LegenDERRY Roadtrip

For those who don’t follow the ‘How I Met Your Mother’ television series (and shame on you!), there is one phrase that one of the main characters constantly uses which is ‘Legendary’…well, to be specific he quotes, ‘it’s gonna be LEGEN…wait for it…DARY.’ Not to skip ahead, but when I was in Derry, Northern Ireland (I can’t say Londonderry because I will feel all my Irish friends cringe if I do), there was a small train tour on wheels that was called ‘Legenderry Tours’ and I knew instantly that would be the name of my blog about my amazing roadtrip with my sister and bro-in-law.

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect for when Joc and Mike arrived. My last official day I could work in Ireland was September 29^th and Joc and Mike arrived the same day. Luckily, they spent two days in Dublin seeing the sights and then they were going to take the bus across to Galway for a couple days before they rented a car to do a few days down to Dingle, Killarney, Cork, Kerry, etc. When they arrived, we just toured around the city and I took them around to my favourite places and pubs and did a lot of walking with Joc while Mike did some work from the hotel room here and there. We had a fabulous 3-course meal at The Park House Hotel (same one as Mom & Dad stayed at) and then Mike dipped back upstairs to finish some work as I took Joc to some live ‘Trad’ music across from the hotel at an ‘old man pub’ (An Pucan) where she had some Irish beer and watched the Irish locals drunkenly sing. She was entertained as an old drunk Irish man tried to put the moves on me…but luckily, Jonny arrived shortly after from his work shift to bounce the old lad out. We also experienced together our first ‘lock-in’ where the pub will lock the doors while people are still inside to ensure more people don’t filter in after closing hours. Do they do that in Canada? Hm…if not, I think I should start a trend.

 Sis and bro-in-law chillin' Galway-style

 Joc' first pint of Smithwick's in Galway @ An Pucan bar with live trad music and impromptu singing by some locals - naturally

The next day, they got an early start and picked up their car rental, installed their GPS system (nicknamed ‘Sam 2’ after their other GPS ‘Sam’ back in Ontario) they bought from Curry’s (UK/Irish version of Best Buy) in Galway and hit the road for a few days down south. They were going to pass through Galway on their way back up to pick me up for our roadtrip up to Northern Ireland.

When they got back to Galway a few days later, we left around 4pm and after many twists and turns on the Irish roads (family history of motion sickness doesn’t help), a stop in Sligo for some pizza (it had to be Dominoes of course for Joc) and a few detours due ‘Sam 2’ setting us off-track, we finally made it to our B&B just outside of Coleraine just before 11pm. The B&B was so nice with it sitting in the nice countryside and was all newly redone. The couple was young and had a small Terrier named Holly who loved attention, naturally I had a room upstairs to myself while Joc and Mike stayed in a room down by the dining area. The room was massive with a king-side bed all to myself, flat screen tv, all handmade wooden furniture/cabinets and lots of windows with a great view of the country-side and lots of starry nights. For only 30 pounds per night, I was in heaven including a home-cooked breakfast that I could pre-order the night before from their personal menu. J

The next morning we had a bit of a sleep-in (well, on Joc and Mike’s watch cuz sleep-in’s for me these days usually involve waking up in the afternoon) and then hit the road. We took the scenic route to The Giant Causeway along the coast and stopped at a few areas that allowed you to pull over and take some pictures. We drove by the golf course that Gavin played at a few years ago while in a tournament (lucky!) and just took in the amazing views. We stopped off at Dunluce Castle and with much of the land and architecture still intact we took the steps all the way down to the shore and walked around the lot. Afterwards we drove through Portstewart and stopped at the beach to see all the surfers attempting the cold waters but they had some great wind for the day to catch good waves. We finally made it to the Giant Causeway and after parking we walked all the way down to the rock formations and, even though it was a fair trek, it was definitely worth it. I took many pictures and climbed up to the pyramid of one of the rock formations and just took in the waves splashing up against the rocks and it was just one of those moments where you wish it would last forever…cheesy but true. I took as many pictures as I could with my iphone and even a video to capture the memory somewhat and then made my way back to the shore. We all just wandered around for a bit but then had to start making our ascent back up to the car as we wanted to squeeze in a tour at the Bushmills Distillery (whiskey) before it closed and it turned dark out. My ankles definitely were getting a work out and I soon realized that Converse are not the most supportive walking shoes!

 view of Atlantic on our way to Giant Causeway

 binocular fail

 descending down to the lower level of Dunluce Castle

 Dunluce Castle

 fully-working steam-engine train

 the magnificent and amazing nature-made Giant Causweay

rock formations made of hundreds of years of tides, water, wind, etc.

Chucks on the rocks :)

We arrived at the Distillery and took the tour and found out a lot more than my little knowledge I already had about whiskey as I’m not a very big whiskey connoisseur…I’ll leave that to the Irish….and scotch to the Scots. Since it was a Saturday, the distillery wasn’t in full working order except for one or two workers who had to keep an eye on the liquid levels during the distilling process. Afterwards, each visitor received a complimentary tasting of any Bushmill’s whiskey of their choice since there are so many types. We took advantage of our ‘family trio’ and each got something different so we could each try them all. As Joc and I made sour faces at the ‘neat’ whiskey (no mixers for us other than a bit of water), Mike savoured in all the flavours that Bushmills had to offer. Final verdict, I enjoyed the 500^th anniversary limited edition whiskey which was sweeter as they crystallized the malt in cane sugar before the distilling process…yum.

Bushmills Distillery

whiskey-photo fun

testing some whiskey in the Bushmills lounge

After our long day of walking, we picked up some cheese and wine (and whiskey for Mike) from Tesco’s as the woman who owned the B&B suggested to us to enjoy some wine and cheese infront of a warm fire after dinner when we got back. Joc and Mike couldn’t get over how inexpensive the cheese (and wine) was since a good hunk of brie in Canada is usually over $4 where in Ireland/UK, you can get it for as little as 1-pound. We even found some ‘Canadian Cheddar’ made by Tesco which Joc got over course due to her love for extra-old cheddar cheese. We stopped at a pub near the B&B and had some good food including Tobacco Onions (ie. crispy onion straws) and then headed back to the B&B. It was nice curling up infront of the fire as it was pretty drizzly all day and it was a great way to end the night.

found this at the Tesco in Coleraine, naturally Joc had to get it for a snack later with some wine by the fire at the B&B

The next morning after breakfast we headed back onto the road and went to Derry (or as the road signs stated – Londonderry). We went to the visitors centre to see what we could do for the day and started out with a nice walking tour along the ‘Walled City’ as the original stone wall was still intact from many years ago around a certain part of the city. It was neat as our tourguide, took us around most of the wall where we could actually walk on top of the wall while hearing about all the history of Derry, The Troubles, the riots/wars, and other parts of Northern Ireland like the ports where people like my great-grandmother emigrated to Canada from. As I was listening to him, I couldn’t help but think how much my Dad would appreciate the tour and all the history seeing that is one of his main interests. I told him later that night when Joc and I skyped Mom & Dad (it was Thanksgiving in Canada) that if he comes back this way that he will have to make a visit to Derry as Mom and him made it as far as Belfast. Unfortunately we ran out of time on our roadtrip to head over to Belfast but I did make it there myself when moving across to the UK just recently. After the walking tour, we grabbed a quick snack (where Joc found out that up in the north part of Ireland you have to ask for your Mc D’s hamburger to be dressed or else it just comes out plain!), and then did some more walking around. We went across the Peace Bridge that was just built a couple months before we arrived as they are really trying to enforce peace in the north of Ireland ever since the riots and wars began years ago. We also walked on the other half of the ‘Walled City’ and just wandered here and there.

Signs and barriers marking British vs Irish sides, The Troubles still fighting

 View of Derry through an arrow-loop 

walking on top of the 'walled city' for our tour

view of Derry through a cannon hole

Built in 1830, Austin's is the oldest department store in Ireland most of Europe. Impressive. 

Had to document this as I'm pretty sure this is  the port where my great-grandmother from Antrim Co. in  Northern Ireland departed from in the early 1900's

New 'Peace Bridge' that just finished a few months before we visited. To join both sides of Derry and communicate peace throughout the region 

Famous statue commemorating the riots and wars in Derry and, again, communicating peace across the region.

We wanted to get back to the B&B for a quick rest and then go out for a nice dinner so we could get to bed at a decent hour since we had to get up early on Sunday for our long trip back to Galway...and then for Joc and Mike, to catch their bus to Shannon as their flight departed from Shannon Airport the next morning (how fitting, I know!) We had another lovely meal in town by our B&B with the usual good Irish comfort food, including dessert of course and headed back to get a good night’s rest. Now, must I note that Mike did a superb job as he was the sole driver on the rental car and did all the driving from Galway to Dingle/Killarney/Cork/Kerry, back up to Galway, Galway to Coleraine, well you get the jist of it. I felt so helpless in the back as I wish I could had given him a break here and there but I know they wanted to save money on not having a second driver on the vehicle so I did my best to not be a ‘back-seat driver’. After many hours we finally made it back to Galway with lots of time before their bus left the station. We said our goodbyes (Jonny came to the station to say goodbye too) and I watched as they pulled away and made their way to Shannon Airport.

All in all it was an amazing journey, sharing many firsts together and experiencing new places in Ireland is always an adventure and a memorable one too. Before they left, they handed me over ‘Sam 2’ to hold onto when they come to UK (specifically Scotland) for their next roadtrip and I can’t wait!

Now…if only I can get my brother to visit. No guilt trip intended…ok, maybe  a small one! YOUR MOVE, GAV.