A lifetime high

For the three cousins, this trip was one of the highlights of their young lives. So in their own unique way, through words and/or pictures...here is what they liked best about visiting Nanny's homeland.

From Sophie...

From Cassidy...

In Ireland I really liked seeing all my cousins I never met or knew before. My favorite place we stayed in was Cushendun, I liked it the most because the adults didn’t need to follow us whenever we went somewhere, we just needed to tell them where we were going and Bryanna would usually would take Sophie and I. Plus there was a candy store really close so almost every day we’d always go and buy candy or go to the beach or park. The park we went to was pretty dangerous - the slides didn’t even have bottoms! And at the beach we always met dogs but their owners weren’t there. I think Nanny was happy that she got to show us her homeland and all the amazing sites. I am looking forward to going back and seeing new things and maybe staying in Cushendun, again.

In Bryanna's words...

Like I’ve been telling everyone, I thought this was one ~ if not the best ~ of our trips/vacations. That’s saying a lot considering how many trips we’ve been on. I loved Ireland for its beautiful nature, with its way of always staying green, the way when it rains it pours. I also loved it because of all of its wonders like the Giant’s Causeway, the castles, and even the hills. I met lots of new friends there and was very excited to let everyone know that I had some “Irish friends.” Not all of those friends were people, mind you. We met most of our “Irish friends” in Cushendun. This was one of our favourite places that we went in Ireland because it was a cute little town with lots of friendly people and animals, plus we had a lot of freedom. My sister, cousin and I could go pretty much anywhere in that town. (We especially liked going to the corner store to get candy and such; wink wink). We also loved seeing our 2nd cousins twice removed, and so on. We journeyed to nanny’s house and farm too! We went to lots of nice B&Bs. At the first one, I accidently locked my sister out, and we had to get help. Oops! But overall, it was a great family vacation, and we were all so excited to go to nanny’s house, country, farm, and home.

I really hope we get to do it again!

Malahaide

We actually had hoped to do some souvenir shopping first thing in the morning and with that expectation, headed to a mall close to the nearby airport. However, our hopes were dashed for any unique and local goods as the place was a regular, high-end shopping centre with none of the shops we had hoped for.

We did have a break at Starbucks though and the terrific trio took advantage of the time for a quick card game. 

After that small disappointment, we set out for the Malahaide Castle grounds where our B&B hostess told us there was an amazing playground ...with an obstacle course through the woods, great climbing structures AND a zipline(!) the girls were in their glory. The adults were delighted to sit in the sun and just breathe.

Then we headed across the grounds for lunch in the castle and a tour - so cool to visit castles that are still standing and furnished! The castle was lived in until 1975 when the last remaining heir sold the castle to the Irish State. No pictures inside, unfortunately (not permitted) - but the tour was fascinating - to be able to view and walk through the bedrooms and great halls and dining rooms still set as though the Baron might walk through the door at any moment.

We headed home to start packing up (sad) and then went into town for our final dinner together. We lucked into a small place on the main street, enjoying some delicious pub food.



Cassidy enjoying some of her big sister's chicken wings.



Bryanna and her dessert - apple fruit crumble - she still remembers it months later!



The brownie!



Happy family - though not looking forward to saying goodbye to each other and to Ireland.

So very happy to have spent these two weeks together and looking forward to the next big adventure!

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!

Our Aughnacloy B&B

Just a couple of photos from our lovely B&B in Aughnacloy. Mom and dad had stayed here on their last trip and it was a beautiful place to be on this leg of our journey, serving as our base as we visited family and sites in the area. 

The girls loved the large grounds and the many sheep in the fields (though were a little frustrated that they never came near enough to be patted.)



And here I am - trying to position the laptop JUST RIGHT in the ground floor hallway - to capture the weak and fleeting wireless signal. Kim and I were mighty frustrated that access to the internet was so close and yet so far!

Glack ~ the Hamilton home

Although my grandfather moved his family to Belfast when my mom was very young, it was on the family farm, Glack, that she was born. It was at Glack that my great-grandmother raised her 13 children (my papa being the youngest). And it was to Glack that many of the extended family returned at different times through their lives. My mom, aunt and grandmother regularly returned to Glack every summer vacation until they moved to Canada when my mother was twelve.

Some years after they moved to Canada, Glack was sold. It remains a working farm but the old two story stone house was abandoned, and years of using the house as the back wall of some modern farm sheds caused it to fall apart. Here is a mini-history of the house in photos...

Glack, around 1940. That's my great-grandmother in the centre.



13 years ago when Kim and I last visited.
The house was still standing but the roof had collapsed. You can still recognize the door frame and lintel from the old photo above.



Current day.
The house is gone, however we all found pieces of the slate roof and stone walls - we brought some of the pieces home with us.

 

This is the view seen from where the house stood on one of the highest hills in the area.
In the distance is the village of Aughnacloy.



Bryanna standing in the lane that ran along from the house - staring out at that view of Aughnacloy.

Just a few steps along that lane from Glack, was "Jim's House."  My mom isn't sure why it was called that since there was no Jim living there. (Does any of the family know?) However, it was part of the property and some of the family stayed or lived in this bungalow style building. It still stands today and Kim was fascinated to see shelves by the fireplace, paint remaining in places and what appeared to be some tiles on a fallen section of wall. 

Nanny and her littlest girls in front of Jim's place.

 

With her big girls.



Chatting about the upper fields and what things would have been like when mom was young.



One of Glack's remaining farm buildings near the site of the old house - the current farmer is storing equipment in it.



With cousin Alan in front of Glack. Alan remembers running across the fields as a child, in fear of some of the big bulls.



Looking for the path down to the well below the house. It was a natural spring, and the children would be sent there to bring back water.



I remember...



Another generation returns to Glack.



Checking out the cows in the fields.



Nanny's homeland.

We feel so grateful to have returned to Glack with Nanny and our girls. It is somewhat difficult to put into words the many feelings that arise - sadness at what is no more, a wistful longing for such a beautiful place...some "place" memories, maybe, for those of us who never lived here, and a happiness that we have been able to share this important piece of our mother's life with our children.

Bryanna is still missing Ireland, she loved it so much. I am so glad that she, too, feels the call of her nanny's homeland.

Spelunking in Ireland!

While googling fun places to see in Ireland before the trip, I came upon the Marble Arch Caves - a global Geopark very near to Castle Coole. As soon as I saw that the caves included guided tours and a boat trip on an underground river, I knew that the kids would love it. 

After leaving the castle (see prior post here), we headed out to meet up with some of our irish family. However, the castle exit very sneakily dropped us onto a road leading directly into Enniskillen (instead of where we entered) and we became...ummm...slightly confused. The GPS lady was having her own issues that day and dumped us unceremoniously in front of a garden centre in the middle of nowhere. After that, and consulting with the garden man on duty, we gave up on finding where we were SUPPOSED to be and headed for the caves.

It was beautiful just getting there - the caves are actually very high up in the hills above Enniskillen. We had to drive far up those slopes to reach the site - found in the middle of a vast landscape of peaks and valleys and marshes and crevasses...

The following are some photos of our hike down to the caves and then INSIDE. Very cool.



Working our way down the slope behind out guide. Groups of 20, and no one enters without a guide...sometimes the underground river is so high that no one can enter.

 

Florence - she walked everywhere her family went!



Travelling the underground river - low level lights are turned on as we approach and then turned off after we pass.



My favourite cave formation - the thatched roof. I could imagine a full cottage made of stone there.



The darkness of the caves made groups shots challenging - but here we are!



It was a great finale to an action packed day.