Ireland

July 22, 2025

After a quick trip home to take care of some business, I returned to the boat this morning and am preparing to depart Ireland for Scotland. Before doing so, however a review would be great because a lot has been packed into the past month.

Forgive the brevity, I am moving too fast and doing too much to highlight all of the activities and experiences.

The trip so far can kind of be divided into three periods.

Period 1 – I arrived in Greystones on June 21st (see a prior post) and then

Period 2 – When I moved to Dun Laoghaire (Dun Leery) on June 28th.

Period 3 – Began on July 8th I moved from Dun Laoghaire to Howth Marina and on July 14th I flew to Toronto. I returned to Ireland, departing Montreal on July 21 and arrived back at the boat today, July 22nd.

During my stay at Dun Laoghaire, I toured a bit of Southern Ireland, visiting the Waterford Crystal Factory (totally cool), the Rock of Cashel, the Cliffs of Moher and a visit to the Donaghmore Workhouse. I stayed at the Victoria in Killarney and Gragans Castle in the Burren.

For the trip to Northern Ireland, there were three really important sights. The first was Newgrange which is a 5200 year old burial mound and part of a larger site that shows remnants of settlers from about 3200 BC. Then a trip to Belfast and a visit to the Titanic Museum as well as some shopping for boat bits and hot chocolate. An interesting bit was that I departed Belfast on Orangeman’s Day which has a history of being a bit chaotic. I missed the chaos.

From there it was up to the Giant’s Causeway and then back to the boat. During the Northern trip, I stayed at the Merchant Hotel and Lough Erne Golf Resort.

I flew home for some business meetings and then flew back through Montreal so that I could take some time to have lunch with Megan which was nice.

Next up is Scotland. I hope to begin moving the boat tomorrow if I can get everything organized before end of day today.