Tuesday, August 4, 2015

A quick stop in Northern Ireland



After our adventures climbing all over the rocks at Giant's Causeway, we headed East in hopes of getting to Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge before it closed. Unfortunately we were a bit late on it so we missed going across the rope bridge. Despite this now putting us half an hour out of the way, we stopped and enjoyed the view as the sun started to set.












We all found the coast so beautiful and it was a dream just to be there taking it in. We talked to one of the caretakers of the area about the local birds and wildlife.



Before long it was time to jump back into our ride for our holiday which was a Mercedes B180. A lovely little automatic that had a lot of power and had the amazing feature that told me if I was getting too close to either side of the vehicle. I used this feature a lot later on in our trip as we ventured off roading and up crazy passes.

We still had a lot of road to cover to get ourselves to Sligo County where we had rented an Air BNB for the night. It's about a three hour drive from where we were stopped here to get to Grange where the Air BNB was located. As it was about five pm when we were stopped, we arrived in the dark to our stop for the night after stopping in a small village to enjoy some curry for dinner. Taking the time to stop as we thought if we pushed it all the way to Grange we might get there and there would not be anything open for dinner.  I admit we should have given ourselves more time to get there or stayed somewhere closer to Giant's Causeway but I think the driving would have been better if we had not been delayed at the airport. This was the only real slip up on the journey as it all went smooth as soon as we got to Sligo.


Saturday, August 1, 2015

Off to Dublin!


I'm off today to Dublin. I am spending the night in Ireland's capital city before heading across the Atlantic to Canada. It's been 500 days since I've been home. Feels crazy but I am super excited to be making the journey home for the summer. I have managed to get the entire month off of work. It is unpaid so I have to keep an eye on the budgeting side of things but with a pay cheque due in August, I think I will make it through without breaking the bank.

I spend the night in Dublin arriving in the afternoon so hopefully can get some sights in before having a pint of Guinness and dinner. I'll be staying in a hostel near the castle for the night before heading to the airport for my flight to Canada. Flying Air Canada to Toronto then off to Calgary to stay with my dad.

I'm with him for a few days then off again to Vancouver for my friend's wedding and the rest of the month with family and friends.