Road Trip to Bangor

Best part about driving in Ireland is the awareness one gets from the constant road condition updates. NOT! We make our attempt to get Dave and Sarah to the airport but the demons are out in force this morning. Damned if there isn’t a horse auction taking place in the road, that’s right, IN THE ROAD! The police blocked the road we were to take to the airport without a single notification or warning. We just drove this road the day before and not one single sign indicating the road was going to be turned into a horse lot.  So with plenty of time to spare, we turn around and drove all the way back to where we started, only about 30 minutes, then head off in another direction to the airport. Pisser but we make it!

After dropping off Dave and Sarah at the airport, we continued on to do a little sightseeing. We chose to make a loop going from Knock (made famous by, you know) to Ballina, around the peninsula to Bangor and then home. The Rosserk Friary is noted on the map and looked interesting, otherwise this was just a go and see trip. Wonderful landscape along the coast so it was pleasant.

So, the friary is not posted but there is a sign for the Rosserk Abbey which we blew by looking for the friary. Oh well, just a road trip anyway so we didn’t turn around and go back. Again it’s time to eat so we stop at Mary’s Cottage Kitchen in Ballycastle for a sandwich and soup. Nice little place with decent food, peat fireplace and a statue of a saint that watched over our table. Given the driving conditions in Ireland, I’m not knocking any divine intervention.

Lunch consisted of vegetable soup (pureed) and a chicken / tomato sandwich for me and soup and a cheese / onion sandwich for the little lady. Toasted, of course. Total cost was about 18EU including a couple of glasses of wine.

Back on the road we past a large sign indicating a museum that wasn’t listed in any of our travel books. The Ceide Fields are an excavated 5,000 year old site that consists of 12 sq.mi. of fields and ruins. There is a small museum on the site and a walking tour that takes you to the ruins of houses, plots and burial chambers of a community located on this site some 5,000 years ago. Entry cost is 4EU per person and includes a short film about the findings.

Burial ruins bottom center of picture

Ye ole tree stump

Time to finish up our trip so back on the road for a relaxing cruise through hair-pin curves, narrow passes, and sheep, yeah you know the rest. One last note, probably the best, most historic site we found yet. In the small town of Westport, remember the town you have to snake through to stay on N59, Collette saw this monument to her namesake so we had to get a picture. Only backed up traffic a block or two so not a big deal.