Hi John, your plan is very do-able. I ventured out a few years ago with a friend who lived in Louth. In one day we drove to Fermanagh, over to the west coast of Donegal, drove north, bought some cheese, toured the bottom of Inishowen watching some fishermen fish, crossed into Northern Ireland, hugging the north coast. At dinner in Bushmills. Turned south. Cruised rapidly through Belfast and returned home in the mid evening. It's not a huge place. Of course the roads were two lane must of the way so we were not traveling like we would on the Autobahn. On another trip I started in Belfast, drove to Fermanagh and across to the coast of Donegal, turned north, headed east up through the pass to Lisburn, drove back to Belfast. It really depends on how many stops you want to make. The north coastal road from northern Antrim to Belfast is very scenic, btw. The fast route is up on top! I recommend the scenic route one way at least. The B&Bs in Britain are regulated and are generally very nice. You can get a room locally. There's offices (and signs to the office) to book rooms. I can give you the email of the one we stay in in Belfast. It is 'en suite'. This is Irish for "private bath, American style". Otherwise you run the risk of having to share. Might or might not bother you. Avenue Guest House is here: http://www.avenueguesthouse.com/ . There's a hotel across the road and a less expensive one that was not en suite. There's good restaurants at either end of the street. The street is beautiful (see photie). Catch bus a block away on Lisburn Road. Walk to Queens. Check out second hand bookshop. Actually I found some locally published books in Queens bookstore you can't get outside of Northern Ireland, like one that is a road tour of the antiquities of County Antrim. I like having a place to go to the first night as I am exhausted. Belfast driving is not for me. Too many one way streets -- the wrong way! I once got lost in Falls Road. I was late for a luncheon engagement up Lisburn Road near Eglantine (so locals know how lost I was!). I wanted to ask someone but was having a problem figuring out how to stop the car so that I was on the correct side to converse (as it is backwards from the USA). The busses get you around great, but then you are male and probably will drive <grin>. Parking is a pain as it is in all big cities. Linda Merle ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Polk" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, May 6, 2010 12:50:47 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [S-I] Fwd: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland to be closed for a while I am heading for Ireland in two weeks, all in May, initially in Dublin, but then a swing through the North. Plans are pretty loose at present but will not include researching in archives, etc. Strictly a sightseeing venture. General plan is Tara, Armagh, Giants Causeway, Bushmills, Roe Vally, Londonderry, Omaha, Lifford, Donegal. Only have six days for all this before getting back to Dublin for reunion with some friends. We will be looking to stay at B&B's but have not made any reservations yet. I prefer to decide things day by day on the go rather than nailing everything down in advance. Is this a mistake? All advice appreciated. Last time I did this was in 1959 when I was on a bike and stayed at youth hostels. John Polk Maryland USA ----- Original Message ----- From: <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 10:56 Subject: [S-I] Fwd: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland to be closed for a while > Hi folks, our list member forgot to copy us....distracted by preparations > for her upcoming Scottish trip, perhaps. Anyway, more good news from > Northern Ireland. > > What to do? > > Go to Salt Lake. Send the family off on a ski trip or whatever it is they > do up there when the snow finally melts, and hit the stacks. They have a > lot of stuff there including a long long collection of local history > books, indexed parliamentary papers, all the microfilm collection, of > course, but the actual library books are what to hit first since it is > awkward searching them from afar. > > Or hit the Linen Hall Library in Belfast. Armagh Museum, etc, etc. Lots to > see and do. > > If anyone is planning a trip over and would like to ask for suggestions, > advice, hints on the best places to eat, and what to do or see, now's your > time! > > > Linda Merle > > > ----- Forwarded Message ----- > From: [email protected] > To: [email protected], [email protected], > [email protected], [email protected], > [email protected], [email protected] > Sent: Thursday, May 6, 2010 7:06:59 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland to be closed for a > while > > >>From the most recent copy of The Bulletin of the Presbyterian Historical >>Society of Ireland: "Owing to the building work in Church House, the >>library of the Presbyterian Historical Society will be closed for the >>foreseeable future. Urgent inquiries are best made by email-- >>[email protected] -- or letter care of Church >>House, Fisherwick Place, Belfast, BT1 6DW, N. Ireland. I > > Is mise le meas, > Gobnait > > Cast a cold eye > On life, on death. > Horseman, pass by! > W.B.Yeats' tombstone > > www.johnaalogan.com > www.theorangepiguk.com > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hey John, I agree with Linda. We had almost the same trip......We started in Belfast and went up on the coastal Road.........It was beautiful and around the Causeway , ate at Bushmills and down thru the middle of the country back to Belfast..Isnt far but loved scenery...In Dublin we went from Belfast on train spent the night and a day of sightseeing, Dublin Castle, Book of Kells, etc. then back to Belfast on the commuter train..........saved driving in