Irish Summer – what is that???

What is weather like in Ireland?

Wild Angelica

Thanks to the moderating effect of the Atlantic Gulf Stream, Ireland’s climate is relatively mild for its latitude, with a mean annual temperature of around 10°C. The temperature drops below freezing only intermittently during winter, and snow is scarce – perhaps one or two brief flurries a year. The coldest months are January and February, when daily temperatures range from 4° to 8°C, with 7°C the average. In summer, temperatures during the day are a comfortable 15° to 20°C. During the warmest months, July and August, the average is 16°C. A hot summer’s day in Ireland is 22° to 24°C, although it can sometimes reach 30°C. There are about 18 hours of daylight daily during July and August and it’s only truly dark after about 11pm.

Swan Family

One thing you can be sure of about Irish weather is how little you can be sure of. It may be shirtsleeves and sunglasses in February, but winter woollies in March and even during the summer.

And then there’s the rain. Ireland receives a lot of rain, with certain areas getting a soaking as many as 270 days of the year. County Kerry is the worst affected. The southeast is the driest, enjoying a more continental climate.

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Bellamont Forest Walk

Saturday in Nature

Bluebells

Located in Cootehill, County Cavan  (click here for directions).

Hikers

Entrance is across the road from St Michael’s Church.

Lake View

There is a path through forest and beside a lake. Nice relaxing walk. No hills.

Hikers

We walked about 2 miles. That was enough for our children.

Bellamount House

Over the lake is a Bellamont House. It is widely regarded as one of the finest examples of Palladian Architecture in Ireland.

Butterfly

If to keep your eyes open while walking you can observe lot of wildlife around you and enjoy a beautiful nature.

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Blackrock

Suburb of Dundalk

Beach Promenade

Blackrock (Irish: Na Creagacha Dubha), is a seaside village just to the south of Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland (here are directions). The village is in the townland of Haggardstown. The current population of the village is about 3,000.

In the 1950s and 60s, Blackrock was a holiday destination for people in landlocked Monaghan and Cavan. The beach that is pictured in the colourised postcards of that era (still on sale) was created with sand imported from beaches further down the coast, as the sand was continually washed away to contribute to the buildup of silt in Dundalk Bay. Although it is no longer considered a tourist resort, there remains a tradition of visiting Blackrock on the 15th of August (vide the Celtic feast of Lúnasa).

Cooley Mountains

Since the late 1960s, Blackrock has expanded significantly and has become more of a suburb to Dundalk. With the opening of the M1 motorway to Dublin, there has been another wave of expansion and it is also becoming a commuter town with access to North Dublin.

The view looking North over Dundalk Bay from the promenade toward the Cooley Mountains is impressive.

In common with a number of east coast locations, the beach has a very gentle gradient and the sea retreats about 5 km at low tide. The exposed seabed is a mixture of sand and mud flats.

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Stephenson Pond

Place to walk and listen a birdsong

Pond

Stephenstown Pond is situated 1 mile east of the village of Knockbridge, approximately 5 miles south-west of Dundalk, County Louth (here are directions). It encompasses roughly 5 acres of woodland, willow copse, wildflower meadow, water meadow, and pond habitats.

The pond provides an oasis for a fascinating variety of native Irish wildlife. There are at least 57 species of tree and shrub present, feeding more than 47 species of bird and a variety of other wildlife such as butterflies, and insects. It has an average depth of about 2 meters (max. 3.25m), and is stocked with a host of coarse fish.

Ducklings and Mother Duck

Stephenstown pond is a unique nature park with water walkways, woodlands, and a wide array of wildlife. It is an ideal family day out where you can enjoy a picnic, feed the ducks or sample some of the home bakery at the Dairy Maid cafe.

