Dublin and Beyond (09-05-19)

Along the way to Dublin:

We were driving around the Castledermot area looking for the area where my family, the Bullocks, used to live when the GPS took us down a dirt road that ended at a gate.








We had to turn both cars around in a small space in order to get out, and I noticed a car coming from the other side of the gate, but didn’t think much of it. We drove down the street and pulled off so we could discuss where to go next, and the car I saw earlier pulled up behind me and a woman got out and asked if she could help us.

I told her we were looking for where the Bullock family used to live - she laughed- her husband is a Bullock! We spent a couple of hours with him and he showed us where the house used to be- it’s gone and the land sold. But we did find an old fireplace grate, which he gave us.

The three of us piled in our car and drove to Kilkea Castle.  That's where, unbeknownst to me, my 4th great grandfather is buried.

After a quick bite to eat he took us to his aunt's house.  She was giving me some family history and then says “ did you know Peggy Collins?” Wow! Peggy was my aunt. She remembered her well and said her daughter Diana had written to her when Peggy died.

 She then shows me pictures of a relative in CA who was celebrating her 100th birthday in 1989. I was skeptical about a California Connection (I know of no California relatives) until I saw two of my aunts in one of the pictures.  It was fun to make the connection with relatives, and now I have more information to add to my family tree!

Instead of staying in the city of Dublin, we stayed in a suburb, and took the train in for one whirlwind day of sightseeing.

The “hop on/hop off" bus was a convenient way to get around and see the sights, especially with rain in the forecast. We started the day with a  walk past the Oscar Wilde statue in Merrion Square.

Next up was a short visit to the Archaeology and History Museum.

The amount of gold jewelry, some dating back to 1200 B.C. was incredible. Apparently the wealthy used to bury their baubles in a hole in the ground, called a hoard,
so lots pieces would be found together.

I wanted to visit at least one cathedral, and we chose Christ Church-mostly because we were walking right past it.

This is one of the oldest cathedrals in Ireland (there has been a church here since 1030) and is known for its history and architecture.

I really enjoyed all the nooks and crannies (small chapels) contained in the main church.

It was here that Handel's Messiah was first performed, in 1742.

All the walking had made us hungry so we finished the day at Brazen Head, the oldest pub in Ireland.

The room we sat in was the oldest, built in the 1600s.

On our way back to the train station we stopped briefly at the Garden of Remembrance. This cross shaped reflection pool was built to remember those who gave their lives fighting to free Ireland from English rule, in the Easter Rising of 1916.

The next morning we shared our last breakfast with Mike and Julie. We are splitting off, as they are flying home from Shannon and we are leaving from Dublin.

Paul and I spent our last day exploring along the coastline, starting in the small town of Wicklow and driving up through Dublin to our hotel.   

We were happy to pack a lunch and spend the day walking the beach collecting sea glass. We even found a red piece!

Northern Ireland (08-20-19)

After 3 very enjoyable weeks in Scotland, it was time to fly off to Belfast. Our flight was at 7 am, which meant getting up at 4:30 to get to the airport on time. 

The morning was a tad stressful- security took longer than we expected-as did getting our baggage checked in. Looking up at the board to see what gate we needed to get to, we saw our flight was flashing “final boarding”. 

Ugh. Mike and Julie had gone ahead of us, so Paul and I had to sprint to the gate. At least we made it!

The flight was only 35 minutes,barely time to catch our breath.

We had booked a cottage at the beach for 3 nights, and thoroughly enjoyed walking the beach collecting sea glass in our spare time.

Our plan for our first day completely fell apart, as we all know sometimes happens. We piled in the car to take a scenic drive along the coast, with our first stop being a rope bridge that connects an island with the mainland.

Or, I assume that's what it is. When we arrived we discovered that use of the bridge is a timed entry system, and the earliest we could cross it was in almost two hours.








We decided to leave it to the thousands of other tourists who were waiting their turn. Continuing our drive, we arrived at Giant's Causeway- a natural, seaside rock formation. Or, I assume it is. It was so packed with people that they were shuttling people in from a parking lot 2 miles away. Again, we passed.

Just a little further down the road we stopped for lunch at a beachfront seafood restaurant and planned our next move while we ate fish and chips.  

It turns out that it was the site of some filming for Game of Thrones.

Decision made, we left the coast to drive up to Glenariff Forest Park and walk one of the trails.

The reviews of the waterfall there call it spectacular- I guess everything is relative- but we enjoyed the walk, anyway.

