And who do we see on first entering the grounds? Robert the Bruce, of course! In 1314 he took back Stirling Castle from the English at the battle of Bannockburn. Stirling Castle is at the centre of a lot…
Scotland – the Highlands
We started our brief tour of Scotland by staying in Menstrie, a small town near Stirling. We were very kindly hosted here by a new-found Ferguson cousin, Mary, and her husband Mike. The subject of this particular post is our…
Return to Galway
Pip had a day conference in Galway so we made a long weekend out of it. Just two hours and 20 minutes on the train and we were there, pleased to see that the weather was picking up nicely. Starting…
Easter 1916 commemoration
On Easter Monday 1916 a few hundred Irish men and women took part in an armed rebellion against the British who controlled the country. They held a few major buildings in Dublin for about a week before being forced to surrender by the…
Sligo Day 4
For our final day in Sligo we explored the town in the morning, experiencing some rain for the first time on this trip. Perhaps it was the rain but it felt a little depressed and down-at-heel with many empty shops.…
Rosserk Friary
During Day 3 a slight detour after lunch took us to the ruins of Rosserk Friary on the edge of the estuary of the river Moy, famed for its salmon. We braved about 5km of a road just wide enough…
Sligo Day 3
Highlight of the day was travelling west up to Ceide Fields via Ballina, a journey of about an hour and a half from Sligo. There we met Mairin (a colleague of Pip’s) and Red who helped to show us around…
Sligo Day 2 but wait, there’s more!
There really was a lot to this day so I have split it into two blog posts and this one contains the overflow. The second lough that we drove alongside was Glencar. There is a noted waterfall some way in…
Sligo Day 2
“I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree…” Alright then, off you go. Are you sure you really want to? Just look at it! A bit of a let-down, really, after reading that evocative poem. W B Yeats…
Sligo Day 1
This year, St Patrick’s Day (or Paddy’s Day as the locals affectionately call it) was on a Thursday and since it is a national holiday many people, us included, took the Friday off as well to make a long weekend…