Ireland: Tobercurry, County Sligo

August 2, 2015

After a short flight from London, we landed in Dublin about an hour late. We took a cab from the airport to Peter and Kate McIntyre's house in Killiney, just outside of Dublin. Since this is a home exchange with car included, Gary gets to drive their BMW! We met Peter and Kate's daughter Eimear briefly, but since it was getting late and Gary had a bit of driving ahead of him (on the wrong side of the road and driving a manual transmission, which he hadn't done in a while!), we set out for Tobercurry in County Sligo, about 130 miles northwest of Dublin. The driving conditions were not ideal: in addition to the traffic being on the wrong side (?), there was rain and fog. We stopped for dinner at the Druid's Chair in Mullingar, County Westmeath. After a couple of hours and a couple of wrong turns trying to find the street sign, we arrived at our home for the next month, 20 Ard Aisling.

August 3, 2015

On Monday, Gary got back to work, but I unpacked and settled into the house. We explored the neighborhood and the tiny village of Tobercurry. We see signs for both "Tobercurry" as well as "Tubbercurry", and it turns out that Tubbercurry has been the name in use for decades; however, the name in Gaelic is "Tobar an Choire" meaning "the well of the rock". At some point, the local authorities decided that incorporating the "Tobar" into the name made sense and so now all the road signs, etc. reflect this. However, the Tubbercurry version is still very much in use. In Ireland, the road signs have both the English and Gaelic version of place names. Generally, the English version is a rough translation of the original Gaelic and doesn't mean anything, but the Gaelic version usually gives clues as to the origin of the place, as well as to the correct pronunciation of the English name.

August 5, 2015

Not much happening in Tobercurry! We decided to drive into Sligo, about 30 minutes away, to catch the new Mission Impossible movie, "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation". We now know that if we want to have an evening out, it will be in Sligo, which is the capital of the North West region and is one of Ireland's largest towns.

August 8, 2015

On Saturday, we decided to take one of the three driving tours around Sligo from a map we found in the folder of information left for us by Peter and Kate . First we visited Glencar Waterfall, which is located in County Leitrim near Glencar Lough. We then drove to Manorhamilton, where we had lunch at Gurns Milestone Pub.

August 8, 2015 (Continued)

After lunch, we drove to Drumcliffe to see the grave of William Butler Yeats. The poetry, prose and drama of Yeats have always been associated closely with Sligo, and they are extremely proud of that relationship in this area. After a cup of tea and dessert at the Drumcliffe Tea House, we set out for Sligo Town to end our day.

August 8, 2015 (Continued)

When we got into Sligo, we discovered that the city was putting the final touches on preparations for the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, which is the biggest traditional Irish music festival in the world. It is a week-long jamboree of music, song and dance. The Fleadh normally draws crowds of 350-450,000 people, and is a really big deal. We had no idea that our visit was coinciding with this festival! The good thing is that Gary had already scheduled vacation for next week, the week of the festival. Even though we would be travelling for a few days, we were looking forward to taking advantage of this offering of top-quality live music!

August 10, 2015

Today we set out for the Wineport Lodge in Glasson, Athlone. We stayed here on our honeymoon in 2003 and we have always wanted to return. Gary booked the "Summer Overnight Dine & Delight" package for our stay. The Lodge is situated on Lough Ree in County Westmeath, and is about 65 miles southeast of Tobercurry. Before we checked into the hotel, we had lunch at Grogan's in Glasson. We also did some shopping at the Glasson Craft Gallery, which features some beautiful locally handcrafted gifts.

August 10, 2015 (Continued)

We had a "wee chat" with Stephen Mitchell, the owner of the Glasson Craft Gallery, who told us that the actor John C. Reilly had been in the shop just the Friday before. According to Stephen, he had hired a boat to sail him and his family down the River Shannon and was in the area, so he stopped in! That evening, we had dinner at the Wineport Restaurant, which has been featured on the Irish reality TV show "The Restaurant".

August 11, 2015

We checked out of the Wineport Lodge to make our way up to Northern Ireland. On the way, we stopped in Omagh in County Tyrone to visit the Abingdon Collection. I found out about this small, individually-run private museum, which is seen by appointment only, on Trip Advisor. The collection is curated and maintained by Philip Faithfull and represents the culmination of over 45 years of passionate (or "obsessive", as Philip would describe it) collecting. It is divided into two very distinct areas of interest: the first part concentrates on World War II and represents one of the largest collections in private ownership, with over 2,500 items on permanent display. This part of the Collection is dedicated to Philip's father, Jack, who served for over 21 years with the Worchester Regiment and to his brother, Ivor, who lost his life in the North Atlantic when his merchant vessel was torpedoed by a German U-Boat.

August 11, 2015 (Continued)

Philip doesn't charge admission (he considers it an honor and a pleasure to show off his collection, and many of his tours are given to school children on field trips ), but does accept donations, which are given to Cancer Research UK. After our tour, we continued our journey to Carrigans in County Donegal and arrived at our lodging for the night, Mount Royd Country Home, operated by Mrs. Josephine Martin, a charming lady. There was one thing that puzzled us though: there was no indication (other than the speed signs changing from kilometers to miles) that we had driven into Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom from the Republic of Ireland. We were in a different country with a different currency, and no sign, no notification whatsoever! Very different from the U.S. We checked into the B & B, and then drove the short distance to Londonderry, where we saw some of the historical landmarks, including the Peace Bridge, the Bloody Sunday Memorial and the Bogside Murals.

