OK, so today breakfast needs some solid attention because I saw the most extraordinary thing. We pop down to Cedars and are seated at the same table we had last night, so feeling right at home. We collect or order or food, I'm enjoying the delicious granola. As we're talking I glance across and find there's a lady at a nearby table. She has a croissant in hand and she's slathering it thickly with butter. What on earth! Croissants are literally made by rolling butter into the dough over and over until it can't take any more. She takes a bite then puts the buttered croissant on her side plate as what looks like Eggs Benny is delivered for her enjoyment. I'm now obsessed with seeing if she actually eats that croissant. I'm not staring, just keeping a discrete observation via occassional glances. She doesn't go near the croissant for a while and I almost think she's abandoned it as an act of folly but then a pause in our conversation leads me to glance over again only to find her at the tail end of the croissant using it to sop up any remaining hollandaise sauce from her plate. Gosh. Buttery pastry, several mms of butter on it and then its dipped into a very oil rich sauce. Well, I observe to friends waiting with bated breath on Whatsapp, Travel truly is an educational experience. It had honestly never occurred to me to use a croissant in such a way. She seems to have enjoyed it.
It's no surprise that the manifesto has a long list of potential ways to spend our time today. I'm glad we generally wake early because it gives us time to take our time and enjoy where we are without rushing while still achieving a fairly early departure. I go through periods of thinking we should have just booked two nights here and skipped the overnight in Ardara, but reducing the driving across the days did make sense, I suppose.
On the way over to breakfast I'm delighted to see that there's fungi popping up in the lawn. Now the rain's stopped I'm very pleased to be able to wander about photographing the sculptures. Clearly the landscape designer here feels that there just can't be too much high quality bronze in the garden. I have to say, it's hard to argue with that approach, especially while the plantings are still so young.
Breakfasted and ready to go, we call for someone to come and bring our luggage and of course, given the time of day there's a short wait for that. You really wouldn't be wanting to try to roll your suitcases across to reception over the gravel. Another little wait once we get to reception for someone to go and retrieve our car. How sad we are to be leaving here today. When we stayed at Helen's Tower we were told of a guy who flies over from the states just to stay there for a week and go home. I'd be tempted to do that at Lough Eske Castle Hotel, especially with a group of friends.
Back on the road, our first destination is Belleek Pottery. We haven't prebooked but I'm confident of being able to get a walk up place on the next tour. First impressions are interesting here. The building is simply enormous. Even crossing the street I can't get the whole thing in the one photograph.
We don't have too long to wait, we and a group from a bus tour spend our waiting time browsing in the factory shop. My goodness how on earth do we decide from among all these lovely things.
At the allotted time, our guide gathers us together and we embark on the tour. It's right up there for visitor experiences. Firstly we get the general history of course, our guide is very confident and articulate and clearly knows his subject matter. Then we're onto the factory floor. The whole area is clean and well organised, but also quiet and calm. We move from work station to work station where skilled artisans are calmly working away. Each person has a range of tasks they can do so they get variety during their day. Each of the crafts people is happy to talk to us as they work and answer questions, some more proactive in explaining what they are doing and why than others but none giving any sense that you are a nuisance. I suppose they know that these tours promote their product and goodwill and these combine to protect their jobs, still, the friendly welcome from everyone makes our visit not only very interesting but particularly enjoyable. Belleek Pottery has exceeded my expectations. Back out in the shop though, I still can't make up my mind.
What I REALLY want is one of the little baskets we saw in production that are out of stock in the shop. Hubby's worried about trying to transport something so fragile given how little space we have in our carry on luggage now. But at least I've made my selection, at some point I will order one to be shipped to us.
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| I am thinking this is an Aster. Very happy here in the cool damp climate of Ireland |
The River Erne flows dangerously fast and deep under the bridge, looking very pretty with a stone building on a raised mound behind.
Back on our way, we drive along the the Lough Shore Road, by green hedgerowed fields, and grazing sheep, comfortable looking homes with snatches of water, here and there passing through shortlived tunnels of green. Hubby takes the opportunity for a stop at the layby at Drumcrow East, where a little road heads down to a jetty and we can capture the view along Lower Lough Erne. Five minutes down the road Hubby makes another stop but there's not a lot to see until we turn to pull back out to the road and see that there's what I think must be a mature copper beech tree in full autumn colour. Worth the stop for that, but what a shame the light is all wrong for photographing it. We go on pretty purposefully, enjoying the drive. We're heading to Marble Arch Caves. We've not booked tickets and there's been a lot of rain which could impact the tours, but it's worth a stop in to see what's possible today.
The carpark is almost empty when we arrive and we find when we go to buy tickets that the rain over recent days means that the cave tours are shortened and although the tour can take us down a little way where we can see the water, the tour will only take about 20 minutes. Price has been adjusted accordingly. Well we are here, so we may as well do it. We have a little while until the next tour so we amuse ourselves browsing in the gift shop. It's been amazing how varied the merchandise at the various attractions has been. Here they have a wonderful selection of stuffed toys that even includes poultry. Writing this, I regret not succumbing to temptation offered by the white leghorn chook. Gift shop exploration complete, I take a look at a series of displays showing the profile of the chambers and the history of the exploration of the caves.
Hubby's browsing at the cafe, but we've no time for eating before our tour. There's a few people assembled, our guide joins us and we head out. The route heads steeply down into a wrinkle in the earth via a flight of stairs. There's sheltered seats along the way which no doubt might come in handy on the way back.
