Planted around 200 years ago, this row of beech trees near Balleymoney in Northern Ireland has become famous as a location for the Game Of Thrones TV series. It’s busy from dawn to dusk so it proved difficult to get a photo without people in it…
So they told us today on the Bushmills Whisky Tour that the distillery was granted it’s first license back in 1608, so over 400 years of continuous production. Whether or not it’s true, it was a great tour and I’ve a bottle of fine malt to take home…
As the weather forecast was good when we got here, we had an early supper, and headed to the Giants Causeway – just in time for a massive rainstorm. We sat it out for half an hour and it cleared just as quickly, leaving this fantastic sky.
After a brilliant week here, exploring the Wild Atlantic Way, we will indeed be sad to move on. We have seen some beautiful scenery and fabulous beaches… So onwards tomorrow, and northwards towards the Giants Causeway and the whiskey that is Bushmills!
Peat, formed by the long term decay of vegetation in boggy wetlands, has been a fuel in Ireland for thousands of years. Although increasingly frowned on as ecologically unsound, it is still harvested by traditional methods, cutting it by hand, and leaving in small piles to dry out. 
Well of course, in Scotland, it’s always ‘whisky’, but here in Ireland it’s definitely ‘whiskey’. It’s claimed that whiskey was distilled in Ireland long before it was ‘discovered’ in Scotland, but no one knows for sure…
OK, so this is the quay at Roundstone in Connemara, but the mountains behind are known as the ‘Twelve Bens’ and are the highest mountains on the west coast of Ireland. 
Near Cleggan, in Connemara, Ireland, this beautiful beach takes its name from an ancient anchor buried in the sand… It is believed to be from the 1000 ton 3 mast barque ‘Verity’, from Nova Scotia, that was wrecked in a storm in 1890. 
These are the Cliffs of Moher, and pretty impressive too…. It’s a great sight, but incredibly busy, with thousands visiting every day. The central area has marked paths, and the cliff edges are fenced off, but further round, it is much more open, and we saw people perilously close to the edge!
… to speak to the man in charge, or the woman that knows what’s happening? Sign in a cafe in Nenagh, but certainly appropriate in our house! 
One Day At A Time... 