Welcome back Bill! I hope you and Felicity had a great trip.

BTW, we absolutely loved the Shores.

oopsy

 

Hi Bill--We're glad you enjoyed the cd and wine. We did have a wonderful trip. Now that I've typed out a summary of the trip, I'm trying to sort through photos. It's a daunting task!

 

I just did the math. It appears that between Felicity and I, we took over 2000 photos. Granted, that included a week in Switzerland.

Their has been a marked improvement in toilet paper in Irish toilet paper over the last couple of years thanks in no small part to my scathing attack of 2002.

The first week we got the terrible weather. The fog was so thick when we were in Baltimore we couldn't see across the street to the channel much of the time. I don't know if they actually tried to pull of the wooden boat festival because if they did, they wouldn't have been able to see the race.

B&Bs: I don't have my notes with me but here is what I remember. Nothing was bad and almost all had their good points.

Laragh House in Kilkenny. Very nice with very comfortable beds. It would be a fairly long walk into town and with threatening weather the walk wasn't really a great idea. Thumbs up

Beech House in Dunmore East: This is in Lower Dunmore East right across the street from the Beech. Spectacular view of Hook Head across the bay. Very comfortable and large room with an actual king sized bed which was also very comfortable. Room had a seating area which looked out on the bay. Some of the rooms are smaller so you would have to ask for the sea view without the balcony. I couldn't figure out the configuration of the room in the middle, it may have been two or it may have had an ajoining room. Bathroom wouldn't stand up to a white glove test. There is no ventilation and it seems to suffer from some minor mildew. Nothing hideous though. Breda is a bit odd and is unlikely to take the Miss Congeniality award. She warmed up to us when we suggested that she didn't have to do our towels and bedsheets every night. We do that more just because it seems silly to dump all that extra soap into the environment. Very good breakfast with a menu with choices. French toast was quite good. Thumbs up despite Breda.

Channel View in Baltimore: Nice place with a nice view (when the fog has lifted) of the channel feeding into Baltimore Harbor. Easy to find on the only road into town. Good showers, acceptable bed, standard breakfast. Probably as nice as there is in Baltimore and I would stay there again if I stayed in Baltimore.

Harbour View in Kenmare: Downstairs room is small but comfortable, upstairs rooms are tiny to hobit sized. View is spectacular looking out over Kenmare River. It's about 5 or 6 miles from town. Shower had plenty of pressure but we had to move on the last night into the hobbit room and it require stooping. Service was good but because of the room size, I probably won't stay here again. There were a few B&Bs very nearby, but I forgot to get the names in my haste to get to Portmagee in time. If anyone goes by that area, right down some names for me.

The Shores: Still the best and Annette makes it happen. I could go on and on and I eventually will.

Waterfront House: Had actually planned to book at the Waterfall Lodge, but lost track of my brain and ended Waterfront. I was not disappointed. Rooms were comfortable, nothing spectacular other than the beautiful view out to the lake. They have their own boats though we made no attempt to row out on the lake. Maybe next time. That would have been funny. Felicity washed out a few shirts and they were kindly hung out on the line for her. I would stay here again. Thumbs up.

Inisradharc: Nice enough place, rooms have no view and the hostess is a bit cold. You certainly don't feel welcomed when you sit down and fill out a form before she shows the room. Great view from breakfast room. Food is the usual. Probably wouldn't stay there again, though not sure I would stay in Howth either. Residents don't seem to have much repect for the cleanliness of the town.

Hi Bill, welcome back!  Just wanted to comment on Howth...We thought it was a nice little town that we didn't see much of, but I think there really wasn't much to see.  We were always hurrying somewhere, it seemed, and to our huge disappointment, Beshoff's take-away was being remodeled and wasn't open.  We did have one good dinner at the Bloody Stream - the baked sea bass was SO good!  On our second time there, we were a little rushed to get the DART.  They took our order and then forgot about us, so our mussels were cold, but the staff were very apologetic. (If I hadn't felt so stressed out, I might have really enjoyed sitting next to the fire, nursing my drink....)  If we were to stay outside of Dublin again, we would go back to DunLaoghaire or try Malahide, as Michele suggests.

I'm not very good about posting, but I will try soon to tell about the B&Bs from our April trip.

 

We took a look at Malahide, went to the castle and thought the town looked nice. We were in Howth on a Saturday and Sunday night. The sidewalks were filled with ice cream cups, uneaten food (burgers, fish and chips), cigarette butts and there was an uncomfortable feel to the town. The Bloody Stream was hosting a "Western Weekend" complete with bales of hay ... yee hah! It was a madhouse and served nothing but seafood which Felicity won't eat. We never made it in. On the upside, the coast and cliffs on the south side of the peninsula are lovely and it was a great way to spend our last evening.

Bill

We are going to spend our first two nights at a B & B in the marina area of Malahide at the end of the month, a Saturday and a Sunday. It will be interesting to see how the town compares to Howth. But I am leaving my cowboy hat, boots, and chaps at home so if I miss all the fun it will be my own darn fault!

Susan in WI

Howth seemed quite promising and the Sunday night we were there was an improvement. The marina was beautiful at night and again, the south side of the peninsula is beautiful if you can find the road to the cliff walk. Malahide looked pretty nice and we saw a B&B that looked good but missed the turn off so we didn't check it out.

We ate at the Abbey Tavern one night and it was the only night in months thatthey didn't have a show. The food was good as was the service, but unfortunately, I can't comment on the entertainment. It ain't cheap though.

Bill