St.Patrick's day parade in Ballina led by astronaut!

When we were in Ballina in County Mayo it coincided with St. Patrick's Day and the town had their annual parade through its streets. After the local dignitaries got settled in the parade started with commentary and we were surprised to hear that leading the parade was someone who is destined to become Ireland's first astronaut! Norah Patten is a native of the town and has worked hard to put herself in a position to travel to space on a future research spaceflight with Virgin Galactic.   

The theme for this year's parade was, not surprisingly 'Shoot for the stars' which was confirmed on the back of a skip!

Some of the floats had an obvious connection, others less so!

Winners of best dressed went to the couple above.

2nd prize!

Ballina...back to Pauline and Eileen's Irish roots.

On Monday as part of our Irish road-trip we visited Ballina a town in north County Mayo as it was here, in a farm just outside the town that Pauline's great grandparents lived. 

The town sits on the River Moy.

After settling into our rented apartment we took a walk around the town crossing over the river Moy and along its banks.

We asked a local to recommend somewhere for lunch to which he replied the 'Ballina Manor Hotel'. When we told him we had tried it but there was a note on the door saying 'Residents and reservations only' he said that it had been there for years and we should just ignore it.

We returned and sure enough it was not a problem with the charming lady who welcomed us explaining that it was only put there to keep out the 'undesirables' and she was sure we were ok!!

BTW that's Jack Charlton painted on the wall on the other side of the river!

After a good lunch we headed into the centre of town to watch the St Patrick's Day Parade, will post more on that later.

We headed back into town to sample St.Pat's celebrations but the pubs were either too busy or too full of peeps who already were spent having had a day of it. We had some entertainment provided by a group of seasoned veterans but slipped out and found a quite pub and toasted Pauline and Eileens ancestors.  

Then it was out into a lovely evening and a walk back to our apartment. 

The next morning we headed 10 minutes out of town to area known as 'Corrimbla North' where I tried to find what I thought was the  farm where their ancestors had lived but as it was a small dirt road took them past it. We had only been minutes away! but by the power of t'internet I tracked it down, you can just see the house through the trees below!

The benches of Rozelle Park in Ayr, Scotland.

One of our favourite walks while visiting Ayr is through the delightful Rozelle Park which reveals a surprisingly diverse choice of benches.

Done sleeping in Donegal...

 

As it was a four hour drive down to Ballina and Pauline and Eileen's roots we decided to do an overnight stay in Donegal which conveniently was halfway to our destination. We knew our nights above the pub in Bushmills would be quite busy so booked a place outside of town to assure us of a good night sleep.

On arrival we did a quick walk around the town before settling in to the  cavernous Abbey Hotel for a good lunch. The town was heaving as it was gearing up for St. Patrick's day as well as a country festival so we were quite happy to head for 'Hollies hideaway' for a bit of respite. *

The Church of Ireland

Donegal Castle

Red Hugh O'Donnell

St Patrick's Roman Catholic Church

What the well dressed new communicant is wearing.

Looking out onto Donegal Bay

*Sadly it was not to be as although the accommodation was great our sleep was disturbed by a barking dog in the courtyard of the owners house opposite from 3.00am and off and on until 5.00am! It was a bit odd as when it started I opened our window to check what was going on only to shine a light on an open patio door with a small dog yapping up ay me! Had there been a break-in and the couple had been murdered? Were they deaf and fresh air freaks? Should we try ringing them? All this made for a rather anxious night as you can imagine! All was revealed when we posted a review only to be asked to take it down as "They had worked hard to get their good rating" and said that their daughter had come in late ( 3.00am perhaps?) and left the door open and this allowed the dog to get out! Have to ask again about their inability to hear the yapping! They have said they will refund us...watch this space.

A visit to Portrush...

 While staying at Bushmills in County Antrim, Northern Ireland we took the short drive down to Portrush a delightful small seaside resort that sits on a peninsula known as Ramore Head.

The fine sunny, if a little chilly, weather we had been enjoying continued for our visit, even allowing us to have lunch outside.

We enjoyed the views back over to the causeway we had walked along earlier in the day.

We did not use this equipment however.

After lunch we did the walk around the headland which gave us 360 deg. views around us.