The journey to Dublin

After saying a fond farewell to our Irish family (and with some sadness, as who knows when we will see them again) we packed our bags and prepared to follow a rather roundabout route back to the Dublin area where we were scheduled to spend two nights before flying home.

On the last trip when Kim and I accompanied mom and dad, we had visited some beautiful spots near the coast and we hoped to take the girls to see them on our journey back to the south. One of those is the Silent Valley in the Mourne Mountains - it was a quiet and magical place to me and I thought the girls would love it. However, the drive ended up being quite a long one - near one town not far from Aughnacloy we were even sent on a detour around the city as there had been some "trouble" and we were not permitted to travel through. This, and a long circuitous drive on the way to the coast did not allow for a stop in the Mourne Mountains - the following photo was as close as we got!

The other place we wanted to go was Dundrum Castle - built at the beginning of the 13th century and situated on the coast just within the border of Northern Ireland. We reached there just before noon but as I was pulling into the car park, mom and I heard a long, loud hissing sound. However, nothing else happened so we pulled in and met up with Kim and Dad in the other car.

It was a gorgeous, warm day and the tower beckoned from the hill above but as I was about to set out, the memory of a conversation with a work colleague who owns a BMW suddenly popped into my head..."you have to watch those run-flat tires - you can drive for a long way on them even with a flat and never know."  I whipped around and quickly scanned the tires of our ritzy rental - and yep, wouldn't you know it...an obvious flat on the left rear tire. OH FOR GOODNESS SAKE - right now near the end of the trip??? It couldn't have waited two more days???

We all stood there and then thought - well, it's a gorgeous day and we're at a castle - may as well go and enjoy and then we would figure it out. We headed up the hill and I climbed up the tower straight away...can you see me waving from the top?

The view from the towers at Dundrum...

 

Kim, framed. I love the thought of how old these walls are.

Sophie and Nanny leaving the large tower.



Mom and Dad above, Lianne below in the "dungeon."

But the lovely break had to end. We decided to drive down the hill to Dundrum village with the hope of getting the tire changed. There followed a very frustrating call with the car rental place ("You're in northern Ireland? sorry, we can't help.") - let's just say that dad was not impressed.

We were all tired by now and becoming worried about what we might do - because of course, many regular businesses were still closed for the holiday. Thank goodness we are all very particular about where we want to eat...Kim decided to jog down the street a bit to see if we could find a nicer place to get some sustenance and as we watched her go, she suddenly made a u turn and stopped - in front of a car and tire shop!

Bless the amazing hospitality and generosity of the Irish people. The owner came right out, looked at us, and said "flat tire?"  We weren't even in the car!  But he said he had heard us driving past earlier and he could tell just from the sound. In less than half an hour he had the tire off, a new one on, and the old one - a mess of a thing that shouldn't have been on the road it was so worn - wrapped in plastic and stuffed in our back seat (for returning to the rental place later and getting full refund).

He was so FAST.



Cassidy checking out the tire happenings.

By this time we REALLY needed some lunch so we had a quick bite down the street. Everyone feels better after some soup and a sandwich on a glorious day in northern Ireland!


And ice cream!

It took us another good hour to reach the Malahaide - a small town on the outskirts of Dublin where we would be staying. We were very glad to reach it and at the end of that long, rather exhausting adventure of a trip, we made the decision that the next day we would just relax and visit Malahaide Castle down the road, rather than head into Dublin.

Even with the challenges, it WAS a glorious day...another memory to treasure of time with Nanny and Papa in Ireland!