What we did on our holidays

Posted on June 18, 2007
Filed Under Travel |

We’re back from our holiday. Back to the grind so to speak. Anyway, I thought I’d share a brief(ish) synopsis of how it went.

Saturday morning, alarm at 5.40 am and on the road by 6.30. Drove all the way through the early morning mist to Cairnryan on the west coast, stopping briefly in Girvan for bacon rolls for breakfast. Ailsa Craig loomed off the coast, eerie in the mist. Aboard the ferry to Larne in Northern Ireland and put the feet up. Disembarked at Larne to the strains of ‘Easter’. Seemed quite relevant, although of course we hadn’t gone ‘out of the port of Liverpool’. Who cares about small details though.

We drove the length of Ireland which was a fairly lengthy drive. During this mammoth trip we stopped for a nice lunch in a hotel which bizarrely had a ‘Cagneys’ bar and a ‘Laceys’ bar. Coincidence? I think not. We also managed to accidentally gatecrash a funeral wake in a pub on the outskirts of Carlow when stopping for a cuppa. After a late evening, protracted search for somewhere selling hayfever medication, we eventually reached Tramore on the south coast. A quick meal and then straight to bed.

Sunday was spent on the beach with my Sister-In-Law and her kids. Many sandcastles were made, kids splashed in the sea and the skin was sunburnt. Chicken and chips for tea and then a trip to the fairground and the amusements. Penny falls are a mugs game, believe me.

The rest of the week was spent lazing about, visiting the amusements and losing money on roulette, fruit machines and penny falls, along with an amazing zombie killing shooting game which we played a lot of. We visited the mysterious Metal Man, gazed out to Brownstown Head and visited Kilfarasay and Annstown beaches. We spent a whole hour and a half at Annstown throwing a driftwood cube into the raging surf and recovering it from the beach when it was thrown back up. I remember when fun constituted drinking, smoking and partying. I am surely becoming a simpler creature as I get older.
I’ve decided to cover the weeks events in true trainspotting fashion with a summary as follows :-

Scotland. Mist. The M8 at 7am. Red sheep on the Bathgate Pyramids. Driving fast on empty roads. Girvan. Bacon Rolls and Ailsa Craig. Cairnryan. The ferry terminal smelling of wee. Snoring after falling asleep in the ferry lounge. Disembarking at Larne. Northern Ireland. Easter on the iPod. Union Jacks. Belfast. The IRA mural on the high flats. The memorial to the hunger strikers. King Billy on a horse. Centuries of hatred. Ireland. Crossing the border into the Republic. Euros. Carvery Lunch. Cagney and Lacey. Gatecrashed funerals. Teenagers stealing a drunk guys Jack Daniels whilst I watched, an impassioned observer. Kilkenny. Chemist Shops. Superquinn sausages. Chicken suppers. Beaches. The Crazy Mouse ride. Fun house and Ghost train. Drinking beer. Cubes in the waves. Green Island. The Metal Man. The Irish Times. Brown bread and Jam. Pinky Moons Pit Stop. The Ferry. Girvan again and chips with the seagulls. Ailsa Craig again. Windy roads. The M8. Glasgow looming on the horizon like a stone beast. The M8 again. Tiredness kills take a break. Don’t drink and drive. Edinburgh. Home. Carrying bags upstairs. “Need a hand mate?”. Bed.

Please link to this post

Bookmark It