After our great two week holiday in Ireland, it was back to normal today – unpacking the car, putting stuff away, and the inevitable shopping. Not my favourite supermarket, but at least it’s nearby and will do is for a few days…
It was time today to say farewell (slán) to Ireland, and drive home. This was our last proper look at the Causeway Coast as we headed off early to catch the ferry across the Irish Sea. We’ve had a brilliant couple of weeks in Ireland, and will be back for sure! Next adventure will be Ibiza in about 3 weeks – that’s going to be a different experience..
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.
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. 
… too seriously… Our first day at our holiday accommodation has been a bit grim, weather wise, so it’s been a chilling out indoors day today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, but in the meantime, here’s a useful observation that was hanging in the kitchen…
