Exploring the Places No One is Talking About
We did a lot in Ireland. Almost too much, there were things we cut out because we just had done so much in such a short amount of time and needed to slow down a bit. There is nothing wrong with taking a step back and relaxing a bit, whether that is on a trip
The United States has some pretty awesome scenic routes over mountains and down coastlines but the ones in Ireland are pretty awesome too. Since our Ireland adventure was a road trip we got to drive along portions of some of these coastal routes. Some tips if you do decide to follow these routes: There are
When traveling in the US we typically don’t use travel companies, however, for this trip to Ireland we decided to go with one that I had been looking at for a while: Wilderness Ireland. I wanted to use a travel company for a few reasons: I had no idea where to start planning this trip.
Half of what we did in Derry was eat and it was all delicious. Our first stop was Soda & Scratch. This restaurant was suggested by Wilderness Ireland and honestly, it was probably one of my favorite meals. I tried the BBQ Chicken Tikka Salad and Keltin got the Lisdergan Butchers 6oz Marrow Aged Beef
From Bushmills we were headed to Lough Eske but we had a few stops to make along the way. We stopped in Colerane to pick up a new allen-wrench for the camera gear and a new shirt for Keltin – one of his ended up with a hole in it. I loved how walkable all
After exploring Rathlin Island we headed inland a bit to visit The Dark Hedges. The Dark Hedges are beautiful but they aren’t actually actually hedges, they are beech trees. Fans of Game of Thrones might recognize the King’s Road. The magnificent trees were planted in the eighteenth century by the Stuart family as a lead up
Since we were staying at The Bushmills Inn they reached out directly to us to see if we wanted dinner reservations in the restaurant as they give guests the first priority. One thing we learned fairly quickly in Ireland is that they do things at a slower pace – including dinning. They don’t try and
Bushmills. This is the name of the town, of the inn, and of the distillery. No, I’m not sure which was named first. It was quite a change going from the big city of Belfast and a skyscraper hotel to the quant and comfortable Bushmills Inn. Bushmills was booked for us by Wilderness Ireland and
Ireland is ridiculously picturesque. There are places on the island where myth meets science and history. The tors on the hike up Slieve Binnian are one such example, stone warriors asleep and waiting to defend the isle. The Hill of Tara is another but the most memorable sight was the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.
Part of the reason that I selected Wilderness Ireland as our travel company was because I could select trips that included guided hikes. Our first hike was in the Mourne Mountains in County Down. The hike tried to kill us, but it was worth it. I jest, we were jet lagged and it was a
McGee Travel Tales 