Final Day of Fun

When we booked our trip, we didn’t yet know if the girls would have competitions scheduled for today or not. It turned out that they had everything finished by Saturday evening so today was open for one last day trip.

Sligo was on my list from the beginning but we hadn’t made it up there yet. I gave Chapin a couple of options for today and he said “Sligo looks pretty cool.”

We made a plan that Jay and Chapin would hike at Benbulben and Dad would chauffeur Mom, the girls, and me to the Lissadell House.

We all started at the Benbulben trailhead and marveled at what a unique mountain it is. It doesn’t look like any mountain I’ve ever seen—and I have been lucky enough to have seen quite a few mountains. It’s not covered with trees. . .but it’s green most of the way up. I guess it’s all grasses and mosses. And there are sheep all the way up along the sides of the mountain!

We walked with Jay and Chapin a bit before they went on their way and then we girls took a little forest walk. Mom decided this is heaven. Mountain, ocean, and a cool mossy forest to walk in.

About 15 minutes away is the Lissadell House. It’s a gorgeous mansion situated on the beach with spacious grounds—including a walled garden. their website says there is a cafe so we thought we’d grab lunch there. We parked and made friends with some friendly donkeys nearby. A guy who was also admiring the donkeys told us that donkeys have crosses on their backs because Jesus rode one. I’d never heard that before!

Lunch was a bust at the cafe as they were out of almost

everything for some strange reason so we left and got lunch down the road nearer to Sligo at a restaurant called Davis’s. It was a beautiful restaurant and the food was delicious. As we were nearing the end of our meal, Jay texted that they were finishing their hike so they came to Davis’s just as we were leaving. They had decided to do another hike/drive after eating so we went ahead and left and went back to Lissadell to explore.

The house and grounds were breathtaking and we wandered around for a while. We knew that the garden was walled off from the beach. . .but you could see the beach RIGHT THERE and it was so tantalizing. Then Mom saw some kids and their grandparent go through a little clam shed and come out on the beach! So she did the most Grandma thing ever. . And followed them through.

What were the girls and I to do?!? We had to follow her. So through the door, down the spiral stairs, and out the other door we went. It could have been a scene from a novel where we pushed open the door and fell out on “the other side.” But we didn’t. It was just the beach. Thank Goodness!

But it wasn’t really “just” the beach. It was possibly the most beautiful beach I’d ever seen. The sun was high and every surface shimmered. The rippled sand went on forever before it even met the water. Mountains were in the distance everywhere we looked and there was a beautiful hedge near where we had come through that had a stone archway leading nowhere...or somewhere...I'm not sure which.

SLIA did profiles for every student coming on the trip and shared them on social media. One of the questions was "what are you most looking forward to in Ireland?" Ellie answered “The Beach.”

She loves the beach and really wanted to see as many

Irish beaches as possible. So she was in paradise and didn’t care that we had snuck out of the Lissadell House fortress to get there. Gwen on the other hand, was nervous the whole time we were there and worried about getting back in again.

And apparently she had reason to worry. When mom went back to the little hut and climbed up the spiral staircase. . .she couldn’t get the door open again. We had

seen the kids go back in that we had followed out and apparently they didn’t realize we’d followed them and were still out on the beach. . .and they had shut and latched the door behind them. Or the portal had closed. I’m still not sure which.

A bit of panic ensued but I had been scoping the area out and down the beach it looked like there was a public access point and some campers set up. I figured that if we couldn’t get back in that we could call dad and have him find that beach access and we would walk down and have him pick us up. A local lady out for a walk had a laugh over our predicament and said that was our best bet.

But Mom had other ideas. She walked around to the other side of the hut and there was a wire fence. We

made her touch it to make sure it wasn’t electric (since she was the one who had gotten us into this bind) and when we confirmed it was safe, we all shimmied through. Of course a lady and her sweet dog came down the trail right as we were coming through and luckily she found us amusing.

You would think that would have been enough of our adventure at Lissadell House but no. . .mother really wanted to find the Fairy Fort. So we walked. . .and walked. . .and walked. And then down the hill there was a tree. It was an odd tree—very large and lovely with many roots spreading out all over the ground. The ground around the tree was covered in only moss in a wide circle and I was getting the heeby jeebies as I stood and stared. But there was no way to get down to the tree—it was all overgrown leading down an incline. So we kept trekking on and figured that it must not have been the marker that was on the map we’d been given. Soon enough the path forked off to go back to the House and Visitor’s Center and we knew we needed to go back. We must have missed the Fairy Fort. . .or did we? Maybe the portal just wasn’t open to us to find it.

Jay and Chapin did the Gleniff Horseshoe drive and hike and were totally wowed with the beauty behind Benbulben. They said the waterfall was flowing and absolutely beautiful.

Our chauffeur, Papi, next took us to Streedaugh Beach. I had read about this beach and seen pictures and figured it would be a special place. . .and it did not disappoint. Cows were on the road as we approached the beach and we had to wait for them to get out of the way!

The beach felt otherworldly. Green, mossy rocks littered

the beach and the water absolutely sparkled and was a deep, deep blue all at the same time. The sun was warm, the breeze blew cool on our faces; the water chilled the girls’ feet, and the sand pressed against their toes softly. With cliffs on one side, mountains on another, and a castle on a hill off in the distance, we could have stayed all evening long until the sun set and the moon rose.

And probably until the sun came out again.

But Papi drove on tiny Irish roads once in the dark on this trip and vowed to never again. And there was packing to be done. We snagged some pizza on the way home and Chapin and Nana took a moonlit River Shannon walk. Jay went back to the Fleadh for one last session.