Anchill Island, Croagh Patrick

The day started so innocently...nice drive to Anchill Island which is the largest island in Europe....beutiful landscape and peaceful drive!!

Our friends who were on the road as we passed by.........momma and baby...they are all over Ireland and so special we came in the spring to see the baby lambs and goats.........

This is the town of Newport......I spotted this store and had to stop and take pictures!! For those of you viewing the blog - "Corcoran" is my mothers maiden name.  I had to pay homage to her side of the family.  I do have a couple more pictures. and will share with you later..........

The city of Newport.  In fact every town in Ireland has so much history it would take at least 2 years or more to see everything.........

The harbour in Newport.......

My journey started out...I had a desire to go where St. Patrick did his pilgrimage........the start of a long and painful journey....I met two lovely Irish woman (Josephine and Mary) they met me at the statue of St. Patrick.  This was the easy part of the journey..

The ladies asked me if I planned on making my way to the top....I said sure I'd try with them.  When I started the journey I wasn't aware I would need a stick to help me climb up and down.... Obviously I didn't know what I was getting myself into to............

I didn't realize the journey would take me to the top of this mountain with all the fog..............

These are my angels...........we have made it to the top of the mountain.  While some nice lade was making her way down the mountain (we were barely starting our journey to the top a nice lady gave me her stick so I would have it for my journey (she must have known what it would take and took pity)

We are at the top of mountain at St. Patrick's church.....the wind was blowing 50 miles an hour and you couldn't see a thing.  We did our penance and started our treacherous decent.  You have no idea the energy and pain it takes to climb this mountain.  For those of you who are curious, please google "Croagh Patrick" and you can read what the mountain is all about......I truly had no clue.......I thought maybe there would be a PUB at the top and we could all have a pint and tell our stories,........far from the truth......we ended  up praying.....I can share more pictures on my blog on April 23rd.........

This journey I took was a 7 hour trek.  I was simply spent by the time I got down.........and there was Gary standing by the car waiting patiently for me.......We are headed over to Dublin for our last night in Ireland we are not sure what we will stop and see along the way....maybe just a relaxing journey to Dublin...we have so much organization to do with our bags..........some people bought too much while they were in Ireland........Again, we have had a wonderful trip and we have seen so much....we feel so blessed!! Thank you so much kids for such a wonderful dream come true............Love Mom and Dad

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Slieve Cliffs, Knock Shrine, Arnagh Head, and Belmullet

Our Drive up to Slieve Cliffs.........no fences shear drop over the side.  Honestly, Gary and I have never seen anything more spectacular.  Wish everyone could have been with us on this journey.  The Slieve Cliffs are the highest sea cliffs in Europe. It really was amazing.......

 Our journey up to the Sea Cliffs.....

 We had to wait for the baby lamb to move off of the road so we could continue our journey...

 More views....

 You have no idea how steep this is...........I zoomed the camera.......

 More spectacular pictures.......

 In case you are wondering I am the one closest to the edge.....Gary stayed back because he gets dizzy.....

 Again, I was so close to the edge and Gary was having a heart attack..or maybe he was praying I would slip and fall...........

 This is the National School from 1841..

 We stopped and spent 2 hours at the Knock Shrine (Where our lady appeared).  This place is so peaceful and spiritual. There are signs requesting everyone to be silent and people are respectful. 

 The stone rosary at the Knock Shrine.........it is beautiful..

 Knock Shrine Church.........I dropped off all petitions. I lit 5 candles and said prayers for family and friends.  I love this church it is so beautiful!!!.

 This is one of three pictures we took at the Arnagh Head...........unfortunately someone forgot to recharge our camera last night and the battery ran out......disappointed you won't be able to see how beautiful this was. 

 These next few pictures are from yesterday of the Glenevin Falls (highest falls in the United Kingdom).  I couldn't load them last night had a difficult time with the internet connection. 

 This also was a beautiful and peaceful place.  A mile walk but worth it.........

 I spotted this while we were driving to Donegal Town and made Gary turn around so I could get a few pictures........

For those of you who are reading the blog again this is my maiden name...and it isn't a PUB this time......

