For the start of our 2021 staycation, we’re spending a night in Connemara. As we live so near to Connemara, we often take a trip out to one of the fantastic beaches or just to enjoy the scenery while driving, however, on this occasion we’re spending the night.
The weather was actually pretty good on leaving home which certainly adds to the enjoyment of the drive. We were not long on the road when we decided on an unplanned stop in the village of Moycullen. There’s a van selling coffee, cakes and other treats so we decided to try their coffee as we had heard that it’s hugely popular with locals.
On a side note, despite a glut of coffee shops in Galway and the country, finding a decent cup of joe is actually very difficult. I was hopeful that the coffee from Mama no Drama would deliver, but unfortunately it was pretty mediocre, still though, there is no denying the van looks pretty cool.
Continuing on from Moycullen, we made a quick stop in Oughterard and did a little window shopping before continuing on towards the Connemara capital, Clifden.
Once there we kept going and took the Sky Road which offers amazing scenery. On this occasion, a thick cloud of mist rolled in and blocked the view, although we have been on this road dozens of times before.
From there, we made our way to the small fishing village of Cleggan to grab lunch in the Sea Hare. We had eaten in the Sea Hare several times before and it’s always tasty, really worth a stop if you’re in the area. It’s right on the pier where you can hop on the ferry to the island of Inishbofin and if you would like to read about all things Inishbofin, just jump over here.
Lunch was simple and tasty, C opted for the mezze selection and I grabbed the crab salad which really tasty. All washed down with coffee and a nice slice of carrot cake to finish.
Our next stop is a place we’ve been countless times, Kylemore Abbey. It’s always nice to drop in and peruse the gift shop or perhaps grab lunch or just a snack. Things are also fully reopened having been closed (like a lot of things) for several months. Once back on the road, we made our way to our accommodation for the night, crossing over the Leenaun bridge to the Mayo side of Connemara.
For the first night of our staycation, we’re in Delphi Lodge which is a short hop away from the Delphi resort. The lodge back in the day was used mainly for people visiting Connemara for fishing in the nearby lakes and is still used for that purpose today, if fishing is your thing.
As you drive up towards the lodge, it looks impressive and the grounds are well kept. We parked up and headed inside. We were greeted by the manager who checked us in, interesting that there was no reception desk anywhere to be seen, we were just handed our key and shown to our room.
The room was spotless and roomy. It has a good size living area and a large ensuite with a huge old bathtub, after all the lodge would have been used mainly by men so hence, the large bathtub. It also had a nice view out towards the lake.
For the evening, we took a walk around the lake and hung out in the library before getting ready for dinner. We had been informed that some canapés would be served in the lounge area before dinner, which was pencilled in for 8:00pm. In normal non-Covid times, dinner is served at a long communal table with everyone sitting together but given the current climate, every party has their own table.
Once seated in the lounge area, we ordered some drinks and chatted to some of the other guests. The canapés arrived, consisting of a bonbon with black pudding, smoked salmon on brown bread and mushrooms on sourdough, they were tasty, nothing special but tasty. At around 8:15pm we all made our way to the dining room for dinner. Dinner was interesting, like a previous place we stayed in before, Currarevagh House, for dinner, it was Hobson’s choice. So if you were in any way a fussy eater, you’d struggle a little, however, with advanced warning to the lodge they will try their best to accommodate any food issues you may have.
Once seated, we ordered another drink and bread arrived, a homemade brown soda which was not too bad at all. For our starter, it was mussels, cooked in a creamy apple, cider and tarragon sauce. It was really tasty, the mussels were fresh, the sauce had the perfect balance of flavours without being overpowering, which can sometimes happen with the aniseed flavour of tarragon.
Things were off to a good start but soon started to spiral a little downhill. A ho-hum middle course arrived consisting of a raspberry sorbet which was nothing special, we really don’t get the sorbet thing, especially as a second course.
The mains arrived, fillet of beef. While the beef was reasonably well cooked, it was easily one of the most unbalanced plates of food we have had in a long time. It was served with a very over-powering thyme jus, celeriac purée, onions, a béarnaise sauce topped with pea shoots along with some potatoes and a ratatouille of all things. There was just too much going on, the thyme jus was too strong and the celeriac was strangely, sweet.
