Summer is finally on its way, the weathers not been too bad and things are starting to open up as the vaccine roll-out continues! In a couple of weeks restrictions will have lifted allowing us to dine inside and stay in hotels – this naturally meant we had to book somewhere to stay. We have stayed a number of great places in Ireland during 2020 but our favourite has been the Lough Erne Resort and we are staying again in June.
We are still waiting to hear and slightly unsure about international travel, it is likely we will have similar guidance to that of England and might get to take a short break away in Portugal – somewhere Iain has never been. We have also been giving a lot of thought to what we want to do and see over the next few years, there’s a few bucket list destinations such as Bora Bora that we are beginning to save towards and will hopefully experience in the future.
For now its great to have something to look forward to, this last lockdown took its toll as we were starting to feel like it was wake up, work, eat and sleep for a few months. For now we are looking forward to spending more time with family and friends, getting out and seeing the world.
Until then, stay safe and keep planning the next adventure! Brianna and Iain
After our recently published post about our stay at the Shipquay in Derry we stayed a night at the Bushmills Inn. We thought this would be the perfect opportunity to finish up our Causeway Coast Series after publishing part 1 and part 2 so long ago!
From Derry we made our way first of all to Benone Strand. We were lucky to get a sunny and dry day in September, and the strand was really beautiful. We had a walk along the tideline before stopping to take some photos. After this we stopped off at Mussenden, a national trust site – it was pretty busy that day, but nice to walk around and get a few pictures of the temple and the views from the clifftop.
We then proceeded to drive to Portstewart as there was a restaurant on the beach that Iain has wanted to try for a while – Harry’s Shack, located on the beach at Portstewart. It was busy but we managed to find a table – we ordered mussels and crab claws which were delicious.
After refuelling we headed towards Bushmills. We didn’t stop at Portrush but would recommend anyone visiting the area to visit. Portrush has a number of bars, cafes and restaurants and beautiful beaches to explore. En-route to Bushmills we made a quick stop at Dunluce castle to get a few pictures.
We haven’t stayed at the Bushmills Inn for about 6 years, however the welcome as always was friendly and professional. We were asked if we would like to upgrade our room which we did. On arrival we received a bottle of prosecco and some delicious Irish chocolates – these went down well after our drive.
The style of the Bushmills Inn is old with mahogany furniture and old-style plastered and whitewashed walls in the bedroom. However, everything is well thought out and really comfortable. The bed was amazing and the bathroom was really modern with a lovely walk in shower.
Bushmill’s Inn Dinner
We had dinner in their restaurant, for starters Brianna had duck liver parfait and Iain had onion soup, these were delicious and had us looking forward to the rest of the meal. For mains we had lamb and pork with sides of dauphinoise potatoes which were beautiful and to finish we both ordered sticky toffee pudding.
The next morning we both had the cooked breakfast on offer ordering the eggs benedict, again this was perfect and we gave the food here a 10/10. Unfortunately we had hoped to visit the Bushmill’s distillery but it had closed to visitors due to covid-19, so we will have to return in future.
We weren’t quite ready to return home after this so we booked in for a night in the Ballygally Castle. On the way there we stopped off at Balintoy Harbour, as it was during the week it was great being able to walk around without the weekend crowds. It’s beautiful around this part of the coast and would recommend any visitors make a point to stop here. We then made our way through Ballycastle and along the coast to our final stop Ballygally Castle. Keep an eye out for our next blog on our stay there.
Until then, stay safe and keep planning the next adventure!
Hey everyone, sorry we haven’t posted in a while but life has been hectic! We have had the chance to take a couple of weeks time off and travel around Ireland so plenty of content will be published soon!
We have been watching a lot of YouTube over the past few months and our favourite channels have revolved around something we haven’t been able to do – Travel. There are a ton of great Youtubers, but we decided to limit ourselves to 5 for this post as follows:
Gary Bembridge – Tips for Travellers
Gary runs the channel Tips for Travellers, his videos generally focus on cruises – we have only been on one cruise, and our two following have been cancelled. However we love watching him to get a bit of cruise hype – he has kept us up to date with all that’s going on in the cruise industry during Covid-19 and its become a tradition in our house to shout that Gary has a new video.
We highly recommend watching his videos if you are interested in cruising – he has tips around cruise lines, destinations and how to save money. Gary can be found on instagram @GaryBembridge
Ben and David
Cruise With Ben and David is another cruise channel that we love – we originally discovered them through their Scarlet Lady video – we really enjoy their style of video and they are entertaining to watch. Again, through Covid they have provided regular updates. We really enjoy their informative videos on different cruise lines they can be found on Instagram @cruisewith
Emma
Emma Cruises is another of the YouTube channels we follow for cruise news and updates, we discovered her after watching Ben and David’s video on the new Virgin Voyages ship – the Scarlet Lady. To be honest we have only watched a few of her videos, but we have found them very informative and entertaining. If you follow her on Instagram @EmmaCruises she occasionally has live streams!
Paul and Carole
Paul and Carole Love to Travel is another channel we love to watch – we initially discovered them through their Instagram @paulandcarole We find them really fun to watch and read, Brianna discovered recently they even have now have a TikTok account! They have videos reviewing, hotels, cruises and lately we have watched their touring caravan series.
Travel Blog Jamie
We also came across Jamie initially through Instagram @TravelBlogJamie, his YouTube channel is Travel Blog Jamie. We enjoy watching it as Jamie reviews a range of different accommodations and types of trips and he also has videos around lifestyle! He is really positive and supportive of his followers and we recommend engaging with his accounts if you get the chance!
These are our favourite five to watch at the moment!
Until next time stay safe and keep planning the next adventure!
Ireland & Elsewhere 