August 12, 2015

We had dinner at The Exchange in Londonderry and drove back to the B & B for a sleepless night on a too-soft mattress. Josephine redeemed herself, however, with an excellent breakfast and we enjoyed talking with the other guests of Mount Royd, who were regulars from Northern Ireland. Our next stop was Ardara in County Donegal, and our plan was to drive around the coast on the Wild Atlantic Way to see the scenery, which was indeed spectacular. Although this was a longer drive for Gary, we both agreed that it was well worth it! We checked into the Nesbitt Arms Hotel in Ardara, then went for dinner and Irish music at the Céilí House, which featured one of the best accordian players in the country, according to the bartender.

August 13, 2015

After some shopping in Ardara, we headed out for a drive to Slieve League, whose cliffs are higher than the more famous "Cliffs of Moher". However, we took a wrong turn along the way and rather than turning back, decided to follow the road to see where we would find ourselves. We drove until the road ended, at Malin Beg, where we found sheep grazing on the side of a cliff with an absolutely gorgeous view. Sometimes, losing your way can turn out to be a blessing!

August 13, 2015 (Continued)

What do we have in common with Paul Rudd, Bobby Cannavale and Peter Dinkelage? Killybegs, that's what! We stopped for lunch in Killybegs in County Donegal, where the aforementioned A-list actors gathered for a stag party in March of 2014. Closer to home, we stopped to tour the Belleek Factory in Inniskillen in County Fermanagh. Belleek products are close to our heart, as we featured them in our wedding and chose them as gifts for our guests. The tour was quite interesting. We learned that Belleek products have been handcrafted in Ireland for over 157 years, with each piece being crafted by 16 individual artisans. The process has changed very little since 1857. Interestingly enough, we didn't realize that we had crossed the border into Northern Ireland yet again, and were surprised when the price of the tour was quoted in pound sterling rather than Euros!

August 14-15, 2015

We arrived back in Tobercurry late Thursday, in time to catch the final weekend of the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann. We bought tickets to a Friday night concert by the group Flook, which is an Anglo-Irish band that plays traditional Irish instrumental music. The band consists of four musicians playing the flute, guitar, bodhran and features the most amazing tin whistle player that I have ever heard, the insanely dexterous Brian Finegan! On Saturday we drove around Sligo Harbour to Rosses Point, where we had lunch at a restaurant called Austie's. They served absolutely fabulous Irish brown bread, but the best part of the meal was the rag-tag group of musicians that gathered one by one until they transformed into the best traditional Irish band that we have heard so far. The singer, who looked like a construction worker, had an achingly lovely tenor voice that nearly brought us to tears when he sang "The Water Is Wide". It was hard to tear ourselves away from this enchanting scene!

August 14-15, 2015

Some scenes from our drive around Colgagh Lough, which is in County Sligo about 10 kilometers east of Sligo Town:

August 21-22, 2015

Another week of work comes to a close for Gary, and we drive into Sligo Town on Friday night. We have dinner at Hargadon's, a pub where, to our surprise, we hear some musicians playing bluegrass and singing about North Carolina! On Saturday we decide to take in the many sights around us in County Sligo and County Leitrim. First, we visited the Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, which is the largest cemetery of megalithic tombs in Ireland and is also among the country's oldest. Archaeologists have discovered over 60 tombs here. We took these pictures of the tombs, and strolled around for a while, all the time keeping in mind that we didn't want to become that type of tourist who, upon seeing Stonehenge remarks in disappointment that "it is just a bunch of rocks"!

August 22, 2015

Next stop: Parke's Castle, on Lough Gill in County Leitrim. This castle was once the home of Robert Parke and his family. Before that, it was owned by Sir Brian O'Rourke, who, despite being knighted by the English in 1578, was proclaimed a rebel and forced to flee to Scotland. He later became the first man extradited within Britain on allegations of crimes committed in Ireland and was executed for high treason in 1591. The castle has been restored with painstaking care using Irish oak and craftsman techniques of the 17th century. One of the pictures below is of a model of the castle.

August 22, 2015 (Continued)

Continuing our journey, at the dock at Parke's Castle we boarded the Rose of Innisfree tour boat for a sail on Lough Gill to see the "Lake Isle of Innisfree", which was immortalized in William Butler Yeats' poem of the same name. This was quite the unusual boat tour, with the captain reciting Yeats over the microphone, interspersed with Irish music. They certainly love their Yeats around here! As always in Ireland, the scenery here is superb, with great views of Benbulben Mountain, which is mentioned in the poem. As we were waiting to board the tour boat, I found a rock on which someone had written "Rise Above" with a curlicue below it. It was so unusual, and I wondered what circumstance had prompted someone to write such a thing on a stone. I wish now that I had kept the rock as a souvenir. Back in Sligo Town, to finish our "day of stone" tour, we spent some time in Sligo Abbey, which was actually a Dominican friary founded in the mid-13th century by Maurice Fitzgerald.

August 29, 2015

We spent our last night in Tobercurry once again making the 30-minute drive to Sligo Town, having dinner at the Coach Lane Restaurant, where we had dined before during the Fleadh. Because Tobercurry is such a small village, we ended up spending quite a bit of time in Sligo. Here are some final images of our time there: the bridge that reminded us of Amsterdam; the delightful Michael Mullaney, owner of Mullaney Brothers, the store we visited three times; and the street mural of William Butler Yeats (did I mention that they love their Yeats here?)

August 29, 2015 (Continued)

Now that I have presented images of the "good" part of Sligo, I will show you the "bad and the ugly" all rolled into one!

August 30, 2015

We were up early to say goodbye to Tobercurry and to make the drive to Dublin for a brief stay before our next exchange. Here are some final images of Tobercurry: Gary in the village square beside a monument celebrating the musical heritage of the region; the house; the BMW that Gary really enjoyed driving; a beautiful wooden bench that we happened upon during our walks that was built for an obviously well-loved Kathleen Henry and the memorial to her; and the surrounding countryside: