Bangor to Sligo (3/8)

We travelled independently each day, but with specific rendezvous points chosen – either at a site of special significance or at the proposed camp-site. This meant that each could travel at their own pace. Jeff & Sandie's is a rather large 30ft “bus” which obviously had to stick to the larger roads, whereas Wendy & Ralph's more modest vehicle was able to tackle the narrower roads. Both were slower than our vehicle.  Travelling like this meant that we could each stop or detour where we wanted, however it was interesting the number of times we came across each other between planned stops.

Castle Coole

Our first planned stop was at Castle Coole, a National Trust property near Enniskillen.  It was a convenient distance along our planned route to have a break, and we caught up with Wendy & Ralph (who had left earlier than us) just before the turn off.
The "castle" is a large house built in the very severe "neo-classical Georgian" style (if you know what that means" designed by James Wyatt and commenced in 1789 for the Earl of Belmore.  There is no back door to the building at ground level.  All the deliveries and the servants entrance was via a long tunnel lined with store areas leading from near the stable area.
Wyatt was a pedant for symmetry, and throughout the rooms where there is a door, there is another directly opposite (or at least a false door).  

As was expected of people of their status in those days, a room was set aside for the king should he visit, but the planned visit never eventuated and so this room was decorated with a number of Hogarth's satirical cartoons poking fun at the aristocracy and in particular royalty.  I guess the family were allowing these to express their opinions.  Apparently the only person to ever use the room was an archbishop.

When the place was sold to the National Trust (to pay for death duties), all the furniture, a lot of which was Regency style, went with it and is considered reasonably rare.

The National Trust is working on restoring the servants quarters and the service areas which are probably the more interesting parts of the building as they were critical to the functioning of the formal life, but were kept very much out of sight.

The Australian connection with the place is that the 4th Earl Belmore was Governor of New South Wales 1868-1872 and there is a suburb in Sydney named after him.

At some stage we crossed over the border into Ireland, but we didn't see any signs to say where the border was.  We suspect we were looking elsewhere.  We just noticed that suddenly the speed signs were in kilometres rather than miles, and that the markings along the edge of the road were in yellow rather than white.  No border control, no passport check, no customs, nothing!!

The campsite and view.
The team consist of the brown "bus", the car to the right of it
and the camper immediately to the right
of the VW in the foreground

The trip down to Rosses Point (just past Sligo) to a campsite our friends have used before was along green valleys, past waterfalls (fed by the heavy rain showers we experienced.  The last part in particular was down narrow roads with trees overhanging so much they formed a complete arch.

May be difficult to see but a person is swimming
at the other end of the beach!
(The 3 girls & the dogs in the foreground)

The campsite was the antithesis of those we normally prefer.  It had no shade at all (not a problem in this weather) but a great view out across the water.  








Despite the weather, there were a couple of people in swimming - the Irish must be desperate!