The pond was commissioned in 1817 by the land owner Matthew Fortescue. It was built by William Galt. William Galt was married to Agnes Burns, sister of the Scottish Poet, Robert Burns. Their cottage is part of the park. In 1995 the disused Stephenstown pond was developed in to the nature park that it is today, it officially opened in July 1996 with a crowd of over 1,300 people present.

opening hours are:
Open daily
May – September 08.30-20.30
October – April 09.00 – 17.00

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Famous Irish Quotes

Quote

Maeve Binchy

…(May 28 1940 – July 30 2012) was a bestselling Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist and speaker best known for her humorous take on small-town life in Ireland, her descriptive characters, her interest in human nature and her often clever surprise endings.

Donore

Everybody is a hero in their own story if you just look.

Dun an Ri Forest Park

We’re nothing if we’re not loved. When you meet somebody who is more important to you than yourself, that has to be the most important thing.

Near Ardee

Always write as if you are talking to someone. It works. Don’t put on any fancy phrases or accents or things you wouldn’t say in real life.

Lordship Parish Church

I had a very happy childhood, which is unsuitable if you’re going to be an Irish writer.

Farm

Because I saw my parents relaxing in armchairs and reading and liking it, I thought it was a peaceful grown-up thing to do, and I still think that.

Spring field

I don’t have ugly ducklings turning into swans in my stories. I have ugly ducklings turn into confident ducks.

House

Everybody has always loved eating in Ireland and the family always gathered around the table – which was also where all the stories were told.

Famous Irish Quotes

Quote

Roddy Doyle

Tallanstown

…(born 8 May 1958) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Doyle is the author of ten novels for adults, seven books for children, seven plays and screenplays, and dozens of short stories. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. Doyle’s work is set primarily in Ireland, especially working-class Dublin, and is notable for its heavy use of dialogue written in slang and Irish English dialect. Doyle was awarded the Man Booker Prize in 1993 for his novel Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha. After achieving worldwide critical acclaim, Doyle is now recognized as one of Ireland’s greatest living writers

Near Ravensdale

Good ideas are often murdered by better ones.

Near Omeath

Some of the people who look the most normal are probably the maddest people trying to look normal.

Mourne Mountains

I’m not recognised that much. I’m just a bald man in glasses and there’s a rash of them in Dublin. It’d be different if I had a mohican.

Mellifont Abbey

It’s a big con job. We have sold the myth of Dublin as a sexy place incredibly well; because it is a dreary little dump most of the time.

County Louth

It’s great meeting children because you never know what they will say.

Louth Village Church

Schools don’t really allow failure and yet it’s a valid part of any endeavour, not just writing.

Knockbridge

When I was a kid, if you didn’t speak Irish, you really wanted to. And you played Gaelic games and you didn’t pay any attention to what was happening in the outside world, because really, Ireland was the center of the universe. And I don’t think that’s the case anymore. Although, admittedly, it is the center of the universe.

Inniskeen

Peaceful Island

Inniskeen

Inniskeen, officially Inishkeen (Irish: Inis Caoin, meaning “peaceful island”), is a small village and parish in County Monaghan, Ireland, close to the County Louth and County Armagh borders. It is located about 17 km from Dundalk and 12 km from Carrickmacross and 5 km from Crossmaglen (here are directions how to get there).

This territory had been inhabited from the late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. Rock art carvings (Petroglyphs) have been discovered in adjoining townlands (including Drumirril) dating to 3000 BC. Cup and ring markls with concentric circles are the main inscriptions.

Old Church

A monastery was founded here in the 6th century by Saint Daigh MacCarell which was burned in 789, plundered by the Vikings in 948, and burned a second time in 1166. The bottom third of the round tower remains. In this drumlin country many of the hill tops have hill forts and associated souterrains which date from the late Iron Age or early Christian era. The country was part of McMahon Clann territory who displaced Carrolls in the 9th century as the dominant force in the area.

Patrick Kavanagh

The arrival of the Normans saw the construction of a Motte-and-bailey in the 13th century, The motte is still standing. The arrival of the Augustinian order of monks saw the construction of a new monastery of that order as a branch of the Abbey at Louth. One section of its wall remains adjoining the graveyard in the field adjoinhing the Motte.

