Now the screw was peeping, as the lag lay sleeping. Dreaming about his girl Sal. And that auld triangle went jingle-jangle. All along the banks of the Royal Canal – The Auld Triangle, The Dubliners
Luke Kelly drolled that ‘in the female prison there are 75 women and among them I wish I did dwell, and that auld triangle could go jingle-jangle all along the banks of the Royal Canal.’
And if you know this song, penned by Brendan Behan (and if you don’t then you’ve been missing out) you’ll walk along the Royal Canal in the north of Dublin singing it aloud.
Or if you’re cycling too as I have done, all the time hoping that the broken bottles wouldn’t puncture my tyres.
The Beardie Boys: The Dubliners
That was then, and this is now, and the announcement of the €12m scenic 130km Royal Canal Greenway is to be welcomed.
If you do the lot you’ll have chalked off 90 bridges, 30 locks, 17 harbours and four aqueducts.
And take in Co. Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath and Longford.
So as a preamble let’s get on with our Rainy Days and Songdays six of the best songs with Irish landmarks.
What a Corker!
Jim and Alan at the Phil Lynott statue in Dublin
As I was goin’ over the Cork and Kerry Mountains, I met with Captain Farrell and his money he was countin’. I first produced my pistol, and then produced my rapier. I said ‘stand and deliver, or the devil he may take ye – Whiskey in the Jar, Thin Lizzy
Musha rain, dum a doo, dum a da.
The Cork and Kerry Mountains have always held a special affection for me as the first travel assignment when a cub reporter in Reading.
Going over said mountains in our Citroen cars was not helped by a bout of seasickness going over on the Swansea-Cork ferry.
But nothing that the local tipple, Murphy’s Stout and the craic didn’t put right.
Low lie those fields
Those low-lying fields: Athenry
Low lie the Fields of Athenry, where once we watched the small birds fly. Our love was on the wing. We had dreams and songs to sing. It’s so lonely round the Fields of Athenry – Fields of Athenry, The High Kings
Lowing, or maybe braying, around those Fields of Athenry were our four donkeys which came with the rented cottage.
I can’t remember what la famiglia called the three others but mine was Oaty as in Donkey Oaty!
I was maybe just tilting at windmills.
And as for stealing Trevelyan’s corn… we just bought some from the Centra for the donkeys.
The Band is back together
Neat little town they call Belfast
In a neat little town they call Belfast, apprentice to tradeI was bound…, a sad misfortune came over me which caused me to stray from the land, far away from my friends and relations, betrayed by the Black Velvet Band – Black Velvet Band, Peaky Blinders
It was more good fortune that came over me… to take me away from my friends and relations to the States after university.
And work, no not on the Black Velvet Band’s pitch, Broadway, but Boston where I inevitably served tables at an Irish pub.
Where every night among the most requested songs was Black Velvet Band.
And yes, of course, like our gullible hero of the song ‘many an hour’s sweet happiness I spent I spent in this neat little town Belfast.
As for a black velvet band, or any colour for that matter, try as I may I never persuaded one… i wonder if she’ll be there when I return.
Where the Dark Mourne sweeps…
London’s got nothing on this
Oh Mary this London’s a wonderful sight with people here working by day and by night, they don’t sow potatoes, nor barley, nor wheat. But there’s gangs of them dogging for gold in the street. At least when I asked them that’s what I was told so I just took a hand at this diggin’ for gold. But for all that I found there I might as well be in the place where the Dark Mourne sweeps down to the sea – Mountains o’ Mourne, Don McLean
Mourne Mountains, Co. Down: It’s always a thrill to see the Mountains of Mourne, my Dear Old Mum’s home province, when driving either north or south.
Mountains of Mourne this sweeping range, has a special place in our hearts as the lullaby I would sing to Daddy’s Little Girl.
It was round by Brockagh’s corner
Harkin’s Bar, Donegal
It was down by Brockagh Corner one morning I did stray, I met a fellow rebel and this to me did say, he had orders from our captain to assemble at Dunbar. But how were we to get there without a car – The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem
Beockagh, Co. Donegal: And still on lullabies this gentle little ditty about the Irish War of Independence is an alternative to nursery rhymes.
If your mother is from Nationalistic north-west Donegal that is.
Well it got me through childhood… give three cheers to the Teasy and Johnson’s Motor Car.
Meeting of minds in Wicklow
Moore Wicklow please
Sweet vale of Avoca! How calm could I rest. In thy bosom of shade with the friends I love best. Where the storms that we feel in this cold world should cease. And thy hearts, like thy waters, be mingled on peace. – The Meetings of the Waters,John McCormack
And my beloved old homestead of Co. Wicklow and its poet laureate, Thomas Moore.
The Meetings is a family favourite, going back to the days when my Donegal Granny and Grandpa honeymooned here.
We would often return there in our Thirteen Years in Ireland on family day trips.
And skim stones which can be more of a danger sport than you might imagine.
Particularly if you’re that young boy on the other side of the bank who ducks just as a stone is jumping up out of the water.
Excitement is building to fever pitch ahead of the resumption of police drama Line of Duty on March 21 which allows us to explore police dramas around the world.
Hastings’ landscape
Europa living In Belfast
Belfast: I can’t find evidence but it must be true that Superintendent Ted Hastings is named after Belfast’s faves Hastings Hotels.
The seahorse on the wall of the Great Central Hotel is your compass wherever you go in the Northern Irish capital.
That is if you can drag yourself out of the Observatory bar atop the hotel where you get the best views.
And where James Nesbitt opens his Bloodlands detective drama.
Adrian Dunbar on the Graham Norton Show watches Vicky McLure at his Line of Duty mural
Hastings, aka Adrian Dunbar in Line of Duty has been immortalised.
As are all they take to their heart and allow to film in their city.
By having their image set as a mural… and be sure to take a black taxi tour around Belfast.
Check in at the Europa Hotel, part of the story, and get ready for a potted history of The Troubles.
Mob rules
Vegas baby
Once upon a crime in America: And everywhere there is an American dream there is a big job to realise that dream.
Though there was a time on board the MSC Preziosa when it was particularly slippy because of the Norwegian rain.
Photo album
And she looked as if she might fall overboard. I very nearly caught her too!
So opening up the album here are my Frostie’s Favourites and some of her creativity has even rubbed off on me. See if you can spot which are hers and which are mine?
The fjords
Which one’s the troll?
And She was up every morning bright and early to capture Norway’s waterfalls, inlets and try to spot trolls.
There was one still sleeping off the previous night’s wine, in our MSC Preziosa cabin room.
Bitesize Hamburg
Walking on air in Copenhagen
And when She wasn’t putting her feet up in the beach bar in tbe Rieperbahn she was snapping life around the port.
Amsterdam by George
Can I be trusted on a bike? In Amsterdam
And sometimes we make a rod for our own back because after staying at the Dylan Amsterdam where George and Amal stay then everywhere else is a disappointment.
Heart and Soll
White delight: In Soll
I fell for you Heart and Soll as Cole Porter sang. And while I was falling down the slopes She was getting the ski boots off and capturing the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser.
The power of Powerscourt
Towering talent… one of mine
And the two things that She loves more than anything in life and neither of them are me are in Wicklow that’s gardening and shopping.
Powerscourt has them both... and don’t my credit cards know it?
One of Hers
And one of Jose’s
And lastly here we are the picture of happiness as taken by our Portuguese guide, photography fan and pal Jose.
The rain in Northern Ireland is horizontal and the bar was 20 deep, pushing me to the apron of the canopy. My Sporting Weekend this weekend last year was Royal Portrush.
As golf reflects on its missed Open this weekend we all hark back to that magical week last year.
When the game’s oldest and greatest competition returned to Northern Ireland after 67 years.
Come rain or Shane
And Ireland’s own Shane Lowry crowned it all by taking the iconic Claret Jug.
The good news for Shane is that he is still Champion Golfer and will hold onto the trophy for another year.
I just about handed it back after I got the obligatory picture at Portrush.
The Co. Antrim course is credited with putting on one of the best Open Golf Championships in many a year in spite of the pelting rain.
Fantastic
The hospitality and the interactive golfing activities in the tents were second to none while the banter of the locals was relentless.
The course was set up wonderfully well with the intersections across the holes allowing you to take in multiple games.
Of course to get the best view you want to either get your steps out to see over the tall American in front of you.
Or just hunker down by the apron of the green.
Those trousers will dry themselves out.
Northern exposure
Though if you want to you can take shelter in the grandstands.
All of this, of course, makes us hanker after the return of spectators to the Royal and Ancient Game.
While Shane rightfully took the plaudits he would be first to accept that Northern Ireland was as big a winner over the week.
Sometimes we take for granted what we are used to.
And Northern Ireland is an old friend (jeez it’s the Murtys homeland from before the 18th century when they decamped to Scotland).
And one I usually passed through instead of stopping when I would drive from Aberdeen to Glasgow reporting on football matches.
Lounging around
Except for a boys’ weekend in Dunkeld, writing poetry for our Edinburgh Fringe Show. Now what rhymes with Glenturret?
New offers include Luxury for Less (from €99 per night), to the indulgent Highland Retreat (£499 for two nights). Rooms at Dunalastair Hotel Suites are from £129 per night.
And I now want to promote the splendours of Conrad Dublin, a hotel I’ve enjoyed on a function level but yet to laid down by head there.
Apart, of course, from when my head would hit the table through too much vino.
Among the goodies on offer in what they are packaging as Dream Away are the Picnic Package, the Literary Tour and Dublin City by Horsedrawn Carriage.
