Ireland 2025

For years we had wanted to go to Ireland, but timing, circumstances and logistics all seemed too many barriers.  That was not the case this year, for now we had access to a direct flight to Dublin via Calgary.  As usual, we wanted an activity holiday, and we lucked into two consecutive one-week hiking holidays organized by the UK-based company HF Holidays.  We flew into Dublin and spent a couple of days acclimatizing before travelling by train and taxi South to Kenmare on the west coast.  After finishing the first week, we returned to Dublin and then travelled North to Belfast by train to embark on our adventures on the north coast.

CITY LIFE

A Glimpse of Dublin

Welcome to beautiful downtown Dublin.  We arrived in the heart of the city, near Trinity College.  The first two days meant getting over jetlag (the lights are on, but nobody is home…..) and walking around close to the hotel.  This was a very busy spot.  The street leading from the hotel was clearly a tourist walk and had a ton of pedestrians.  We tried very hard to listen for Irish accents, with nary a one to find.  The greater Dublin area has over 2 million inhabitants.

We were in the Temple Bar area (name of district as well as a street) and here was the official pub:  The Temple Bar!  It is hard to take a picture of a building, because they are tall and narrow, but the Temple Bar was notable for the strings of small white lights festooned over one side of the building.  It got quite festive in the dark.

Many of the streets (narrow!) in the area were paved with cobblestones. 

The major artery through was multi-laned, but with buses, trams, and automobiles going the wrong way (our perspective); crossing the street was a hair-raising experience.  Somehow the locals seemed to sense when you could walk through a no-walk sign, but we generally preferred waiting for the green one.  For us, trying to deal with traffic going in the opposite direction was death-defying.

It has taken me a while to realize this, but Ireland is a very understated country.  You might get something fancy like the Temple Bar, or the Foggy Dew, but generally building fronts were plain stone. Merely by going a half block away from the main drag, you could find little businesses that more than fit the bill for various things.  Our favourite pub immediately became the Oval Bar, established in 1820.  The street front of the building was quite narrow.  So was the downstairs bar and the upstairs dining room, but the pub did a booming business, probably because of the good food. The interiors were something else.  

Now and then you could find a whimsical statue.  The first one was actually for sitting, while the second one was merely cool.

To stretch our legs, we took a brief walk along a river and crossed over on a harp bridge—quite fetching.

On the other side, a boat was set up as a museum.  Its fame rested on the fact that is was a replica of the ones carrying hundreds of Irish immigrants to North America to escape the potato famine.  That must have been a miserable journey….

Ireland is warmed by the Gulf stream, and as a result there were palm trees everywhere.

Fishing is very mainstream; thus, here was a fishing shop right in the midst of downtown.  Salmon used to be the main catch, but they have been fished out.  To keep a balance to the fishing shop, there was a Hard Rock Cafe one block earlier on the street.

Speaking of food, although salmon was often on the menu, it was farmed.  There was lots of other seafood offered.  Irish Stew was always a mainstay, but unlike in Canada where it is normally served in a rich gravy, the stew was served in a clear broth with lots of potatoes, and carrots, and turnips and seemed to be a less savoury dish.  Potatoes were served with breakfast, lunch and dinner, and at dinnertime you generally got two kinds of potatoes (mashed and oven roasted).  The potato blight that caused the famine is still of concern.  (Local weather forecasts even noted days where the risk of potato blight was higher!)  A full Irish Breakfast was massive, and included: eggs, sausages, beans, grilled tomatoes, toast, blood pudding (made with blood and cereals), white pudding (made with animal fat and cereals), and god knows what else.    (I wasn’t brave enough to try the puddings….)

Dublin and southern Ireland are part of the European Union and use the Euro as currency.

