August Bank Holiday 2021
It occurs to me that I originally started this blog to tell people about our travels.
We’ve just been away for the bank holiday weekend to County Clare with our friend Claire.
Here’s what we did.
Friday
We (Claire the Australian, Jared, and myself) departed Dublin in the traffic and rain. Avoiding a fender bender on the M50, it took us about 2 hours to fetch Jared from work and escape Dublin. After several hours, a pit stop that included SuperMacs, and navigating many windy tight back roads, we eventually arrived at our delightful accommodation – Druid Cottage – in the back of beyond.
After a quick change, we set out for dinner in Ennis, the county town. We were pleasantly surprised to enjoy al fresco dining at the Rowan Tree Cafe next to the River Fergus, exquisite cuisine, prompt and peppy wait staff, and an impressive array of desserts.
Saturday
The day dawned grey and cloudy, but we, undeterred, continued on to Lough Derg (the third largest lake in Ireland, donchyano) where Claire and I set out kayaking with the lovely Grace, of My Next Adventure. We paddled under the bridge that connects the dual towns of Ballina and Killaloe, and headed down towards the River Shannon and the massive dam that powers a lot of the Western half of Ireland.
Our tour guide delighted us with stories of the local area’s history, geography and some particularly strange locals whose residences abut the lake. There was the swimming area where someone used to teach the locals to swim by tying reeds to their ankles as flotation devices. There was the Arab prince who was so taken with the town, that he bought a grand old estate – only to never actually return to use it. There were also the owners of a very grand house who had a seaplane storage under their patio and not one but two robotic lawn mowers.
Grace was very disheartened to relay that land prices had gone up significantly in the area – a lakeside section with a derelict house now going for – make sure you’re sitting down – €200 000 (About $300 000 NZD). We chortled and told her that that was a mere deposit in NZ or Australia now.
The cloud cleared as our tour finished up, and Jared greeted us at the canal’s edge, and we once again crossed the iconic bridge towards Flanagan’s on the Lake, a brilliant watering hole, where we watched rugby with our lunch, and the food and fare was generally pretty great.
After lunch, we set out towards Nenagh Castle, a convenient 25 min drive from Killaloe. Upon arrival we discovered that the guy who we’d been emailing about a guided tour wasn’t actually there that day, and so we grilled the historian at the desk about as much as we could find out, then set about climbing the three floors of this ancient round tower.
The higher we got, the narrower the stairs became, until there was barely room for feet on them at all! We ascended to the summit of the tower, and admired the view, taking the requisite photos in every direction.
After a quick jaunt through the lavender-filled walled garden, it was time to go again.
We returned to Lough Derg, parking a little further away from the town (there’s very limited space in the town itself, and everything was full when we’d left. The traffic on the bridge is also diabolical, so to be avoided if possible)
We made a note to go back to Tuscany Bistro as we walked past and breathes in the heavenly Italian smells, and continued on our way to the pier. We arrived early for our 3:45 sailing on ‘The Spirit of Killaloe‘, and just as well – it was the last sailing of the day and quite full.
The sailing had a voice over commentary and twee Irish music that serenaded us as we saw slightly further than we’d seen in our kayaking venture. Jared heartily recommends the Bailey’s coffees on the boat, but for the €15, I’m not sure I’d do the cruise again. It was nice enough, but the kayaking or the boat would have sufficed, both I feel was possibly too much.
We drove past a very fun looking inflatables course, but with the weather a cloudy 18 degrees, threats of rain, and a cool breeze coming through, it wouldn’t be one I’d be trying without a wetsuit.
Saturday evening, we drove down to Limerick for dinner, and watched more rugby at Dolan’s pub. Food was OK, usual pub grub, but service was a little slow, and they hadn’t really recorded our booking properly, so there was a bit of table juggling upon our arrival.
Thinking that we still had the stamina of twenty-somethings, I booked us in for post-dinner drinks at WJ South’s. The place was beautiful on the inside, but due to COVID regulations, we had to sit outside as one in our party wasn’t fully vaccinated, so we got to hang outside with the smokers instead.
We asked a few locals what there was to do in Limerick, and as any typical Irish person would, he started rattling off good bars to us.
When I tried to tease out of him non-drinking related things, he was a little lost, but was adamant that King John’s Castle was ‘unreal’.
We’ll be back in 3 weeks, so we shall see if it lives up to the hype.
Sunday
After a lazy morning, we set out towards the coast, the optimist in me hopeful we could fit in a swim before our booking at the caves.
We instead got waylaid at a creperie in Ennistymon called Ooh La La, which was definitely worth the stop. Savoury buckwheat crepes topped with all kinds of goodies were followed by sweet crepes with the best names for crepes I’ve seen yet. The service was excellent, and they were very attentive. Their outdoor setting was idyllic, but slightly spoiled by their allowing of dogs, and then dogs barking at each other.
We continued on to Lahinch, but spent so long looking for a park that we didn’t end up having time to swim, so we have booked in already to go back next summer. Here’s hoping the weather will cooperate!
Traversing yet more narrow, bumpy backroads, we continued on to Ailwee caves, getting briefly slowed by the dreaded tour buses – they’re back!
Ailwee caves complex has a Birds of Prey centre at the entrance, which boasts a falconry display on the hour every hour, the Lanner falcon who swooped and soared above us, diving for the lure. Next, came the Harris hawks, a family group of three that showed their agility by plucking chunks of chicken out of mid-air.
We walked the steep 5 minutes up to the caves, and joined the next tour group to adventure through the caves.
Ailwee caves were discovered in 1944 and are relatively young geologically speaking. The path through the caves was very civilised, and there were about five stops to admire various parts along the way. The caves date from the holocene period, and were carved out by what used to be a river while Ireland was underwater near Africa.
The caves do still flood if there is a lot of water in the area, with a dye test showing geologists that the water moves to the pond at the bottom of the hill in twenty minutes, and then to nearest bay in two hours.
Compared to the Mitchelstown Caves in Tipperary, Ailwee is a tourist trap, and I’m a little disappointed that is was sold to me by others as superior to Mitchelstown. Ailwee is superior in only two areas – the wittiness of the guides, and the safety features in the caves – hardly winning elements if it is cool geological formations that you’re after. Mitchelstown all day.
After the caves, we headed to Cassidy’s Pub which is this beautiful little pub in the middle of nowhere, an ex-police barracks owned by a gregarious gent, who regaled us with stories of the time Liam Neeson came and such like. The views from the restaurant are breathtaking, and he said that we should come back in winter as there’s a lake that is seasonally there.
The service was a little harried and forgetful, but they could be forgiven as they were slammed and the food was excellent. Highly recommend the steak, and the death-by-chocolate brownie was delectable.
We meandered home, the hedges hugging us, and crawled into bed.
Monday we drove home in the rain, and counted ourselves very lucky to have missed rain the whole weekend.
Jared’s fave: Dinner in Ennis. That was amazing. Service was great. Food was great. Nice atmosphere. Made the other places look very average.
Lauren’s fave: Kayaking!! So relaxing, the water was so still, and so lovely to be out on it, without the faff of being in it.
Claire’s fave: Kayaking! Haven’t done something like that in a long time.
Total kms travelled: 786km