Dessert followed, a bought-in lemon tart served with some berries and a honeycomb ice cream. The ice cream was actually ok, the tart, even though was not freshly made, was tolerable. Still though, the mind boggles as to why so many places use bought-in desserts and the like. It’s so simple to put together, say, a Victoria sponge or an apple tart or even a pavlova that will taste far superior than any of the bought-in variety.
To finish off the evening, homemade (apparently) chocolate truffles along with tea and coffee were to be served, but for some reason, they never arrived and we were not offered any (perhaps the delivery never came in).
We had one final drink in the comfortable lounge before retiring for the evening.
The following morning, we grabbed breakfast, which was a slight improvement on the previous nights meal. I opted for the full Irish, C went with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. The smoked salmon was a good sized portion and the salmon was tasty. The full Irish was the standard affair but better than ones I have had in the past. The same bread from the night before was served, however, the coffee was not the best.
Delphi Lodge is a decent place, it has fantastic rooms, great location and with less than twenty rooms it never feels over-crowded. While the food was a bit of a let-down, it did not take from the comfort of the place, would we stay again, perhaps if we were looking to stay in the area again.
We checked out and hit the road heading north towards Doolough and on up towards the village of Louisburgh, where we made a brief stop at the Books at One bookshop and checked out the beach before hitting the road heading north towards the Céide Fields.
The Céide Fields are considered the world’s biggest example of Stone Age monuments and are a must-see if in the area. We arrived around lunch time, parked up and headed towards the visitor centre, which was closed for renovations. Seemed a tad odd that they decided to do renovations now, just as things are starting to re-open. So with not much else to do, we followed the pathways around the entire site and checked out, well, stones, lots of stones. That was pretty much it, I really did not get it, bar the nice view out to sea there was absolutely nothing else of interest, perhaps if the visitor centre was open we’d have got a better insight into the history of the place.
Back on the road, our next stop was to check out a large sea stack out at Downpatrick head which was about a 15 minute drive from the Céide Fields. There’s large blow-hole type thing which would be really impressive during a storm but as it was a reasonably mild day there was not too much happening. We took a few snaps and walked a little along by the cliff face before hopping back in the car and continuing to our next stop for the night, Belleek Castle just slightly north of the town of Ballina.
As we drove towards the castle, the grounds look really good and there are several walks and other amenities open to the public around the area, however the castle is strictly for guests only, although non staying guests can avail of the onsite restaurant called Jack Fenn’s bistro which is not actually ‘in’ the castle but alongside it.
Once parked up we headed inside, there’s a large entrance hall with the usual bits and bobs you would expect to see in an old castle. We made ourselves known to the receptionist who checked us in and we were handed our key and given directions to our room. The room was a tad on the small side but was clean and had a view out towards the grounds. The ensuite had just a shower and was a tad cramped but was clean. We did notice the lack of towels in the bathroom so once back downstairs we requested some extra towels from the less than enthusiastic receptionist. Except for the person at reception and one person working at the bar, there were no other staff to be seen.
It was a pretty wet day outside so we grabbed a drink at the bar from the friendly barman. On a funny side note, we asked if they had any crisps or other bar snacks, we were told no, as for some weird reason a four star establishment does not stock these things, according to the barman, very strange and quite unbelievable. After our drink we walked around checking out other parts of the castle. It’s certainly not a big castle but it is dark and a tad gloomy. It has several function rooms but they did not seem to have been used in a while. There were not too many guests from what we could see.
Other than walking the grounds, there did not seem to be too much else to do, there is an apparent castle tour, but this did not seem to be happening as we were not told about it on check-in. With not much else to do we relaxed for a little before getting ready for dinner which we had pre-booked in the bistro.
Jack Fenn’s bistro is the only option for dining at the castle and the menu covers most of the basics, such as steak, fish, chicken and a veggie option or two, so you’re sure to find something to your liking.
To start, I ordered the pork belly which came with a pineapple salsa of all things, C opted for the duck liver and foie gras paté which came with melba toast and a plum chutney. The pork was nothing special, dry and lifeless, the pineapple really had no place on the plate and the dish also came with some green purée which I have no idea what it was as it had no flavour. C’s starter was a tad better but nothing to write home about. For mains, I went with the duck which was served with sweet potato purée, veg and a port jus. C opted for the hake which was served with lemon and herb potatoes, veg and a fennel and caper butter.
