New Thing Week 17

New things week 17: Visit new places in Ireland.

So for week 17 of my new things to do I got stuck for ideas and time. I was working nights and in college during the day. I barely got time to see my bed, but then a friend gave me a great idea for a new thing to do. Since I was going to be traveling around the country for work I could write about all the new places in Ireland I got to visit. Some people I mentioned this to said it could be counted as cheating. I see where they are coming from since I didn't really go out of my way to visit these places, I was going to be going there anyway. But I also think that work was a great opportunity for me to get to see places in Ireland that I have never seen before. I have lived here 21 years and there is so much of the Country that I haven't seen yet. But with my job I get to travel to places I would never have thought of going before. So I don't think it's cheating.

I would have loved to have done something more exciting, but I literally went to work after college, got home and went to bed for a couple of hours and did it all again the next day. So anyway I am going to tell you all about the lovely scenery you will notice on the way to these remote locations. I will break it down day by day. I new about all the towns I visited, but I had never been near them until I traveled there with work.

On Saturday I traveled to Bridgetown County Wexford. This was my first time ever been in the South East of Ireland. Bridgetown is a small rural village in Wexford with a population of 747 people. It is home to the Glebe Nursery which is a supplier of blackberries to GSK for the production of Ribena. I never knew this until I did research on the town and I would never have researched it unless I had visited it. It has some amazing scenery and views. Unfortunately it has a lot of ghost estates and it was also the place I saw my first big ghost estate. This really made me think about the state of the country and how it looks to people who visit the village. I would hope that this didn't wouldn't make people think any less of the village and its beautiful scenery. It is surprisingly hard to find pictures of the scenery. This is the best I could do while still doing it justice. Well worth a visit if you are going to Wexford. It is only six kilometers from a fantastic fishing village called Kilmore Quay.

On Sunday we were in Manorhamilton, County Leitrim. Manorhamilton is a small town located in North of County Leitrim. This is Manorhamilton Castle, which is located on the way into the main village of Manorhamilton. It is a fantastic piece of scenery. I would really love to go back someday and visit it properly. The town itself is a quaint little town with very little to see in it. But it is still a lovely and friendly place to visit. I am starting to see why tourists really love rural Ireland.

Tang Community Centre

On Monday we were working in Drumshanbo, but I have been there before so I amn't going to write about there. This time when we traveled there we took a different route than usual as it was shorter with the new motor-way. We went through a lot of small villages and towns on the way, any of which I could write about, but the one that stood out most for me was the small village by the name of Tang. Now Tang when translated from its Irish name Teanga means tongue. Why the hell is a village called tongue you ask?? Well honestly I have no idea and I would be willing to bet that there aren't very many people alive that can answer that question seriously. It has a population of 680 people and the main road to Leitrim goes straight through it. If you blink you might miss the town. Once again though the scenery was beautiful and full of fields.

On Tuesday we passed through Tang again. Actually for the rest of the week we traveled along pretty much the same route, but turned at different areas or went further on. We passed through Tang everyday except Sunday. That day we went to Virginia, Co Cavan. This is a Beautiful town with a population of 1700 people. It was founded during the Ulster Plantations and it is named after Queen Elizabeth I. It is now known as a commuter town with very few industries situated in the actual town. The biggest being the Glanbia factory where they process milk. This factory supplies the Baileys company. The strangest fact about the town is that it is home to Irelands only Pumpkin festival. It is one of those Irish towns that is full of pubs, which is always a good thing when tourists are about.

On Thursday we traveled to Belturbet, Co Cavan. Now there isn't much more to be said on these small towns except for that the scenery is beautiful and they are all quite small. But at the same time they have their little quirks.

Thursday we travelled to Killeshandra, Co Cavan. This is a big enough town full of pubs, shops and houses. It is located near a lot of Rivers, lakes, woodlands and wetlands. Failte Ireland notes it as an angling centre of excellence.

Friday we traveled to Carraroe, Co Sligo. Now technically I have been to Sligo loads of times, but Cararroe is just outside of Sligo and I have never been their before so it still counts. It is located near a very big town so it is very busy and the scenery on the way is full of buildings and people. It's still a nice place to visit. The town itself has a lot of farmland and fields to see, it's quite beautiful.

I really enjoyed getting to see all these beautiful areas of Ireland even if I was absolutely exhausted by the time I got home on Firday. It was totally worth it. The only downside is that each area was 2-3 hour drive from Galway city.

Hope you guys like this and fell like commenting :) If you like this post and others of mine, please follow me to see my future posts :) Also anybody got any ideas for new things for me to try for the rest of the year? I would really appreciate any suggestions and try my best with them :)

Stardansheill o7