Dublin. In 2008 we drove but didnt run into the new toll road we just heard about......the round-abouts are fun. only 5-6 lanes to watch out for......and I thought Houston and Austin traffic was dangerous. Have fun Sarah ----- > Hi John, your plan is very do-able. I ventured out a few years ago with a > friend who lived in Louth. In one day we drove to Fermanagh, over to the > west coast of Donegal, drove north, bought some cheese, toured the bottom > of Inishowen watching some fishermen fish, crossed into Northern Ireland, > hugging the north coast. At dinner in Bushmills. Turned south. Cruised > rapidly through Belfast and returned home in the mid evening. It's not a > huge place. Of course the roads were two lane must of the way so we were > not traveling like we would on the Autobahn. On another trip I started in > Belfast, drove to Fermanagh and across to the coast of Donegal, turned > north, headed east up through the pass to Lisburn, drove back to Belfast. > > It really depends on how many stops you want to make. The north coastal > road from northern Antrim to Belfast is very scenic, btw. The fast route > is up on top! I recommend the scenic route one way at least. > > The B&Bs in Britain are regulated and are generally very nice. You can get > a room locally. There's offices (and signs to the office) to book rooms. I > can give you the email of the one we stay in in Belfast. It is 'en suite'. > This is Irish for "private bath, American style". Otherwise you run the > risk of having to share. Might or might not bother you. Avenue Guest House > is here: http://www.avenueguesthouse.com/ . There's a hotel across the > road and a less expensive one that was not en suite. There's good > restaurants at either end of the street. The street is beautiful (see > photie). Catch bus a block away on Lisburn Road. Walk to Queens. Check out > second hand bookshop. Actually I found some locally published books in > Queens bookstore you can't get outside of Northern Ireland, like one that > is a road tour of the antiquities of County Antrim. > > I like having a place to go to the first night as I am exhausted. > > Belfast driving is not for me. Too many one way streets -- the wrong way! > I once got lost in Falls Road. I was late for a luncheon engagement up > Lisburn Road near Eglantine (so locals know how lost I was!). I wanted to > ask someone but was having a problem figuring out how to stop the car so > that I was on the correct side to converse (as it is backwards from the > USA). The busses get you around great, but then you are male and probably > will drive <grin>. Parking is a pain as it is in all big cities. > > Linda Merle > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John Polk" <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Thursday, May 6, 2010 12:50:47 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern > Subject: Re: [S-I] Fwd: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland to be > closed for a while > > I am heading for Ireland in two weeks, all in May, initially in Dublin, > but > then a swing through the North. Plans are pretty loose at present but will > not include researching in archives, etc. Strictly a sightseeing venture. > General plan is Tara, Armagh, Giants Causeway, Bushmills, Roe Vally, > Londonderry, Omaha, Lifford, Donegal. Only have six days for all this > before > getting back to Dublin for reunion with some friends. > > We will be looking to stay at B&B's but have not made any reservations > yet. > I prefer to decide things day by day on the go rather than nailing > everything down in advance. Is this a mistake? All advice appreciated. > Last > time I did this was in 1959 when I was on a bike and stayed at youth > hostels. > > John Polk > Maryland USA > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 10:56 > Subject: [S-I] Fwd: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland to be > closed > for a while > > >> Hi folks, our list member forgot to copy us....distracted by preparations >> for her upcoming Scottish trip, perhaps. Anyway, more good news from >> Northern Ireland. >> >> What to do? >> >> Go to Salt Lake. Send the family off on a ski trip or whatever it is they >> do up there when the snow finally melts, and hit the stacks. They have a >> lot of stuff there including a long long collection of local history >> books, indexed parliamentary papers, all the microfilm collection, of >> course, but the actual library books are what to hit first since it is >> awkward searching them from afar. >> >> Or hit the Linen Hall Library in Belfast. Armagh Museum, etc, etc. Lots >> to >> see and do. >> >> If anyone is planning a trip over and would like to ask for suggestions, >> advice, hints on the best places to eat, and what to do or see, now's >> your >> time! >> >> >> Linda Merle >> >> >> ----- Forwarded Message ----- >> From: [email protected] >> To: [email protected], [email protected], >> [email protected], [email protected], >> [email protected], [email protected] >> Sent: Thursday, May 6, 2010 7:06:59 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern >> Subject: Presbyterian Historical Society of Ireland to be closed for a >> while >> >> >>>From the most recent copy of The Bulletin of the Presbyterian Historical >>>Society of Ireland: "Owing to the building work in Church House, the >>>library of the Presbyterian Historical Society will be closed for the >>>foreseeable future. Urgent inquiries are best made by email-- >>>[email protected] -- or letter care of Church >>>House, Fisherwick Place, Belfast, BT1 6DW, N. Ireland. I >> >> Is mise le meas, >> Gobnait >> >> Cast a cold eye >> On life, on death. >> Horseman, pass by! >> W.B.Yeats' tombstone >> >> www.johnaalogan.com >> www.theorangepiguk.com >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >