Sometime around the beginning of July, my friend Hay asked me if I would like to join her for a week in Sligo. My first reaction? Why not! My second? Am I mad to be going to join a mad Westlife fan in Sligo? I mean, what could this place POSSIBLY have to offer to a non-Westie such as myself?! I decided to brave it and go anyway...
My journey began 1.15pm Friday 6th August when I left home to catch the coach in Cambridge. Being such short-notice, having so much time to kill during my 6 weeks holiday from work, and being so tight-fisted, I decided to take the coach and ferry all the way. I was due to arrive in Sligo, my final half-dreaded destination, mid-day Saturday 7th August *yawn*. Despite my plans, I failed to sleep on the coach OR ferry! Instead I chatted to a Canadian I met whilst waiting for the coach from Victoria in London (where I first changed coach), and ended up in a group with him and some Polish people on the ferry (see pitcure). There was me feeling sorry for myself with my long journey ahead, only to discover the Canadian hadn't slept for three days, and the Poles had been travelling for two days already!! Despite the language barriers, we all seemed to get on well, but as with most Europeans, the Poles spoke good English (just incase any of them are reading this and we forgot to tell them!!). |
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Arriving in Dublin at 6.30am, we prepared to go our separate ways. I was suddenly left alone.
I managed to catch a bit of light sleep on the bus from Dublin to Sligo. Opening my eyes every few stops, I decided I could look at the scenery on my return journey the next Saturday. What I saw looked really pretty, though, and I began to look forward to spending a week in the North-West!!
Hay met me at Sligo coach station, we made our way to Rosscahill Bed and Breakfast on Pearse Road, I had a quick shower, and then we went off to see what there was to see in town. Despite having been there a week already, Hay was still struggling to find her way around.
After a while, we came across Sligo Abbey and decided to investigate what remained. It is the oldest building in Sligo town and well worth a visit. Unfortunately, as we came to end of our tour there, it started to rain a bit. But what more can you expect from Ireland?!
On our walk we also discovered Model Niland. Having nothing better to do, although we didn't know what it was, we decided to have a look. It turned out to be a rather good, if compact, art gallery. Worth a visit!
That evening, we made the first of two visits to Bistro Bianconi. We got a take-away pizza to share (as we weren't allowed to eat it in the B&B). All was well until a gust of wind blew, I tried to rescue our napkins, and the last piece of Hay's pizza got knocked off and fell on the ground. Oops! From that moment on, the place we'd been sitting on to eat became know to us as the Pizza Memorial.
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On Sunday I attended a service at Calry church (C of I). Although slightly different to what I was used to, I enjoyed the service very much. Hay, on the other hand, did not feel right about going inside, and so instead braved the elements (-wind and rain) whilst she waited for me to come out. After the service, we walked around Sligo getting to know each other a litle better. I discovered she had been as worried about being on holiday with me as I had been about being on holiday with her! I think it is fair to say we both enjoyed our chat very much. Whilst walking around Sligo, we came across a rather interesing memorial. Hay didn't know what it was when I asked her, so I named it "The statue of Irish Libery". This joke ran for a few days until Hay got sick of it. We then took a closer look and discovered I'd been right all along, and her name is Erin. As Hay had been in Sligo a week already, she had developed a rather painful knee from all the walking. We had originally planned to do the walking tour of Sligo on Monday, but Hay not being up to more walking, she sent me off for a walk through Doorly Park whilst she stayed behind and read her book. I can recommend the walk to anyone! Simply walk along Kennedy Parade and keep going! (Pictured left: Erin) |
We had originally planned to go on a Sligo bus tour. However, the bus company cancelled the tours the day before I arrived! Therefore we had to resort to taking normal buses out to anywhere we decided to visit. The first place being Rosses Point on Tuesday. The journey didn't cost much, and if you like beaches or pretty small towns, I can recommend a trip there. The coastal tour is particularly appealing.
Hay being a mad Westie, we had been offered transport to see Shane (Filan)'s house nearing completion that evening. This involved us taking an earlier dinner than usual, so we decided to eat nearer the B&B, at "The Crozan" pub. I would recommend it to anyone, as you can get a decent meal for a good price. The staff are also really friendly.
After visiting Shane's new house, as the night was still VERY young, we went into town and had a few drinks at the Belfry. Upstairs there's a TV which was tuned into one of the many Sky Music Channels. Hay made me feel extremely old as all the old 80's tunes were on, of which Hay knew very few. We had fun, anyway.
On Wednesday, not wanting to take another bus out for the day, we finally did the town walk (as detailed in the "Discover Sligo" magazine you can pick up from the tourist office). We only lost the route once, and otherwise found it easy to follow! I think it was actually at this time we discovered Erin's name and heritage. Places we visited included City Hall, St John's Cathedral (C of I) where you can pick up a leaflet on the Yeat's history, the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Catholic) which was undergoing repairs whilst we were there(!), and the Yeats building which also has a small but interesting Art Gallery upstairs. Finishing the tour at a decent hour, and having two hours to spare before our usual meal time, we decided to walk to the Holy Well. The scenery was superb, not least of all because we passed Lough Gill on the way! After building up a massive appetite from all the walking, that evening we decided to eat a whole pizza each at Bistro Bianconi. We were struggling to walk after that but somehow manage to move enough for the walk home! (Pictured right: me on the chair kindly donated by some Art students) |  |
Thursday morning we left fairly early for our day-trip to Donegal. Aside from there being a castle, we knew very little about the town.
My first impressions of Donegal town were of yet another pretty Irish town. We made our way to the castle which was good, and then I left Hay in the town centre whilst I shopped for souvenirs and generally walked around. We later visited the Abbey Cemetry (by the sea). I can recommend visiting Donegal for the castle, scenery and souvenir shopping, but I don't recommend getting a bus there. The bus we had planned to return to Sligo on never arrived, so we ended up eating there and finally getting back to Sligo at 9pm. It was a rather long time to stay in Donegal for what was there, not to mention a rather expensive journey too!
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Friday, our last day in Sligo arrived. This was to be the highlight of our stay : a trip to Strandhill including a walk up Knocknarea mountain! We took the bus to Strandhill, all the way to the beach so we could find where places such as the Seaweed Baths were. Then we started our walk up the mountain. It was a foggy day, so we couldn't see as far as we would have liked, but it proved a very pleasant, if taxing, walk. I even (unintentionally) shared my lunch with a wasp when we stopped for lunch, as it insisted on tickling my lips!!!! Tradition says you should take a stone up to the top of the mountain and place it on the cairns - a place where someone (-I forget who!) is supposed to be buried beneath. Pictured: me on top of the cairns on Knocknarea. |
Before getting to walk up the mountain, we walked halfway around it. (The base of the mountain is where the housing in Strandhill is, leaving us with no other option.) As this took two hours, once we got to the top, we asked a couple of people if there was a quicker way down.
More fools us! We were fine to start with, but then we hit a forest with a fence and barbed wire which stopped us going straight down for the hour we followed the fence! Finally coming to somebody's house (and desperate for the loo!), we thought we'd best ask directions on the best road route back to Strandhill. (We knew we had a way to go.) Imagine our confusion when we finally reached this sign (pictured right): we didn't know which way would be best for us to go!!! Anyway, we decided to walk back into Strandhill, and picked up the bus to Sligo on the way there. We were slightly disappointed we never managed to finish our walk with a nice Seaweed Bath, but getting on the bus was a relief. Rather than walking home only to go back into town later that evening, we decided to eat at the Belfry on the way home. I can recommend the homemade burger any day! |
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Well I hope you have enjoyed the account of my adventure. I can recommend a trip to the city with the Garavogue River any day. However, since arriving home a bit saddle-sore on Sunday morning, I think I'd recommend coughing up for a flight to Dublin followed by the four hour bus journey into town.
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