Fun with the Family

Graham has a sister Jane who lives in Yorkshire, a brother Ian in Dundalk and a sister Liz in Lahinch. This year we all met up in the West coast Irish town of Lahinch, staying with Liz and Dom. A few years ago they converted their garage into a very popular Airbnb. Their house also has four bedrooms and they have totally renovated their kitchen and bathroom. They made us all so welcome! We flew in from Porto with Ryanair to Shannon on an early morning flight. We were lucky enough to be in row 1, and we’ve never been off a plane and through immigration so quickly, so quickly that we were waiting for Liz and Ian to pick us up. As you can imagine there was a lot of happy chatter as we all caught up with one another. Unfortunately Ian’s wife Kate had hurt her back and was unable to join us. We missed her and wish her a full and speedy recovery.

The marvellous view from Liz and Dom’s – there are horses, cows and donkeys all out there somewhere.

The fun started that evening when we went to the pub for a pre-dinner drink and game of pool.

The beach at Lahinch

Don’t whatever you do interrupt Jane’s concentration

Next day we visited the nearby town of Ennistymon. An attractive town with many interesting shops amongst all the pubs! There’s a bookshop which specialises in Irish literature and encourages local writers and is crammed full of secondhand books. It has a pretty garden to relax in.

Liz, Ian and Jane did the Falls Glen Walk

In the evening we met up with Mary and Herbie from Augusta! Here we are enjoying a good Irish dinner in a traditional pub in Lahinch.

The sun sets over Lahinch

On the Friday we ventured in to Ennistymon again. Did I mention how unseasonably hot it was? Apparently it had been a pretty wet summer and now in September we were experiencing an Indian summer – phew! I couldn’t believe we were really in Ireland. I had expected to be borrowing jumpers, not wearing summer clothes and sunscreen. Not a drop of rain. In the evening Liz had booked a table for pizza and quiz night at Pot Duggan’s in Ennistymon. Such fun! And our team, the Mad Hatters (we scored a bonus point for our name) came third. We needed some youngsters to help out on the popular culture, Netflix, etc questions. The quiz didn’t start till the televised World Cup rugby had finished, about 9.45 ish, so it was well past eleven by the time it finished. Dom had arranged a mini bus to pick us up so we could all enjoy the evening. I don’t remember any comments about needing a forklift truck to hoist someone up into the bus!!

Pizzas and pints

The Mad Hatters!

Where’s that minibus?

Next day Ian drove us to Kilrush. There’s a great similarity between Irish country towns and Aussie ones. There’s quite a feeling of being in Kalgoorlie here! Must be the wide streets and architecture, and this time the weather too. On the way home Jane, Rob and Ian went for a cooling dip in the sea at White Strand. There were so many people around. Local fish and chips for tea that night – yum!

Just outside Kilrush is the Vandeleur walled garden and impressive interpretive museum set in the old stable block. The garden is delightful.

At last a hare, even if he is made of wood

Sunday was full house at Liz and Dom’s as Liz’s sons Jeff and Sean, with partners and kids, and her daughter Becky with partner and kids, all came to visit. So good to see them all.

On Monday we went to the Burren Discovery Centre. The Burren is a region of County Clare in the southwest of Ireland. It is a karst landscape of bedrock incorporating a vast cracked pavement of glacial-era limestone, with caves, fossils, rock formations and archaeological sites. On the Atlantic coast the Cliffs of Moher are home to thousands of seabirds including puffins. Nearby Doolin village is a renowned centre for traditional Irish music.

A friendly donkey

A dolmen, an ancient burial site.

The roof weighs 2 tons.

Kilfenora is a village on the southern edge of the Burren and is famous for its high crosses.

We had a great night out, our last night together, at Byrnes Restaurant in Ennistymon.

Inside Byrne’s restaurant …

… then we walked down the road to …

Cooley’s , where “Auntie Joan” (what a character!) took our photo

The following day Ian drove us to Dublin, where we stayed overnight and caught a flight to Helsinki, en route to …

Look who we bumped in to on the way!

We had such a wonderful week with our family and extend very special thanks to Liz and Dom for their generous hospitality, Ian for all his driving us around and Jane and Rob for making the trip to Lahinch. Till the next time … wherever that may be.