Five Countries Four Marlboroughs: September 2016

Well, I've noticed a pattern here in Ireland. The weather starts off pretty dab in the morning and gets much better in the afternoon. Today was no exception so we decided not to head back to the Giants Causeway. Wet rocks = slippery and the wind was howling.

We would spend the day driving from Portballintrae to Belfast via the Causeway Coast. First stop was a look at Dunluce Castle. Does anyone want to get out and explore the castle? - 'nope' was the consensus - so we continued on.

We've noticed that you can park you can on either side of the road - basically anywhere you like. We'll be driving on a road - and the roads are quite narrow - and there will be a parked car taking up one side of the road. This doesn't seem to bother anyone and drivers are all very courteous. I just can't imagine this happening at home.

Next stop Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (locally pronounced carrick-a-reedy) which is a famous rope bride near Ballintoy. The bridge links the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede, has a span of 20m and is 30m about the rocks below. The rope bridge was first erected by salmon fishermen in 1755. The walk to the bridge was 1km each way and lucky for us the sun was now out!

We then made a detour to the Dark Hedges made famous in the TV series, Game of Thrones. The wind was howling and there kids was no way the kids were getting out of the car! I walked under the ancient beech trees stretching along Bregagh road, the intertwining branches were loudly creaking - I best get back in the car too!

Back to the coast, we continue our drive. The sky was blue, the grass so green, and for Terry the drive has been the highlight of his trip. No space is wasted here - cows were in paddocks right at the waters edge.

Tonight is a splurge and we are staying at the five star Merchant Hotel in Belfast. The hotel is a former bank and is decked out in art deco style. Will and I had a quick walk around the city and went to City Hall and had a look at the Titanic Memorial.

Later, Terry and I headed to the cocktail lounge for a drink - 15 pounds for a champagne cocktail - one drink and we were out of there! Straight down the road to the pub for a Guinness which we are drinking every night. I don't usually drink beer but i have latched on the Guinness!

We headed back to the hotel for dinner in the Great Room for a fancy dinner. Usually everyone likes Terry - but not our waitress tonight! I'd order something and she'd say 'good choice' - Terry would order and she wouldn't say a word, she just give him the 'look'. When my meal arrived it was a good size serving of beef fillet - Terry's meal arrived and the fish serving was the size of one sardine. By this stage, the Guinness had kicked in and Terry and I couldn't stop laughing. My dessert arrived - profiterole swans - and the waitress generously poured over the melted chocolate. Terry's dessert arrived and it was the size of a golf ball so Terry grabbed the jug of chocolate and smothered it all over his dessert. It was one of those 'had to be there' moments. We then had a game of snooker before heading to bed - absolutely exhausted after another big day.

Dunluce Castle

Sunny - and windy!

No stone walls here - now hedges

On the walk to Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge

Little Irish boy loves the wind

Hesitant but on the bridge

A kiss for mum!

The Dark Hedges

Lone fisherman

The Causeway Coast Route

The Merchant Hotel

My own dressing room

Belfast City Hall

Monument to the Titantic

15 pound champagne cocktail - think I'll just had the one

Which pub?

Well the sign says so

Murals in an alley

The Great Room

Didn't pick the best dessert Terry!

My swans

Take that! I want chocolate sauce too

Today was a huge day. After a fantastic sleep to wash away the previous crappy afternoon, we all woke refreshed ready for another adventure. Today we would travel from Sligo, Ireland to Porballintrae, Northern Ireland via Letterkenny to see where my ancestors came from.

Starting off with breakfast, Terry and I had our first taste of black and white pudding. Black pudding is made of pigs blood whilst white pudding is made of fat. I preferred the black while Terry preferred the white. I'm sure i could get used to it if i lived here.

Now i know this is going to sound ridiculous - and I can't believe i had never heard of it either - but I learnt about 'the famine' in the hotel pub last night. We all know i really don't like history, but I can honestly say I didn't know about the great famine. (I can see you shaking your head mum, truly i didn't) It became apparent as we were driving through towns and there was monuments to 'the famine' and a 'famine graveyard' and then whilst in the pub, one of the locals filled me in on the history of the famine. So first up today, I was determined to visit one of the memorials. We visited the monument in Sligo and saw where over 30 000 people emigrated during the period from 1847 and 1851, and also saw the graveyard. I can't even comprehend what the people must have endured.

We then started our drive to Letterkenny to see where my ancestors came from. We stopping on the way at Yeats grave - I'm sure you all know that William Bulter Yeats was a famous Irish poet and is buried in Drumcliffe Parish Church cemetery in County Sligo. I'm not going to lie, I hadn't heard of him either - I'm learning a lot of things on this trip mum!

Driving through Ireland, we have noticed there is a wall competition. It seems everyone wants to build the biggest and best stone wall and all the farmland is divided by rock walls. We continued our drive and found it incredible that the speed limit is 100kms per hour in built up areas - it seems too fast. We drove along and saw a sign 'traffic calming' yet there is no new speed limit. Then without warning there is a sign, 'yield' and we had to come to a quick stop.

We arrived into Letterkenny shortly after lunch - so this is the town I would have been living in if my relative didn't steal a horse! I've always thought there must have been a bloody good reason why he did steal that horse. What i do know is my relative James Moore was born in 1784 and was transported in 1829 to Australia. He could read and write and was 45 years old and 7 years later his wife and children were brought out to Australia. We stopped at the library to see if they had any record of his parents - I didn't get a chance to do research before we left, perhaps they would have something there. The lady i met was very helpful and told us the Moore's would be buried in the Church of Ireland cemetery. Without the name of James' parents, we thought we'd head to the cemetery anyway to see what we could find. She said that we must have brought the sun as it had been raining straight for 3 weeks!

When we arrived at the cemetery, a lady was walking by and we got chatting about why we were there. She said that she had friends that were Moore's and the way the Irish pronounce Moore is 'Muir'. She pointed in the direction that the Moore's live and told us we would definitely find Moore's in this cemetery. We headed to the old part of the cemetery and straight away found a grave that was dedicated to the Moore family and another couple of Moore graves. Could these be the graves of my ancestors? As we drove out of Letterkenny Terry asked, 'are you emotional?' Well, perhaps i would have been if i had of known for sure that these were actually the graves was my ancestors. To be completely honest, all i kept thinking was I'm so glad my relative stole the horse and was sent to Australia. Let's face it, I wouldn't be here if he didn't and as much as we love Ireland, the weather is just woeful.

We are staying in Porballintrae tonight which is a small town just a short drive from the Giants Causeway. Even though we'd had a big day, I just HAD to head straight to the Causeway to take advantage of the clear weather. The Giant's Causeway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is the result of an ancient volcanic eruption however the folklore is the hexagonal rocks were created by a giant, Finn McCool. We arrived shortly after 5pm which was perfect timing as the tour buses had left - we were free to explore without the crowds. I couldn't wait to get there and was not disappointed and as long as the weather holds out, we'll be back there again tomorrow morning!