The end of the dry spell

Shortly before we left on our Irish adventures I was telling somebody that we would be away for three weeks and that on my bucket list was to watch a Atlantic storm rolling in and to see the breakers crashing on a wild beach somewhere. His response was that if we were to be n Ireland for three weeks we would certainly see a storm and that we might even have one day of fair weather. I did not mention the rather more boring but nonetheless burning desire to sup some really good Guinness.

Well, so far it had been all fair weather and not a single drop of rain, apart from overnight at Glenarm when we were tucked up in our bunk. We did see a couple of very hesitant snowflakes in Portglenone but I would not call that getting wet. No pint of Guinness had yet hove into view. We were dry inside and out. Well, it was time to rectify one part of that equation and we turned Vincent’s head towards Downings and The Singing Pub; the first pubstop of our trip. On the way we visited an Ancient Monument.

Grianan Ailligh is an ancient Hill Fort dating to the 8th or 9th century and there is evidence of prehistoric hill forts at the same site on Greenan Mountain.

The views from the hilltop are spectacular.

Unfortunately, the “No Overnighting” signs were in place, otherwise Vincent quite fancied staying put. We, however, were getting drier by the minute.

We followed the SatNav to Downings and she took us on and off the Wild Atlantic Way, with some interesting “short cut” suggestions that took us over some moor top roads. She did get us a little lost when close to our destination but that turned out to be a shortcoming in the actual programming. We were able to muster sufficient technology, though no internet signal, to find our way to the pub in the end.

The Singing Pub is up in the North East corner of Ireland, in that part belonging to the Republic. The pub makes motorhomes welcome and offers a large parking area with services. Toilets are available during opening hours and showers on request. Fresh water taps are readily accessible and there is a chemical toilet dump. Free Wi-fi in the pub struggles to provide a signal outside but both phone networks were on full 4G signal.

There is a warm welcome to be had inside, not just from the open peat fire. The pub has a good buzz and was doing a brisk trade. 

We parked up and went I to ask if we might stay the night. Of course we ordered a pint of black nectar each and I must say that it slipped down a treat.

Mr Snail had some concern regarding the pub being open until 1 am, so moved Vincent over to the motorhome  parking area, well away from the pub before we walked the dog, washed and changed for dinner. I heard nothing at all overnight but he said he heard cars leaving at around 2 am.

There is a dead end road with no traffic opposite the pub. It leads down to an old kirkyard so Nell had a nice walk and I had a kirkyard to photograph. That was both of us happy then.

Still no sign of rain but at last we had our pipes oiled.