The meeting point for our first walking trip was Kenmare, a small town in County Kerry.  It only had about 2500 inhabitants but was obviously very popular with tourists.  Three streets formed a triangle in the center of town, and the two long arms had every kind of shop, pub and business you could hope for. I’ll cover the walking later.  Kenmare was quite picturesque, and had small town whimsy such as a “Stop and Chat Bench”.  The little yellow sign suggested that if you sat down on the bench it was considered an invitation to chat with any passerby who came along.

A Glimpse of Belfast

Like Dublin, Belfast has a remarkable combination of old and new buildings.  We were right downtown for the first and last day of the northern trip and had a chance to walk around the city a bit.  To our surprise, the city of Belfast contains the shipyards that built the Titanic, and that history resulted in the creation of a museum dedicated to that construction and short-lived sailing.  Those shipyards also prompted 4 German bombings during WW2 which left half of the city’s homes damaged or destroyed.

From our hotel it was about a five km. walk to the shipyards, which were absolutely massive.  First indicators were examples of buoys and you can judge the size from the windows of the building in the background.  Big. 

The second clue was a decommissioned lighthouse, and you can tell the size by the people.  Again, Big.    

The walk led directly to the Titanic Museum, which was artistic (and Big).  My picture wasn’t good, so I chose one from the web.

Beyond the museum were the actual shipyards (really Big) that were crisscrossed with railway tracks to trundle material and pieces around.  Two huge cranes, named Samson and Goliath are an iconic landmark in the yards.  Samson is 348 feet tall while Goliath measures a mere 315 tall.

At the end of the quay, you could see the channel leading out to the ocean, and we watched a large freighter turn around and then dock to load up whatever the black material was behind it.

The beginning of the Titanic Path was a sculpture of the extirpated salmon.

Belfast also had its share of great little pubs with great big history. McHughs Pub was established in 1711. 

The Crown Pub was a relative newcomer.  It originated as the Railway Tavern, but was purchased in 1885 and underwent a significant renovation to emerge as the epitome of a Victorian Gin Parlour in opulent style.  Even the work on the outside of the building was magnificent.

We were only able to get a table near the entrance, but looking inside you can see the lovely interior.  And yes, the food was good.

We walked around the city with a guide the first morning we were there, and saw some amusing little touches in the architecture.  One firm of architects were motor race enthusiasts and they had some tiles on the outside of the building.

On the front of the building were tiles of famous architects, such as this.

The last touch was a bit of an eye test, but they had a little sculpture of Charlie Chaplin in an upper corner of the building.

Apparently Charlie Chaplin had made a memorable visit to the city, and this was also reflected by a sculpture at the shipyards.

Belfast and Northern Ireland are part of the United Kingdom and use the British Pound as currency.  The population of greater Belfast is more than 1.3 million.

The starting point for our walking tour was in Ballycastle, a small seaside town on the northern coast of Ireland.  Despite being twice the size of Kenmare, it still retained small town charm, and I was greatly amused to find that tractors were a common component of traffic. 

The seaside park was lovely, with a beautiful sculpture of swans, inspired by Irish mythology.

The beach directly across the street from our hotel was not crawling with tourists.

And, to our delight, the town had a drive-through laundromat!  What, you say?  We were given directions and told to look for the Fish and Chip shop.  As we approached, the situation didn’t look promising, but once we arrived voila!  A drive-through laundromat.  Beauty.  This was very important to Brian who had counted on a number of laundry stops.  (On this day, the Fish and Chip shop was closed, which made this parking lot look deader than a doornail, but the laundromat certainly worked.)

Ireland is very tidy, but the towns and countryside were littered with dead bodies.  Really.  This was not a result of rampant homicidal tendencies on the part of the Irish; rather it was Mother Nature showing once again she was Queen of all she surveyed.

Irish Architecture

Stone was the primary building material, and you could still see skeletons of old buildings everywhere.

Plants were readily invading old stones and breaking them down further.

Newer homes were built with stones, bricks, cement blocks and plaster, and it wasn’t uncommon in the country to see a new home being built close by to an old one.

