle
    Blarney Castle GardensWaterway in downtown Cork.Kinsale had many quaint and colorful buildings.Colorful street scape in Kinsale.Colourful building in Kinsale

    Blarney - Day 2

    30 juin 2024, 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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    Leaving from Cork airport for HeathrowPlaying fussbal in the Ted Lasso shop.Terrace Gardens. Once popular with royalty.The Last Breakfast. Located close to hotel.Long escalator at Heathrow.

    Richmond

    1–2 juil. 2024, 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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    Fin du voyage
    2 juillet 2024