May 10th

We left our campsite in Clifden at Connemara after breakfast. We were treated to incredible scenery on our way out. It was actually the same scenery we came in on. It always looks different in the opposite direction😁. We realized later we should have gone in another direction through Westport and then out to Strokestown.

We headed east for 2.5 hours. We were going to The National Famine Museum in Strokestown in County Roscommon. We had missed the Famine Museum in Dublin and felt it important to have some education about this terrible time in Irish History.

The drive to Strokestown was on many a country road and the scenery was the best of Ireland

We finally got to the National Famine Museum and had lunch in the van before seeing the Exhibition.

Between 1845 and 1852, Ireland’s potato crop got a blight and it wiped out a major food source for a lot of the population. It brought on more poverty and famine to a population that was already struggling.

At Strokestown where we were visiting that day, the Mahon family were the landowners for 300 years. In 1847 during the blight, many were offered passage to North America, including Canada. The catch was, they had to walk the 165 km to Dublin to get the ship to Liverpool to meet other ships to take them across the Atlantic. 1490 people walked the route from Strokestown estate. Many died enroute during different legs of the journey. All immigrants to Canada went through Gross Isle in the St Lawrence to be processed. There is a graveyard on Gross Isle that has 5424 Irish people buried there. Many more died at sea.(https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strokestown and https://strokestownpark.ie/).

There is a walking trail now from Strokestown to Dublin that commemorates the route the people had to walk to escape the famine.

After the informative and moving time at the museum, we walked around the gardens and forest walk. It was a warm afternoon and very pleasant.

We capped the time there off with afternoon coffee then made our way to our campsite on Lough (lake) Arrow in Riverstown in County Sligo, one hour away.

May 11th

In the morning, we ventured up into hills above Lough Arrow, about a half hour drive from the campsite, to see the Carrowkeel Passage Tombs.

These cairns are from approximately 3500 BC, 5500 years old and built by Broze Age peoples to bury their dead. They are at hilltop locations across the landscape which we could see in the distance. We visited 4 of them.

“Carrowkeel, the most beautiful and mysterious collection of the Irish megalithic monuments, is part of an extensive landscape settled by early neolithic cattle-farmers from Brittany”. (http://www.carrowkeel.com/sites/carrowkeel/index.html)

An added bonus of this walk was the almost 360 degree views.

Afterwards we walked for an hour on the Heritage trail nearby and the geography along the way was awesome.

May 12th

We woke up to a cloudy day on Lough Arrow. We had a long drive (in our present UK and Ireland standards) of 4 hours to the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland. Our time on the Wild Atlantic Way, which we had basically been following since Killarney in the southwest of Ireland, was soon coming to a close.

We got on the coastal route through Sligo and up to Donegal then ultimately cut in east toward Northern Ireland. Somewhere around Derry/Londonderry (It’s the same place and you call it either depending on your sentiments toward the UK) we went from Republic of Ireland into Northern Ireland.

And then we joined the hordes down at The Giant’s Causeway. I took pictures at angles to try and hide the hundreds of people but they were there. 😃

Then off to our campsite,south of Belfast, we headed with little offshoot roads from the main ones that google girl decided to show us that afternoon.

We skirted by Belfast to our campsite, Delamont Camping and Caravanning Park, near Killyleagh, a fourty minute drive from Belfast. Our plan was to go back to Belfast by bus the next morning for the day. We realized though that the commute by bus back to the city would be about 3 hours return. Our campsite was in the country in a beautiful area with lots to see and do so we made the call to skip Belfast. Maybe next time.

May 13th

In the morning we walked a beautiful loop trail from our campsite.

After the walk, we had a quick lunch at the campsite and then headed out to Rowallene Gardens, a National Trust site. We got in for free because we are members of The National Trust of Canada. Our membership is recognized in the UK. Thanks again to Caroline (my sister in law) for urging us to join. We’ve saved a good amount being members. And it makes us feel better about our coffees out.

Rowallene Gardens was layed out and built in the 1860’s by Reverend John Moore. In 1955, it was taken over by the National Trust.

The Gardens have a big collection of rhododendrons and azaleas and there were many in late bloom when we visited as well as other amazing specimens.

After our time at the gardens, we ventured into Killyleagh for a look around, a grocery shop, a walk in the Harbor and a bite to eat in an old pub called the Dufferin Arms. It’s pink!

May 14th

We headed out to the Mourne mountain area south of our campsite. There are many trails in the area and it is a Mecca for serious hikers. We visited Tollymore Forest Park at the base of the Mournes. What a stunning area of Northern Ireland.

When we arrived at the park, there were about 25 people all dressed in black capes huddled in the parking lot getting pictures taken. We were intrigued and wondered if it was a witches and warlock convention. Later I read that The Game of Thrones filmed a lot of scenes in Tollymore and that the people in capes were on a tour.

After walking for a couple of hours, we drove to a little town called Dundrum and had coffee. Afterwards, we headed up to Dundrum Castle and wandered the ruin for an hour or so.

We went back to our campsite for the last night in Ireland. We were off to Scotland in the morning.