A basic house in the country looked like this:

The basic house above was just that.  There were no embellishments whatsoever.  If someone was having a Martha Stewart moment, they might put out a potted plant in front of the door.  Or even a window box.  Sometimes there was even a little lawn.  But, once you got upscale, there was perhaps a planted shrub or two, or (gasp) for the more luxurious places there was landscaping.  Regardless of the money, homes were incredibly tidy and well-kept.

It was common to find row housing, and in the cities it looked like this:

But in smaller places, there was more customization, usually using colour:

On the other side of the spectrum, here is an art deco home built by an eccentric professor.

Of course, there were also magnificent stone mansions with huge lots, cultivated garden, and amazing front drives.

One of the most celebrated homes we visited was Dark Hedges, named for the 150 Beech trees planted along the driveway leading to the house.  If these pictures look familiar to you, it was because you watched “The Game of Thrones”. 

The beech hedge is a little more open as the trees die off, but it still was unique.

Here's what a real mansion could look like:

Not only did it have an impressive front lawn (landscaping!), but there were lovely gardens on the side.

Fencing was almost inevitably done with stonework.  You could get some interesting patterns with the rocks, and some houses used this as part of their landscaping feature.

Oddly enough, we did not see a lot of graffiti in Ireland, but we did see some amazing murals on the sides of buildings.

The last mural is notable in that it features the Irish sport of Hurling, sometimes called the fastest game on grass.  Two teams of 15 compete, using a wooden stick (Hurley) and a small ball (Sliotar).  We didn't see it played, but the mural was impressive.

Irish Critters

Of course, in Ireland, there are sheep.  Farmers mark them with paint of varying colours to denote ownership, and then there are tags/marks to indicate what ram serviced the ewe.  If we met them out walking, they were quite unconcerned about us unless curiosity compelled them to have a closer look.

One farmer went out of his way to dye his sheep, and thus we had a flock with golden fleeces.  Perhaps that was wishful thinking, for apparently wool prices are not high at the moment.  Despite speculation made by one of our group, there are no sheep that naturally have this colour of fleece.

Dairy farming was common, and there is a breed of cattle (Kerry) that is particular to Ireland, but not necessarily that common now.  They are famed for their rich milk, and resultant beautiful butter which is in a class by itself. Apparently Kerry Gold was a brand name familiar to Americans who were the beneficiaries of the butter imports.  I thought little of it, only to come home and find Kerry Cheddar Cheese in Costco! 

Despite the use of sheep dogs to herd sheep (and we certainly saw some) farmers were generally quite intolerant of other dogs. (Most dogs we saw were leashed, and often muzzled, and were very well behaved since the owners had been properly trained.)  We did see one sign discouraging dogs on the property; the end note on the sign was that dogs had been shot on the property.

Rooks were a very common bird.  They are members of the Crow family, are coloured black, and are extremely intelligent.  We stopped at one café, and instead of sparrows mooching crumbs, there were several rooks patrolling the tables to find goodies.   To my great surprise, one rook was very fond of milk used for tea.

I had to take a video to prove things.

Stiles We Have Known and Loved

Because we were almost inevitably crossing farmer’s fields, we got introduced to a wide variety of stiles.

The most simple ones involved some basic steps or a swing gate.

More sturdy stiles took the form of ladders, sometimes made of wood or resilient recycled materials.

As we left one field, we were surprised by a warning sign that was not present on our entry point to the field.

SOME NOTABLE WALKS AND EVENTS

Kenmare, The Ring of Kerry, The Ring of Beara

The small town of Kenmare  is situated between the Ring of Kerry and the Ring of Beara, both famous walking/driving routes..  

The Ring of Kerry is a scenic 179 km driving route through the county of Kerry.  The Ring of Beara is a 148 km coastal driving route around the Beara Peninsula.  Our walks featured highlights in both areas.

