The last of this trip will be a blur. We drove from Carnoustie to Edinburgh Airport where we returned the car with plenty of time to spare. We were also delighted to find trolleys to help us roll our bulky luggage to the airport. This was a very easy transition this year… no rain, no having to carry everything. And Enterprise Rent a Car gets another A+ from us. Great car, great service both in Dublin and in Liverpool. Aer Lingus also gets a gold star. They took great care of us and our luggage bac to Dublin where we spent the night in an airport hotel—fine and comfortable. Sorry to say, we just couldn’t take one more trip into Dublin. Best to rest.  Then the next morning, a quick flight to London where we exited right at the shop I wanted to visit—surprises for a few peeps coming— and then on to our long haul to LA.

As we waited for our shuttle to Dublin Airport, I had time to think back. We did three countries in three weeks, the most time spent in Ireland, where we have never been. now that we reflect, this was a good tester for new places. We might indeed return to Dublin and definitely want to visit Liverpool again. There’s a lot there. 

Below is a catalog of what we did at a glance.

In Ireland: 

Golf Courses:

K Club-beautiful with a lot of water, watch out!

Howth Golf Club—beautiful views on a nice day, lots of climbing!

Mount Juliet Golf Club— exceedingly beautiful with hunting grounds all around, water where you least expect it, but fairly placed.

Cities:

Dublin—the Walking Tour, The Pub Crawl

Portmarnack —stayed at White Sands, visited the course

Kilkenny—A beautiful, cobblestones town, quaint, friendly and clean.

Lodging:

White Sands Hotel

Kilkenny Rivercourt Hotel

Clayton Hotel (at the airport, one night)

Castles and churches:

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, exterior, Dublin

St. Mary’s Cathedral in Kilkenny

St. Canice Cathedral (after the founder of the town)

Kilkenny Castle— wonderful, small, and full of wine imagery

In England:

Golf Courses:

Royal Liverpool, visited

Hesketh Golf Club, visited

Royal Lytham and St. Anne’s, played twice—very beautiful, fair,and interesting.

Silloth Golf Club, hilly, great views, some gorse, some water, watch direction carefully.

Cities:

Liverpool— did our own walking tour of the wharf, and the British Music Experience.  Met three grooms-to-be dressed in veils!

Lancaster

Carlisle

Lodging:

Liverpool Hilton

Lancaster House Hotel (spectacular)

Horse and Farrier (clean but quirky)

Castles, Churches, Monuments:

The Liverpool Cathedral— The largest cathedral in all of Great Britian. We had a private tour with Gillian Evans, learned of the connection with seafaring and the White Star Line, the Titanic. The Ladies Chapel was the original place of worship.

The Carlisle Castle—came late but saw the keep and the tower, the portcullis, and the ramparts. Made from Roman quarried stone taken from Hadrian’s Wall.

Hadrian’s Wall— Spectacular ruins of Roman villages and outposts. 

In Scotland:

Golf Courses:

Dunbar Golf Club with Wayne and Brian

Kilspindie Golf Club with Juliet and Keith Deardon.

Carnoustie Golf Club with Kerr Byars

Cities:

Longniddry

Carnoustie

Lodging:

Woodside B & B

The Carnoustie Golf Hotel

Castles:

Broughty Ferry Castle— right on the water, strong, well-placed, small. Worked as a lighthouse, changed sides between the British and the Scottish. Was used during WWII. Great lookout, great beach.