It looked good on the plate and the duck was reasonably well cooked but instead of the sweet potato purée it came with a beetroot purée which was cold, the veg were way over cooked and the jus had next to no flavour at all. C’s dish was not too good either, the fish was certainly not the freshest and the veg like mine were way over-cooked, although the potatoes were actually nice. The service was also not the best, but you can’t blame the young staff, this as usual, comes down to training or rather lack of training. After our meal, we had a quick nightcap before calling it a night.
The following morning we found ourselves back in the bistro for breakfast, all I wanted was a bacon sambo, which was exactly what I got. C went with poached eggs which came with a tomato and herb salsa and spinach served on some sourdough toast. It was nothing special as the salsa had soaked into the bread which created a mushy mess on the plate, plus, it was not sourdough. Service though was really bad, three times we had to ask for the same thing, there was only one other couple in the entire restaurant, desperately bad.
Perhaps once upon a time Belleek castle was a place you would go for a treat, for a special occasion or an event and enjoy fantastic hospitality and great food in a fantastic setting…… but it’s clear those days if they even existed, are long gone. The lack of decent service (except for the friendly barman), few amenities and poor food are all too many reason as to why we won’t be making a return trip. It’s not the worst place we have stayed in, in Ireland, but I guess we just expected more from a ‘castle’.
Back on the road we took the coast road following the Wild Atlantic Way to the town of Enniscrone where we stopped to check out the beach before continuing along the coast towards the O’Dowd castle where we took a few snaps. Our next planned stop was the seaside town of Strandhill with a plan to grab lunch in the always top Shells café.
As always this area of Strandhill was jam-packed with what seemed like hundreds of people in wetsuits hitting the surf.
At time of writing, Shells are not doing indoor dining so we went with the takeout option. I got a freshly squeezed OJ and went for the fish goujons with chips, C opted for the ham sambo. Perhaps it was the times we live in, or that it was crazy busy but the food, which usually always delivers, did not hit the mark on this occasion. The fries were undercooked and the fish had no real flavour, even the sambo was just thrown together, very unlike Shells. Still though it won’t stop us from going back, as said, the food is usually always really good.
Back on the road we continued following the Wild Atlantic Way towards the towns of Mullaghmore and Bundoran before crossing the border into Donegal town, where we stopped up for a coffee and a quick wander around the town. We made another brief stop at the town of Ballybofey before continuing on towards our accommodation for the next two nights, Rathmullan House.
When booking Rathmullan House and going by the photographs on their website, I got the impression that it was a large country house of about 15 or so rooms, this however, is not the case, the house is actually big having had what appears to be several extensions added over the years and from what we could make out has in excess of 50 rooms.
Once the house came into view, it’s painted a nice cream colour and the grounds look really nice and it’s a stone’s throw from the beach so the location is really good. Check-in was friendly and took no length, we were informed about the usual restrictions in place including having to book pool times and so forth.
Our room was a really good size and spotlessly clean. It had nice bay doors leading out to a small patio area, the bathroom was a really good size with a double shower and bathtub along with really nice toiletries. Once settled we headed out for a walk along the beach. From the house it’s about a 45 minute to an hour of a walk along the beach, which once you get to a certain point you have to turn back and retrace your steps. Once back at the house we hit the bar for our usual drink of choice, Kir Royal. After our drink we headed back to our room to get ready for our evening meal which was pencilled in for 8:30pm.
We arrived bang on time to the on-sight restaurant which is called The Cook & Gardener. We were brought to our table and given the menu for the evening and asked if we would like a drink to start which we did. The menu has all the bases covered, steak, fish, chicken and a veggie option which can be veganised.
To start I kept it simple and ordered the soup which was a carrot and lemongrass served with a coconut cream, C ordered the salmon tartare which came with a sweet-pea panna cotta, crème fraiche and caper berries. The soup was really tasty and served with some brown bread. The salmon tartare was fantastic, it was fresh and tasty. For our mains I went with the chicken which came with champ potatoes, charred onion and cabbage, it also had a bacon and tomato ragu. C went with the fillet of hake which was served with mussels, charred grilled courgettes, beetroot purée and a tomato and basil pesto.