Our group consisted of 25 people and two tour leaders, one from Scotland and one from England.  Of the 25 participants, 16 were from a Portland, Oregon hiking club.  They inevitably chose the more challenging walk each day.

Those of us in the other pack walked 5 days of the week, with an average distance of 13 km a day and 450 meters a day of elevation. 

A typical walk was up and down, over rocks and small streams through eternally green fields and pastures.  There was a lot of rugged coastline with breathtaking views.

Most forests did not host huge trees; like Britain, the forests were decimated for firewood eons ago.  Still, walking through a forest was beautiful because everything was a lush green. 

Trees that were large enough often were covered with ivy and other plants.

 

The hedges were truly awe-inspiring to an arid climate-dweller, for they generally consisted of wild fuchsias and blackberry brambles.

Because there were few forests, walking could be on fields of grasses, which were very slippery when wet.

                                 

If we were walking on peat bog (a very normal occurrence) sometimes there were planks laid down to protect the peat plants.

The walking was up and down, although sometimes the ascents were aided by stone steps.

Other times we had to scramble over very slippery rocks; it was only our good luck that no-one twisted their ankle.

Sometimes we came across relicts such a wedge tomb for an ancient chieftain.  Unusually, this one was marked by a sign.  Mary, our guide standing beside it, was a very petite woman, so you could tell the tomb was for smaller people than our norm.

Now, I don't want to sound negative, but the first week it rained.  Every single day.

A normal footpath became a creek.

One of our meeting points was in the village of Sneem (!) and their overpass must have been straining against the weight of the water passing through.

Thursday was a lowlight of lowlights--it just poured all day.  By mid afternoon, everyone was soaked from the outside (only a large rubber sheet would have offered sufficient protection)  and the inside (perspiration).  HF had planned a ferry ride to an island to walk around a picturesque area.  None of us would leave the ferry.

The crew endeavoured to make our visit still interesting, so we did pass some seals, and did see a Sea Eagle perched on a tree.

It turned out that our Portland hiking group were far smarter than the rest of us, for they found a church and had their packed lunches out of the rain.  They then descended on the local pub, and started slurping down Irish coffees.  When we arrived at the pub, which was the only place open, we were not allowed to eat our lunches inside, and we were too cold and wet to think of Irish coffee.  Sad.

Ballycastle and the Giant’s Causeway

Our second week of walking was based around the Giant's Causeway, a World Heritage Site.  (If you like rocks as much as I do, this was truly awe-inspiring.)

The Giant’s Causeway comprises a series of huge cliffs with clearly marked lava flows.  It was a fascinating glimpse of volcanic eruptions eons ago.  The lava’s rate of cooling allowed for some unique forms of basalt called columnar basalt.  As the lava started to cool, cracks developed on the surface.  The rock shrank as it cooled, and started to separate on planar lines, often in a hexagonal shape.  The lines extended far below the surface.  With glaciation followed by sea erosion, the columns have been formed into fantastic shapes.

We started out at the site of the pillars.  Eroded ones formed perfect steps.

 The cliffs soared above our heads.

(Check the little heads at the base of the photo for a sense of scale.)

The cliffs went all along the coast.

The beaches in this area were black because of the basalt rocks and sands.

Erosion made for some interesting spires and shapes, including the Elephant Rock where we had lunch.

For some variety, we also ran into chalk cliffs and their attendant white beaches.

Fences using chalk stones stood out more in the landscape.

 To round out the variety, we also came across an amazing sand beach, created by eroding sandstone layers.

One of the highlights of one day (for some) was to cross a rope bridge to a separate rock.  People who are members of the National Trust were allowed free admission, but we didn’t qualify.  We could have paid 30 pounds for the privilege (!), but I decided we would be better served by spending the money on Guinness Beer and we thus abstained.

In this week of walking, if we were not looking at beaches, there was little to see inland.  Farms were remote and spread out.

Stone outcroppings were common.