A couple of notes about the B&B's for this leg of our journey...They have been great. While we were finishing up with breakfast this morning I needed to go back to our room and finish a few things, so I left Gary to finish his coffee.........(Mark Sabov you will get a big chuckle out of this) Gary finished his coffee and keep in mind he had nobody to follow to the room because I had gone a few minutes earlier....well he went into another couples room...........as he walked in the guy said HELLO!!.......we couldn't stop laughing because we ended up seeing them pretty much every stop during the day.........My husband is crazy!!! I know Mark will enjoy this and he can reflect back how when we were in Montauk the first time and how Gary loves to wander.at all hours.......Until tomorrow.......we are on our way to Galway County..............It was a long driving day for us and we didn't make a lot of stops but it was worth going to the Shrine.............God Bless and again thank you kids for such a beautiful gift...........Love Mom and Dad

The Five Finger Strands, Malin Head, Glenevin Falls, Donegal Town

 Today we visited several towns and beautiful sights.  Unfortunately we had problems at the B&B with the internet........so we only have a few pictures to share.  We took 114 pictures today but it took us 2 hours to get 6 or 7 to upload unto our blog........So you'll have to wait till we return to see the rest.  This picture above is the "The Five Finger Strand".  There are several more that go with this but.....you'll have to wait...

 These few pictures are of Malin Head the most Northern Tip of Ireland......we have traveled to the most Southern Tip of Ireland and Eastern Tip of Ireland and we will be heading to the most Western Tip tomorrow. The pictures speak for themselves......I wish I could have posted more.......

 

 This was the watch tower at the top of Malin Head......

This was The Church of Clonmany (above ruins) in the town of Clonmany.  The Monk of Maine was a follower of St. Patrick.......... There should be pictures of Glenevin Falls next.....but they wouldn't load.  History of the fall......The Glenevin Falls are the largest falls in the United Kingdom...pictures when we get home...wish you could see them.  It was a beautiful sunny day today and the walk to the falls was breathtaking...........

 St. Patrick's Catholic Church in The Town of Donegal.  We went in and lit 5 candles for friends and family.........

 A view of Donegal Castle in the town of Donegal...

We stopped at the Reel Pub in Donegal and took this picture from the bridge. You can see St. Patrick's Church and the river..........The town is beautiful.  This was our pit stop for the night.  We are staying at a wonderful B&B (The Cove Lodge)..........the men will be cooking for us tomorrow for our full Irish Breakfast....the wife is in France visiting her sister......should be interesting.  Sorry about the short blog tonight and hopefully you'll be able to see all of our pictures when we return......Until then.................we have a busy scheduled tomorrow and we hope we can upload more pictures.......Again we feel very blessed to be on this adventure........Thanks again kids!!! Love Mom & Dad

Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge, Derry (The Walled City), Carndonagh (Kearney Heritage), Inishowen Pennisula

 Gary and I did the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge today.  You drove to the park and then you walked 1/2 mile to the rope bridge........these next couple of pictures of the coastline were absolutely stunning. The weather has been fantastic.  It has not rained a drop.  Today it was 70.  We are counting our blessings. 

 Keep in mind as you look at the depth of these pictures..........we will be walking across from one cliff to the other over a rope bridge..........YEA!!!

 You can see the rope bridge to the right with a person walking across......

 YES, I am scared to death..........of course my husband asked me to turn midstream so he could get a picture!!!!

 Picture from the other side of the bridge........

I caught Gary as he was walking towards me......I didn't ask him to turn while crossing the bridge!

 This is the city of Derry.....we are getting ready to enter the walled city....see the cannons above!  This wall goes completely around the city of Derry.  So much history......

 Gary at the gateway............

 The walkway over the city..........

 I am only posting these for Bridgett.......we found many Kearney gravestones in the city of Carndonagh.......

This should keep Bridgett busy for a while....I can hardly wait to show her what I received at our B&B last night........ We have several more pictures of headstones of different Kearney clan, but won't bore anyone else.........until tomorrow........we are having a great time and again thank you kids for such a wonderful gift............Love Mom and Dad

Dunluce Castle, Giant's Causeway, Bushmills Distillery,Kilmail Country Chalet (B&B) Northern Ireland

 On our way to Dunluce Castle.......beautiful drive along the coastline...

 Dunluce Castle along the coast....

 Love the coast in Ireland...........so picturesque............

 On our way to GiantsCauseway.........this place is amazing.

 Mickey falling at Giants Causeway.................

 Making our way back down from Giants Causeway

 I was hiding behind one of the rocks from Gary....

 Arriving at Old Bushmill Distillery...........

Our first B&B for the night......Kilmail Country Chalet.........beautiful home and lovely people...........they had friends over for coffee and it just so happened the lady knew Kathleen Kearney and was trying to ring her up.  Kathleen was on the phone all night (for sure related to us and probably how Bridgett got her middle name...) anyway they finally left at 9:30 PM and said she'd continue to try to reach Kathleen and let us know if we are related..........more later....busy day tomorrow...