Cushendall to Whitehead - Northern Ireland

Another day and another day trip, we picked up were we left off last tine in NI and drove south. A very beautiful drive along the coast with some beautiful cliffs and nice little harbours. We closed the day of in Portaferry.

Skerries

Skerries is just a short drive north of Malahide where we live. It is one of our favorite places to go to while away a few hours in the weekend. There is a large sandy beach in the south with great views over the various little islands and Rockabil lighthouse. In the north there is a more rocky beach with a little harbor that has some restaurants with great views.

Warrenpoint to Killough (Northern Ireland) Part 2

After Annalong we drove on to Newcastle which is a very unirish Victorian beach resort. It is dominated by the The Mournes mountains which are just behind it. J bought some detailed maps and routes of hikes for me in the tourist office.

Then we followed the coast and ended up in St John’s point where there is a beautiful lighthouse and the remnants of the old church or hermits house St John used to live in.

After a short stop in the lovely village of Killough we drove through the Mournes back home. En route we spotted a field full of sheep and lambs so we stopped there. All the sheep and lambs started running towards us…….and bleating at the top of their voices. It sounded like the ‘loudness of the sheep’ and we moved off quickly to continue our drive through the Mournes mountain range. Definately going hiking there when I am done with the Wicklows.

Warrenpoint to Killough (Northern Ireland) Part 1

Today J and I made our first trip into Northern Ireland. When we just started we went up to Carlingford but never made it further. So today we started out by driving to Warrenpoint.

Our first real stop was at Green Castle which is between the Carlingford Lough and the sea. There is a castle there (that you can’t reach), a nice beach with a jetty and lighthouse. We absolutely loved it!

The next stop was at Annalong where we ate some lunch on the beach. In the little harbor we discovered really cool birds. They are completely black with partly white wings and very red feet and tongues. They are called Guillemots and apparently they go completely white in winter and are related to Puffins. They come to Annalong to breed only and they do that in the cracks in the harbor walls. They are incredibly fast swimmers under water. 

Loughshinny

Today was quite rainy but it cleared up in the afternoon so we did a quick trip to Loughshinny. It lays just to the north of Dublin between Rush and Skerries. It is a tiny little harbor next to a Martello Tower, these are dotted around the Irish coast and were build during the Napoleonic wars to detect French invaders.

J saw a couple of seals while I was off hiking the coastline, unfortunately no pictures of that.

Dun Laoghaire (pronounce Dun Leary)

We went to Dun Laghoire today which is in between Dalkey and Dublin. Unfortunately it was quite rainy but a lovely day none the less.

We started off with a nice walk along the promenade ending in the freshly painted but abandoned outdoor pool on the seaside, There is a artisan food market in the People’s park there every Sunday. Some lovely food there, I had a sausage sandwich in honor of our time in Berlin.

Then a very wet and rainy walk along the pier to the lighthouse where we had an icecream.

Dalkey

Lovely springlike day with the trees already blossoming. We went to south Dublin today, first to Bullock Harbor which is always nice. Unfortunately the seals weren’t there. Then we went to the little harbor across from Dalkey Island which was lovely.

Then a lovely stroll through Dalkey village with a nice lunch in The Club pub. One of the most beautiful pubs I have ever seen, nice food too.

To top the day off we went to Killiney beach. There are supposed to be dolphins there but we didn’t see any. 

Howth

Unfortunately wifey wasn’t feeling well today so I went on a hike in Howth on my own. Howth is one of my favorite places as it is near to where I live (Malahide) and it has some great stuff to see and do. You have a nice harbor (both fishing and yachting) and there are some great fish shops and restaurants on the docks. There are also some seals to see in the fishing harbor.

Besides the harbor you can also take a hike around the island. It has some great views and if you are lucky you can spot dolphins or seals in the water beneath the cliffs. (you’ll have to pay attention though as they are usually quite far away). You can also walk inland a bit where there are two large hills which give great views of everything between the Wicklow Mountains and Rush.