The entrance to the underground is protected by a little green covered stone bunker, then there's stairs down a tunnel of modern construction taking us deeper and deeper underground. A lot of information is imparted as we head down the stairs and before we enter the tunnel because the roar of the water underground makes it difficult to hear. Ear plugs are on hand but we won't be in the noisiest section long so we shouldn't need them. It's perhaps a curious thing to be taking a cave tour if you're from Sydney. Not many places could outdo our local Jenolan Caves for crystal decoration but we enjoy cave tours and each one we've done has offered something different. Workers are cleaning the path of mud as we pass. The high point of the torrent of water is marked by froth up on the walls or ceiling. Along the way, even in these upper reaches of the system, there's examples of a range of crystal formations but they are mostly tiny. Nonetheless, I'm impressed at the comprehensive catalogue of formations they are able to talk about and show us in such a restricted exploration. It's interesting to see the variation in names for some of them. What we would call a shawl they call something else.
The water is still too high to be able to do the boat trip. Marble Arch Caves is a totally different experience to the River Cave at Jenolan where the water moves so slowly the water is silent and crystal clear. What looks to be a shallow few inches of water is actually 3-4 metres deep and a hand print in the sand on the bottom of the river will stay clearly visible for many decades. Marble Arch Caves, today at least, feel more like the caves at Waitomo in New Zealand, where the black water rafters squeal and laugh as they bob along in their flotation rings to be admired by the pedestrian cave tourers above.
The water and debris it sometimes carries can damage the crystal which here they say grows incredibly slowly. They used to say that in Australia too, but they've changed the discussion of that now because when they were opening a new spectacular show cave, Temple of Baal cave I believe it was, they built a new tunnel for access. During the work one of the men left a bottle behind and there it sat under a drip for some years - don't quote me but I think it was only about 5 years before they noticed that it was there and becoming covered in crystal, at any rate it was a very very short time in geological terms and they had to reconsider the orthodox view of how quickly crystal decorations form. By the time we were viewing it, the bottle had been there for some decades. Now they say at Jenolan that the speed with which the formations grow in a particular spot depends on a range of variable factors.
Towards the latter part of our tour we stop and admire a large cascade of active flowstone. It's brown from the dissolved minerals, but I wonder if part of that is from the regular inundation and silt that comes with it.
Our tour concluded, we climb back up to the visitor centre. I take a little break at the covered seat. It's a very pleasant spot to sit. Nicely verdant. We don't stop very long before continuing the climb back up to the visitor centre. Our guide has waited for us and takes a few minutes to chat to us about Australia. Like so many people we've met and spoken with he has close family now living in Australia. Then it's back into the gift shop where we stock up on funny coasters and placemats featuring amusing sheep related puns and suitable artwork. Love 'em.
Ok, what shall we do next? Let's just take a quick run around the Marlbank Scenic Loop, it doesn't take long. Off we go and for much of the drive I'm wondering about what we're supposed to be seeing. Then we come to a viewpoint that explains why we're here.
Done with exploring the Geopark we figure we'll head in to Enniskillen just briefly for a look at the castle. That should kill just enough time to put us in the right place and time for what has been judged as the best fish and chips in Northern Ireland.
The parking in Enniskillen is easy today, there being a large car park right next to the castle. The thing that really tempts me is a large cathedral that we can see from the back. Look at that, are those flying buttresses?! How old is that? A bit of googling and I find that 1. St Michael's is Gothic Revival so 19th century and 2. They don't seem geared up for tourists. We head over and walk over the lawn. It's a beautiful spot by the River Erne. The rain has cleared and we've caught it in a sunny mood. It would be easy to linger in a cafe or with a picnic. Water taxis wait at the pontoon. Ooh, now an Erne Water Taxi tour would be a great thing to do. We stroll around the path to the side of the castle, beautifully preserved and maintained. Banks of lights hint at the spectacle the lit castle must make at night.
We do a stupidly short little wander through Enniskillen on our way on towards Belfast. We've not remotely done it justice I'm sure, but it's been a very pleasant stop. Now it's time to head to Dungannon and the Dolphin Takeaway, which has apparently been voted the best fish and chips in Northern Ireland three years running. Parking is no problem, we get a spot across the street. All we need to do is walk over. The shop is beautifully clean and well presented. There's signs about health ratings for some meal options. Hmm. Not sure that's a good indicator. We play it conservatively and just order one serve of cod and chips. We don't really want too much at this time of day and experience has shown serves can be very large. The order of a single serve is greeted with some surprise by the lady on the counter who's not sure she's heard us right. We wait while the food is cooked, a steady stream of customers coming in and out meanwhile. Taking possession of the warm cardboard box, we take our spoils back to the car keen to get a look. Both fish and chips need to jump a very very high bar of expectation. We've had fish and chips from the Anstruther Fish Bar and that was an almost life changing experience of delicious perfection, so this is definitely not going to be a walk in the park for the Dolphin Takeaway.
...and the verdict is: that sales pitch for healthy options was indeed the give away. I'm sure the chips have been cooked in vegetable oil. They're really disappointing. I couldn't be bothered persevering with those. The fish is better, that's pretty good. Overall, it's similar to average outlets at home, but the chips need serious work. I'm glad I've tried it, but the scoring criteria for the competition must be a bit different from my own. This is a bit like house painting compared to the Anstruther Fish Bar's Mona Lisa. Friends tell us that their life changing chip experience was a little chippy in Sneem on the Ring of Kerry. Well. That's done. Nothing for it now but to head straight into Belfast.
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| Belfast City Hall |
Parking at the Premier in Cathedral Quarter is not on site, so Hubby drops me off with the luggage and he goes to park. I cannot say I particularly enjoyed manoevring the cases over carpet through 7, yes 7 firedoors of which almost all were closed, between reception and our room. We're over being out and about for today so dinner is what turns out to be delicious pizza from Pizza Punks across the street.
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