Carlingford (Aug 17-19)

Arrived early, grabbed our bags and headed anticipatorily towards the exit where a taxi waited to bring us one hour north of Dublin to the small town of Carlingford. In the back seat, the local radio plays a show in which a young kid plays his own Irish version of “The Lazy Song.”  We’re all cracking up because his accent makes the song impossible to understand. Additionally, his musical skills needed some work. Alan naps as we drive along. Finally, we are driving along a windy road by the water, the Carlingford Lough, make a left turn and drive a few minutes up The Back Lane to Stu’s grandparents’ house.

Completely not what we expected! It’s a well sized, one story house overlooking the blue Lough and the slow sloping green mountains on the other side (we are told that is Northern Ireland). We’ve arrived on the perfect day – Stu’s grandmother tells us that it has rained for the past two weeks and only got sunny today. The late morning sun softly lights all the land that we can see and we can’t resist taking some pictures.

Then we went inside and had a simple but filling breakfast of toast and tea. Thick, generous slices of toast that me and Alan generously doused in yellow butter and raspberry jam plus hot tea served in flowery white mugs – all very Irish J We cleaned up and picked beds. The room we were staying in slept four people side-by-side in white, comfy beds (Stu picked out the mattresses recently) and we felt right at home. Anxious to explore our new location, we dump our bags in our room and rush back outside where the sun is still shining and welcoming us to the Emerald Isle.

Stu’s grandparents own a few fields behind their house that they rent out to farmers so their sheep and horses can graze and chill during the summer months. While we were visiting, three horses were occupying the nearest field. We fed the horses, two adults and a new foal, who we went crazy over, some grasses we picked from where they couldn’t reach.

When we went back inside, it was time for dinner (an early dinner, it was only 12:30!) and we feasted on the food Stu’s grandmother had cooked for us: mashed potatoes, roast ham, broccoli, stuffing, fresh gravy, and carrots. Still hungry from our long voyage, we each devoured seconds and then thirds until there was almost nothing left. Satisfied and sleepy, we went back to our room to change into new clothes. Alan chose to stay back and read her book while Stu’s grandfather took us for a drive around the area. When we came back, me, Stu, and Doug discovered Alan had fallen asleep already – we were all really tired – so we went to bed too. It was only 5:30 and we had finished our first day in Ireland!

view of the country side from flagstaff, co. louth

ruins of an abbey

getting our 99s, a type of soft-serve ice cream

exploring the bay in carlingford

The next day, we wandered around the little town of Carlingford, got some chips from the chipper, 99s ice cream, and explored some ruins. Chips in Ireland are French fries to us Americans. But what makes them chips more than fries is their sheer size. They’re thicker cut, similar to “steak-cut fries” and more potato-y.

Speaking of potatoes, nearly everything we ate in Ireland was potatoes! Mashed potatoes, chips, fish and chips – it was endless madness! Tasty madness ;)