That makes me, according to the dictionary a Thalassophile. This is definitely me. Neil, not so much. He loves the walks and the ocean views, but is more reluctant to get in, and hates the sand.
He moans about the sand – a lot. I keep pointing out that as our plan is to travel the coast of the Great Britain and Ireland, he needs to get used to it. He responded by buying a hoover!
From Dunmoran Strand, we skipped up the coat to Tullan Strand. Another gorgeous, long, sandy beach. Although we never tire of seeing them, walking on them and, in my case, getting wet, you probably get tired of hearing about them. Sadly, on Tullan Strand, as well as a bounty of shells, discarded by their previous owners, we collected a lot of plastic. Travelling out of season, it is not a problem we encounter often, but Tullan was the exception.
Our walk took us to natural “fairy bridges” formed in the cliffs and a stone seat, thousands of years old. The names comes from the formation and the noise of the waves crashing through blow holes and around the cliffs, changing with the weather conditions.
“Troops of fairies are constantly heard, and sometimes seen flying hastily from end to end”
Rev. G N Wright
The Creevykeel Court Tomb was fascinating. Older than the pyramids, and it is still standing, more or less. In Ireland many of the cairns, tombs and dolmen’s are just there. They are not all fenced and protected. This makes exploring them much easier and more fun, although I understand why they need protecting, especially those which draw a lot of sightseers. Creevykeel was large, so we whiled away some time there, soaking in the atmosphere and enjoying the dry weather.
The Benbulbin horseshoe drive came next, and it is too fabulous to describe. Photos don’t really do it justice either, but I’ll add them anyway. It gives an idea of the size and splendour of the landscape. Splendour, what a great word. I would rather hear it used to describe natural phenomena than homes and palaces.
A sunset on Stredagh Beach, and we reached Drumcliff and Roses Point, and a change in the scenery.
The beaches had become very rocky, the sea menacing and dangerous for swimming. It was a perfect time to do some inland walking.
We set off for Queen Maeve’s Grave the next morning. Maeve was a legendary and fierce warrior queen from Celtic mythology. I felt quite legendary myself, after the walk up and back down, to visit the cairn, which is her grave.
When we set off, we could not see the summit of Knocknarea mountain, where Maeve can be found, as it was obscured by clouds.
It was a tough walk/scramble straight up from the car park, but when we made it to the top, hot, wet and windblown, we were rewarded by just the cairn. We were in the clouds, and could see nothing else. The cairn is huge. Legend says Maeve was buried standing up, facing her enemies, with her weapons. A fierce lady in life and death.
We argued about the way down. I wanted to go a different way and make it a circular walk. Neil was being cautious and wanted to head back down the way we had come. He was worried about cliff edges in the fog. In the end we were both right. We tried one way and came to a steep, vertical, drop off the mountain. Then we found a marked path down, and it was a lovely walk.
Using boardwalks and steps, it was far easier than the scramble up. It all felt like being in a fairy-tale, or on the set for Lord of the Rings, as we were still in the cloud, making our way through the forest.
Part way down, the clouds cleared, and we had great views over Strandhill. On reaching the bottom, we felt we had earned a pint, but made it back to the van without finding a pub – very disappointing!
Our next stop was over the border into Enniskillen. We treated ourselves to a lovely shower at the sports centre – I will never take a bathroom for granted again. Or a kitchen, or a bedroom ……….. A number of pleading messages from my family in Ireland, and we went shopping for spam and tinned potatoes.
Personally, I would rather be hungry than eat spam, but my dad, sister and her family love it, and you can’t buy it in Southern Ireland. We probably also found twiglets, another delicacy they can’t buy.
Everyone we met and spoke to mentioned The Door to us. We had no idea what they were talking about, but went along with them, and even found the pub where The Door was. It was a Games of Thrones door.
The Dark Hedges, a road lined by beach trees is one of the iconic scenes from the show. Sadly the trees are nearing the end of their life. Some have come down due to winds, and others have been taken down, due to safety. Some of these have then been turned into doors featuring scenes from the show. There are ten at different sites across Northern Ireland. The door was very impressive and we were given a passport, which we could get stamped as we “collected” them all. It felt like a challenge we couldn’t ignore.
The passport also came with details of where scenes from the show had been filmed – another challenge. The next day, van weighed down with spam and tinned potatoes, we went and found Polangollum Cave. I am usually one to follow the rules, and Neil even more so, but finding it fenced off, we climbed the fence to explore. The walk itself was quite boring, just a gravel forest track in a managed trail, but the cave was worth a visit, as fans of the show.
We really liked Enniskillen, so it was no surprise when we headed into Northern Ireland a few weeks in, we found we liked Northern Ireland in general.
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