The Patrick Kavanagh Centre is set up to commemorate the poet Patrick Kavanagh.The Centre houses exhibitions outlining Kavanagh’s lifestory and local history. It is located in the former RC St. Mary’s church in whose adjoining graveyard Kavanagh and his wife are buried.

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Collon

Village in the south west corner of County Louth

Collon

Collon (Irish: Collann) is a village and townland in the south west corner of County Louth, Ireland on the N2 national primary road (click for a directions HERE). The village is home to the Cistercian Abbey of New Mellifont.

The Church of Ireland parish church at the lower end was built in 1810 to a design by Daniel Augustine Beaufort who was the rector between 1789 and 1821. There is a memorial in the graveyard at the front of the church to men of the parish who died during the 1914-18 Great War, inscribed on the front is the name of Lt. James Samuel Emerson V.C. who was born in the village. The church has been described as “dramatic and atmospheric” and hosted the 2008 Ardee Baroque Festival.

Church of Ireland

At one point there was a Russian language school in the village, which was founded by White Russian emigres. It is rumoured that the British spies Philby, Burgess and Maclean visited the school as part of their Russian language training.

Collon is home to an animal sanctuary where animals are homed until suitable accommodation is found.

The village also shares its name with a popular Japanese confectionary snack – Collon, wholly unrelated.

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Monasterboice

Monastery of Buithe

Yellow field

The historic ruins of Monasterboice (Irish: Mainistir Bhuithe) are of an early Christian settlement in County Louth in Ireland, north of Drogheda (click HERE for directions). It was founded in the late 5th century by Saint Buithe who died around 521, and was an important centre of religion and learning until the founding of nearby Mellifont Abbey in 1142.

The site houses two churches built in the 14th century or later and an earlier round tower, but it is most famous for its 10th century high crosses.

High Crosses

The round tower is about 35-metres tall, and is in very good condition, although it is not possible to go inside. The passage of time has laid down layers of earth so now the doorway is almost at ground level. The monastery was burned in 1097.

The 5.5-metre Muiredach’s High Cross is regarded as the finest high cross in the whole of Ireland. It is named after an abbot, Muiredach mac Domhnaill, who died in 923 and features biblical carvings of both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

The name Monasterboice is a part-anglicization of the Irish name Mainistir Bhuithe meaning “Monastery of Buithe”.

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Drogheda

Town on the Boyne

Drogheda View

Drogheda (Irish: Droichead Átha, meaning “bridge of the ford”) is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km (35 mi) north of Dublin. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea (click here for directions).

As the River Boyne divides the dioceses of Armagh and Meath, Drogheda was founded as two separate towns, Drogheda-in-Meath (for which a charter was granted in 1194) and Drogheda-in-Oriel (or ‘Uriel’) as County Louth was then known. In 1412 these two towns were united and Drogheda became a ‘County Corporate’, styled as ‘the County of the Town of Drogheda’. Drogheda continued as a County Borough until the setting up of County Councils, through the enactment of the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, which saw all of Drogheda, including a large area south of the Boyne, become part of an extended County Louth.

St Lawrence’s Gate

The town is situated in an area with an abundance of archaeological monuments dating from the Neolithic period onwards, of which the large Passage Tombs of Newgrange, Knowth and Dowth are probably the best known.

The earliest monument in the town is the motte-and-bailey castle, now known as Millmount Fort, which overlooks the town from a bluff on the south bank of the Boyne, and which was probably erected by the Norman Lord of Meath, Hugh de Lacy sometime before 1186. The earliest known town charter is that granted to Drogheda-in-Meath by Walter de lacy in 1194. Sometimes it was also spelled “Tredagh”.

Millmount Tower, Drogheda Museum

A Norman element on Drogheda’s coat of arms is its centrepiece, St. Laurence’s Gate. The three lions which flank the Norman barbican and the star and crescent, similar to those on the coat of arms of Portsmouth, are taken from Richard The Lionheart’s coat of arms who gave both towns their charters. On the other side of the barbican is a ship denoting Drogheda’s status as an important port. The town’s motto Deus praesidium, mercaturadecus translates as “God our strength, merchandise our glory” (Source: Wikipedia)

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