And seeing you’ve been locked away at home for months then why not treat the whole family to a night in the Conrad Family Room.
The interconnecting family room is €350 for the night for two adults and two children. See www.conraddublin.com.
To the lighthouse
Ciara O’Leary is all smiles at the lighthouse
So fine was the morning except for a streak of wind here and there that the sea and sky looked all one fabric, as if sails were struck high up in the sky, or the clouds had dropped down into the sky – Virginia Woolf
Lighthouses can be by contrast snug or solaces from people.
And Hook Lighthouse in Co. Wexford in the Republic of Ireland on June 29 is reopening its doors with the latter in mind.
Hook Lighthouse, the Lightkeepers Cafe and the outdoor dining option, the Seahorse, will all open seven days per week.
With last access to the grounds at 4pm and dining closes at 5pm.
Pre-book a free pass online at www.hookheritage.ie or take a guided tour by phoning (051) 397 055.
And a wee (well everything is wee in Northern Ireland) apology to my friends in that part of the world for overlooking them in Five Irish beaches.
So in an effort to redress the balance and because it’s the nearest place abroad that I can go without being quarantined on the way back, I give you Northern Ireland.
For Father’s Day.
Benchmark: With the Son and Heir in Belfast
Now the Murtys have been all over this part of the island and not just the present iteration.
The patriarch, ‘er me, took his first steps in this scribbling business at the Belfast Telegraph as an intern and got offered my first job on the Coleraine Chronicle.
While the Son and Heir studied at Queen’s before spending a year working in Belfast.
Weaving a tapestry
We were though merely following in the footsteps of weaver Patrick Murty of Co. Armagh who had come to Glasgow in the 1770s.
All of which blether brings me onto this offer around Giants Causeway around where we spent a family holiday.
And walked across the Carick-a-Rede rope bridge with the Son and Heir, now a full head taller than me, on my shoulders.
A sail at sunrise to catch your own breakfast on the Causeway Coast; Catch & Sea, and you’ll set sail from Portrush Harbour into the rising sun over the Mull of Kintyre and Rathlin Island.
You’ll get a rundown on the history of the area and the cave where Robert the Bruce took inspiration from a spider reweavung his web – to try, try, try again.
Catch of the day
You’ll take your catch to a local chef.
They will lay out a home/-cooked breakfast with your fish as the centrepiece.
All of which meanderings brings me back to Hotel Westport’s plans for the revived summer season.
Estate of the nation
Fill up my bowl
Westport Estate stretches to 400 acres – plenty of room for social distancing there. And it is also at the heart of the Wild Atlantic Way https://www.wildatlanticway.com/home.
And it is overlooked by St Patrick’s mountain Croagh Patrick.Which that very same Mum never tired of telling us she walked up barefooted and without a good breakfast when she was pregnant.
I let her off because it was my brother she had on board.
Westport is an ideal set-up to showcase what I believe will be a new direction in how we take our holidays… slow travel.
Carry on camping
Round the campfire
Take their Family Bush Camp which will give families the chance to reconnect with nature through bush crafting and survival activities.
Packages start at €79 pps for Bed & Breakfast and bookings can be secured at www.hotelwestport.ie.
The upside of our clamour for more space in our post-lockdown holiday is that we will reacquaint ourselves with all those great country houses.
Where families can run around the corridors to their hearts’ content.
Westport House is an 18th-century manor house also on Westport Estate and just a stone’s throw away from the hotel.
Visitors can stroll through the grounds and enjoy the gardens and take in the 3.5k looped Lakeland and woodland walk.
House about that?
Caravan of love
The house itself is open to day-visitors and they will be able to immerse themselves in 300 years of Irish heritage.
Camping and caravan breaks will be in vogue when we all get out on the road again.And you can take advantage too in the onsite 3* park on the Westport House Estate? Visit www.westporthouse.ie.
For those for whom gastronomy is central to their holiday experience.And the Irish food experience is rightly celebrated around the world then here’s some more good news.
The owner and head chef of Cian’s on Bridge Street, Cian Hayes, will be opening a pop-up restaurant experience in Hotel Westport this summer.
If you have been keen to stretch your legs, and you will be fitter than you think with all those laps around your neighbourhood.Then you will be eager to get out on the Wild Atlantic Way.
Ride on!
Can I cycle for ever?
And for cyclists then Clew Bay Bike Hire have a fleet of two-wheelers with your name on them.
Guests at Hotel Westport can truly experience the wild Atlantic west by hiring bikes on site.And then cycling an exclusive and accessible 10km loop through the estate, the harbour, and the town.
And if you’re feeling ambitious, why not take on the breathtaking Great Western Greenway?
And meanwhile in the Disunited Kingdom
I’ll let the pictures from Bank Holiday Weekend in the United Kingdom.Where England has different rules to lockdown than Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland speak for themselves.