When we did come to historical artifacts, it was usually on the beach.

For example, this is a lime kiln where they burned limestone to make quicklime, used in mortar and and as a fertilizer.  (Note that the fumes were toxic.)

In another area, we saw a building where people burned seaweed called kelp.  The resultant products were used in soap and glassmaking, creation of iodine, and industrial uses.  (Again, the fumes were toxic.  Sheesh.  Talk about a hard life.) 

One of the highlights of the second week was the abundance of waterfalls, especially when we stopped at this park.

With all the rain we had had, we thought we had experienced a lot of spontaneous waterfalls, but this park showed us a different league.

Last week, even little spaces had waterfalls...

In the park,  we started with a little waterfall...

Then bigger....

And, bigger yet....

No wonder the countryside is so green.

To summarize our walking, in our first week we walked 66 km. in 5 days and gained (and lost) 2200 feet in elevation.  In the second week, which featured more sightseeing, we walked 45 km. in 5 days and gained/lost 1700 feet.  This was more than enough to overcome the overeating we enjoyed, and gave us a good appreciation for the terrain and the countryside.

Unique Irish Experiences

HF Holidays made great efforts to give us interesting experiences along with the walks, and two stand out in my mind.

Molly Gallivan’s

We spent an evening at Molly Gallivan’s where we enjoyed a typical Irish dinner and saw demonstrations of typical farm activities of the time.  You can see their website at https://mollygallivans.com/ (Their pictures are better than mine!)

On the outside of the complex, a huge carving of a Druid celebrated the arrival of the first settlers over 6000 years ago.

The house featuring the displays was over 200 years old.  Molly Gallivan was widowed with seven small children, and had to be extremely resourceful to keep going.  She sold part of her farm produce such as butter, eggs, and honey.

Her hand-spun woolens were popular, and I can attest to the quality of products available for sale in a small area that somehow housed space for literally hundreds of beautiful products.  Unfortunately, the ones mentioned on the website are only a very limited portion of the selection available.

Her most famous product, however, was her illicit Mountain Dew (homemade whiskey or “poitin” as the Irish call it.

Normally there was a tour of the farmyard, but it was raining (!) steadily, and none of us were enthusiastic about walking outside.  Inside, the house was heated by a peat fire with its characteristic aroma (quite pleasant, actually), and the illumination was provided solely by candles.

We did get a demonstration of bread-making.

Some examples of traditional Irish Music.

And….the operation of the whiskey still.  After that, we were forced to chug a wee dram, and Irish coffee was served after dinner.

 

 Dinner (Irish Stew) was served by candlelight.

Farm Tea

In our second week, we were treated to a farm tea after going for a walk in the area.  It definitely was not what I was expecting, given previous experiences of British Cream Tea. 

There were no linen tablecloths.

 

There was no table service.

                                 

And the tearoom was not fashionably decorated.  And yet, this was obviously an important source of income for the farmer, who said he was getting very little for his wool these days.  I muttered a bit at the 5 pounds a person price, but it certainly was part of the experience.

                          

I should finish with my impressions of the Irish people.  They were lovely. 

Most Irish had a more compact build than us North Americans, and many were dark haired.  Irish men wore their hair cut short and their beards were neatly trimmed.  Everyone was neatly dressed, often with fairly neutral or dark colours,  When the women got dressed up for a night out with other women, the most fashionable would wear black pleated MINI-skirts that barely covered their butt-line, accompanied with a black bustier or corset on top, displaying full female pulchritude.  On the other hand, our hotels were hosts to a wedding and a prom, and the women's gowns looked like they had come straight from the Paris runways.

Most importantly, the Irish were kind.  A number of times we were stopped on a street trying to figure out a map, and someone would come straight up to help.  Talking to locals highlighted their cheerfulness and sense of humour.  In all, this was a noteworthy trip for us that has merely made us want more.

Thank you for visiting!