Part of the reason we wanted to visit the Belfast area is because some of Paul's ancestors lived here in the 1800s, so he and I explored on our own the following day, while Mike and Julie explored one of the oldest pubs in the area.







We were looking to find either grave sites or whatever records we could get at the archives, but had no luck.

Area where Paul's ancestors lived

We did find the area where they lived, and noticed that in this area, many of the towns begin with “Bally”: Ballynure, Ballycastle, Ballygalley etc. It turns out that Bally means “place of” -so sort of like a town but not quite.

Originally our plan was to head northwest to visit another area of Northern Ireland but we decided its too far to drive for just two days, so we are headed to the Republic of Ireland sooner than planned (Northern Ireland is part of the UK, The Republic of Ireland is not).

The Isle of Barra (08-01-19)

Driving lesson #2: No sooner had we gotten the hang of driving on the left side of the road, than we were introduced to single track driving.  On Barra, most of the roads are single track- a one lane road with pull offs about every 50 yards or so.

When a car is headed towards you, whichever one is closest to the"passing place" pulls over, so the other car can pass. On Barra it was reasonably easy- the roads aren't too busy and are well marked.

The biggest issue was the speed at which the locals drive- and I bet they complain about how slow the tourists drive!

We only had two days on the island, but the weather was pretty cooperative, so Paul and I set out to hike "the Heaval".

 This is the tallest hill on the island, with an elevation gain of about 900 feet.



There was no specific trail up the hill- just lots of intersecting paths, so we had to figure it out as we went.

Although the clouds kept coming and going, we were able to get good views of the town of Castlebay.

One of the highlights of Barra were the beaches.  One after another, they were absolutely gorgeous..

 Our meeting  with Colum, the local genealogist, had netted us the information as to where my ancestors had lived on the outer Hebrides islands.  

We were able to drive past the lands where the MacMullin branch of my family lived...

Being such a small island, we didn't need much time to see all the sights, so two days was enough for the highlights.

Our next real destination was the Isle of Skye, but we needed two days to get there. The trip involved two more ferry rides- one from Barra to South Uist, and one from North Uist to Skye, so we spent the night on North Uist to break up the trip.

Along the way we drove past the ruins of the MacDonald Castle, Borve, which is located on the island of Benbecula.  The castle was built in the 1300s, and abandoned by 1715. According to Colum, this was the castle of my MY MacDonalds.











We stopped for lunch at the restaurant The "Am Politician" on the isle of Eriskay. We were happy to eat at this particular restaurant, but the reason WHY, involves the telling of our story about Whisky Galore:



In 1941, the SS Politician, a cargo ship carrying 264,000 bottles of whisky was en route to Jamaica from Liverpool.  On February 5th, it ran aground off the coast of Eriskay.









Before the boat sank, most  of its cargo was recovered happily by nearby island inhabitants.












The story was written as a novel, and then made into a movie in 1949.  The movie was remade in 2016.  Long before we started on this trip, we looked for the 1949 version of the movie and could never find it.
We ended up watching the 2016 version with Mike and Julie months ago.












 While we were on Barra, our hostess thought she found the original on YouTube, and set it up for us to watch- but about 15 minutes into it we realized it was a sequel- Rockets Galore!- which we were happy to watch, but wasn't what we were looking for.

The restaurant Am Politician celebrates the story of the SS Politician ( everyone survived) and they have several pieces from the original ship, including a whisky bottle with some of it's original contents still in it!

 After that huge lunch,  we walked to the local store to pick up cheese and crackers, which served as dinner, on the back deck at our B N B.














The views, and the sunset, were amazing.

Our first day on Barra (07-30-19) by Julie

Croit Na H Aiblne (croft with a river) B N B-
Mary Ann our hostess, is the Gaelic teacher
at the island School and  was pleased to
advise Sue that based on her family history  she is a Hebridean! Mary Ann also "rang up" Culum, the local genealogist who was happy to meet with us in the morning and provide Sue with an abundance of information.

After meeting with Culum we took a driving tour around the island.

It was fun to meet the local oyster farmers....

Saint Barr's Catholic Church is the oldest church on the island 

Barra airport; the only beach in the world where commercial planes land, only at low tide!

After watching a plane land we crossed the road and walked a path  of grassy  dunes to the Traigh Eais beach on the Atlantic.  The guys watched as Sue and I took off our shoes and cooled off our toes.

Hand picked Scallops ! Perfect meal to end our  day wonderful to discover Barra with Sue and Paul.