Heading North - Newry - Lurgan - Moira - Portrush

Yesterday I thought I might be heading to Belfast to the Titanic Museum, but after an interrupted night with my cold, and also after researching parking or transport options, I thought it was all too hard. So, again we're going with Plan B!

I still don't really have a definite plan for my time in Ireland, but I know I want to do the parts of the Wild Atlantic Way that I missed last time... especially some of the rugged coastal paths on the west coast. After surviving the North Coast 500, I'm up  for anything now!!!

But my energy levels weren't at their highest today, so I opted for the easiest option... just a simple drive through the Irish countryside! I decided I wouldn't revisit the Giant's Causeway and the Rope Bridge, because I did them last time, so I put a pin in the map and headed for Portrush!

Today's journey

This is probably TMI ( too much information) but one of the reasons I chose Portrush was I stayed here last time and I knew the hotel had nice big rooms and were quite spread out.... Last night  I had the coughs a bit and I figured if I was in a little B&B I might wake the whole house!!!!

Anyway, I decided to go the inland route, because I hadn't done that part before....

As I explained in the last post, I've had to go back to Gaby Garmin, because my phone won't sit in a place where I can see it, and the sound of GMaps doesn't seem to come through Blutooth.... even though the music does.... Strange???

Anyway, as we have discussed multiple times over the past 9 weeks, Miss GG has a mind of her own and it's very hard to change her. So today, I just went one destination at a time...... I looked up the GMaps options then chose where I would go....

There were a couple of towns that I wanted to visit along the route....

Newry  - Just seemed to be an easy first destination for coffee...
Lurgan - I'm pretty sure that was where Margaret Tallon came from.... Those of you who know my Newman connections will remember Margaret from Newman days....
Moira - for obvious reasons!!! It really is the name of a town!!

So let's take them one at a time...

It was a reasonably easy drive from my hotel in Sutton in Dublin to get on the  main road North. It didn't seem so frenetic as the UK or Scotland.... in fact I was quite relaxed and Gaby was very clear in her directions and away we went!

The whole drive today was really nice...  lots of double highway and just good roads passing through rolling pastoral countryside.

Newry took about one and a half hours drive, and perfect time for coffee stop.

Newry

Newry - had coffee at the yellow hotel

Newry streets

Was nearly going into the coffee shop for my coffee but there was a lovely big hotel next door, and I like pubs, because they have nice loos and good wifi. But this hotel had one extra benefit..... It had lovely staff who helped me top up my phone card again.... because Newry is in Northern Ireland, therefore strictly in the UK.   When I asked the guys behind the bar about how to do it, they literally took me outside and walked me to the shop where it would happen. Unfortunately the lady at that shop said her internet was down but took me to the next shop where I could do it!!!! I have always found the Northern Island people to be so generous and will always go that extra yard.
So now my phone should work on the same number until I leave in 2 weeks.

Next town was Lurgan,   a town I have always associated with Margaret. I didn't really know what to expect, but it was much bigger than I thought. I had lunch there, sitting in the  main street in the shadow of this statue...

Statue in main street of Lurgan

Explanation of statue

It was quite a busy main street...

Lurgan

Lurgan

Lurgan

The next stop was Moira - great name for a town!!!! I know there's a shire called Moira in Victoria - I think it's up near Echuca somewhere...????

Had to stop here though and just take a few pics...

Town of Moira!

There was even a battle named after me...!!!

The Battle of  Moira

And a guest house...

Moira Guest House

Here's the main street

Moira main street

Moira main street

And if your eye sight is good you can read the rest of this sign about Moira...

Stuff about Moira!

As you can see, the weather is still absolutely beautiful and apparently will stay that way for a while. I wish I had packed more summer clothes!!! But, I guess I can just grin and bear all this sunshine.

Last leg of the journey was good, but miss Gaby Garmin couldn't help herself....

As I said previously... roads were great today, nice easy drive but the last 5 KMs or so, so took me through all the back roads to get to this hotel. But I'm learning to laugh at her now.... And the Irish backroads today were nothing like the ones in Cornwall or the UK.

However that may change as I attack the WAW (Wild Atlantic Way) tomorrow.

One last pic to finish. This hotel is about 4 kms outside Portrush, which doesn't bother me at all... keeps me out of the rush and bustle...

Here's the view from my window....

View from my hotel window.

Could be doing worse things..... 😊