Day 5 greeted us with rain, high winds and a forecast which
included “thundering clouds”. Today’s trip was to include the Cliffs of Moher;
however, due to the weather and a wrong turn by me taking us back to South
Dublin (don’t ask) we decided to visit the cliffs the next day. Our first stop
was unplanned like so many others. We found the Manor Hamilton Castle along our
route. After parking the car we found that the castle visitor’s entrance was
locked so we took some photos from outside. On our way back to the car we
decided to walk around to the right-rear by way of someone’s driveway. To our
delight we found this side wide open so in we went. We found that Manor
Hamilton Castle was built between1624-1638 by Sir Frederick Hamilton. The
castle was once part of his over 17,000 acre estate; and I was happy to purchase my 1.5 acres in Jamaica. I guess I have a way to go to catch Mr. Hamilton.
After a few other short on-the-fly stops we made it to our
next planned location, the Roscommon Castle. This castle was built in 1269 by
Rogert de Ufford, Justiciciar of Ireland. The castle is part of the 14 acre
Lough Naneane Recreation Park and is free to enter. The weather took another turn
for the worse and decided to drop some hail on us so we took shelter inside a
small room where we met a very nice lady and her kids who were doing the same (you can see them in the lower right corner of second photo below).
They live nearby and use the castle as a playground, very cool.
After enjoying some more scenic roads we found our destination
hotel for the night in County Clare. Dromoland Castle is a huge 5-star hotel
which includes such activities as golf, row boats, mountain bikes, trails,
archery, clay shooting, horse riding, and even falconry classes. Yes, I said
falconry classes. Due to the weather and our late arrival, we chose to take a
short hike and run around the immediate grounds as it turned dark. The current castle
was built in the 15th-16th century and sits on over 400
acres. It was once owned by the O’Brians of Dromoland, the Kings of Thomond and
Barons of Inchiquin. The family lineage links back over 1000 years to Brian
Boroimhe (Boru) High King of Ireland in the eleventh century. We enjoyed some
great food in the Gallery room and then we followed the sounds of live music.
We sat beside the fireplace enjoying her singing and some cold pints of
Guinness. When the lady was done for the evening one of the bartenders stepped
out from behind the bar and blessed us with a few great Frank Sinatra songs. I
rebuilt the fire to the delight of everyone in the room except the younger
bartender who attempted to politely scold me (lol). We enjoyed the fire and a
few more pints until closing and then retired to our room for the evening. So
came the end to another great day in Ireland!
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