Except for my chicken being under-seasoned, both dishes were well presented and tasty. Despite been quite full we ordered some ice cream for dessert, chocolate and honeycomb which were decent. Overall it was a good meal, the only real criticism was the service, which was a tad rushed and impersonal.
The following morning we grabbed breakfast, we kept it light, just some coffee and granola before hitting the road for a full day’s road tripping.
Our drive brought us slightly inland but heading north along small country roads passing some really nice scenery and farmland. Being Donegal though, the road conditions are not the best but thankfully it was a nice day so the drive was reasonably pleasant. We took a few snaps along the way before arriving at our first stop, Fanad Head Lighthouse. We had just missed the first tour of the day and it would be later in the evening before the next one. Still though, for a small entrance fee, you can check out a small museum and an interactive area as well as walk around the grounds, which we did and passed an hour or so before hitting the road again.
Hugging the Wild Atlantic Way again we continued along to Doe Castle which is really just a ruin but in pretty decent condition. There’s a small popup coffee shop there where we grabbed a drink and an ice cream. After one or two photos we hit the road making one or two stops to admire the view before our next stop, Glenveagh castle and National Park.
On arrival, the carpark was pretty full but we got a spot and headed towards the visitor centre where you can purchase tickets to visit the castle. There’s a large restaurant onsite and as we had no other option, we grabbed lunch here. I won’t go into the details but between absolutely no organisation (regarding people with vaccination certs and those without), no one in charge and desperate food – give this place a miss if you’re in the area during the current climate.
As the area is so big, you can walk to the castle which is about 4 Km away or you can get your ticket and take one of the shuttle busses that go back and over every 10 or 15 minutes. As we were pushed for time, we went with this option. Now one would assume that when you purchase a ticket, it includes the shuttle and the castle. This, however, is not the case. There were no signs from what we could see (and we checked this when we returned) to indicate that you had to purchase a separate ticket for the castle.
When we got to the castle, it was closed….. Once again Irish’ness in it’s truest form. There were no signs to say the castle was closed nor were we informed when getting the tickets – so all we did was walk the grounds before hopping back on the shuttle back to the visitor centre. We took one or two more photos before getting back on the road again.
As evening was rolling in, we had time for one more stop, Glebe House and Gallery which is about a 20 minute drive from Glenveagh. We went into a small visitor centre and the very nice lady told us a little about the house, while informing us, that it was closed. In her own words “we were not organised enough to open” – make of that what you will. So all we could do was check out a small exhibition of modern art upstairs in the visitor centre which was free – thankfully. This took all of about 20 minutes and I guess you either ‘get’ modern art or you don’t – I could have been done in 5 minutes but I was trying to be polite.
It was a long day with lots of driving, we made several stops to admire the scenery and take a few photos along with checking out some of the castles and other attractions along the way. It was a pity that a lot of things (at time of writing) are still not open. Before we had left that morning, we had booked the last slot for the pool at the house so it was nice on returning to hit the pool and splash around. On a plus, we had the entire pool to ourselves which was nice.
After the pool, we returned to our room and got ready for dinner. Drinks again to start and we both went with the same starter which was a duck liver pate which was really nice. For my mains, I went with duck and C opted for the hake again. The duck came with a berry jus, root veg and some mash. The hake came with a fennel and tomato broth along with some cherry tomatoes and some mash. Both dishes were tasty, but not as good as the previous night’s meal.
The next morning we grabbed breakfast and checked out. Rathmullan was a great base for touring this part of north Donegal. The service was good, although meals were a tad rushed. The food was pretty good and the room was fantastic, this coupled with a nice homely feel (despite the size of the place) and pleasant staff make for a good place to stay.
If we find ourselves in this part of the world again, we’d certainly consider staying at Rathmmullan.
All that was left to do was make the return journey home. We made about two stops along the way before getting home late evening. We enjoyed our summer 2021 staycation, but we do miss international travel so we’re looking forward to getting back to that, hopefully before the end of 2021.
Until next time,
Bye for now,
C&J
cjfoodandtravel 