Few pictures from Antrim and Down (56k Warning)

[Galen]

I just came across these pictures the other day. All of them were taken last summer after a road trip around County's Down and Antrim in Northern Ireland with my girlfriend, who took the majority of the pictures as I seem to suffer from spontanious bouts of Parkinsons. Anyway, perhaps it will give a bit of good publicity to Northern Ireland. Some people have asked me if there are parts similar to Sarajevo in Bosnia for example, I hope to show you there's more to the North than that stereotype.

These first few pictures were taken atop a mountain in Down just outside the city of Newry. This area is very close to the border (A few miles behind me from where I'm taking the pictures) Infact, I feel the pictures describe themselves better.

A sleeping mailman in his van, easily distinguished as the red, french van on the landscape

A quick drive up the main road visible in the above pictures took us to Newcastle, a small, coastal village in County Down. The beach didn't really interest me as they all look the same. I was more interested in the large forest park on the side of the mountain west of the village. I plan to go back this summer as I only explored around 6 mile of the trails. So more pictures then.

Impressive forest coverage, it's not often you see this here.

Quaint footbridge among other things

I had to get in the river to take this picture, it looked too good to miss. It did however make me look like a fool, but it was worth it.

Old bridge a bit further back downstream, again river

The next few pictures are from the north County Antrim coastline. Beautiful day it was too. There's a rope-bridge across a huge drop. Sadly I didn't get any pictures from it as I feared that in a moment of madness, I'd drop the camera. bah. I hope to get a few pictures from there this summer too.

I like the clearness of the water in this picture. It made me feel like I was not in Antrim anyway...

My favorite picture and my current wallpaper. I can't really describe it, then again, it doesn't need any.

And backward from the other side

So there you have it. A few pictures from both counties. I do have a few more, especially of the pictures from the coastline. Perhaps I'll post them later.

Any questions and I'd be happy to answer.

 

[smileynev]

Where the hell is that, New Jersey?

 

[theacoustician]

Do you guys ever get any blue skys there? It always seems to be cloudy.

Otherwise, that's some really pretty landscape.

 

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

wow, thats some mighty fine countryside
The wife & I mean to visit Ireland one of these days

 

[Galen]

Where the hell is that, New Jersey?

Oh smileynev
That actually did make me laugh though

 

[Galen]

Do you guys ever get any blue skys there? It always seems to be cloudy.

Otherwise, that's some really pretty landscape.

We get blue skies often in Summer, though August/September tend to be our best months. It's hard to predict the weather here, it can clear up really quick or piss with rain in a few minutes.

 

[Galen]

wow, thats some mighty fine countryside
The wife & I mean to visit Ireland one of these days

Good stuff, give me a shout if you do. Either myself or my friend (mainly him though) know pretty much every corner in this country

 

[itburnswhenipee]

My god... there's no suburban sprawl. It's beautiful.

 

[Galen]

My god... there's no suburban sprawl. It's beautiful.

That would be considered quite dense sprawl for that area considering that Newry is a major city. A few miles out you'd be lucky to find 1 or 2 houses in a few square miles.

 

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

That would be considered quite dense sprawl for that area considering that Newry is a major city. A few miles out you'd be lucky to find 1 or 2 houses in a few square miles.

I could get used to that sort of thing

 

[itburnswhenipee]

That would be considered quite dense sprawl for that area considering that Newry is a major city. A few miles out you'd be lucky to find 1 or 2 houses in a few square miles.

Housing must be fucking expensive, though, and I suppose all the land has been owned by the same families for the last five-hundered years.

 

[CletusJones]

That would be considered quite dense sprawl for that area considering that Newry is a major city. A few miles out you'd be lucky to find 1 or 2 houses in a few square miles.

serios? The suburb I live in appears to be more dense than that major city.

I so want to live in the country where there are no other people.

 

[Galen]

Housing must be fucking expensive, though, and I suppose all the land has been owned by the same families for the last five-hundered years.

Land free's up gradually as many farmers are giving up large packages of their land. It's not all that expensive, certainly nowhere near as expensive as the same package of land in North America or other parts of Northern Ireland. I'm sure you could pick up a Farmhouse with a large amount of land for very little, the only problem is commuting, it's a good 2 hour drive from Belfast (1 hour by train).

 

[JAXvillain]

nice pics! which house does Bono live in???

 

[Galen]

serios? The suburb I live in appears to be more dense than that major city.

I so want to live in the country where there are no other people.

It is nice, yes, especially as there is very little noise/light pollution etc. As I said though, unless you're willing to drive everywhere it's not a very good idea to live in the countryside.

 

[Galen]

nice pics! which house does Bono live in???

I think he lives in Kerry which is about ~90 miles south of Newry (Don't quote me on that). Peirce Brosnan lives up the road from me though.

 

[itburnswhenipee]

Land free's up gradually as many farmers are giving up large packages of their land. It's not all that expensive, certainly nowhere near as expensive as the same package of land in North America or other parts of Northern Ireland. I'm sure you could pick up a Farmhouse with a large amount of land for very little, the only problem is commuting, it's a good 2 hour drive from Belfast (1 hour by train).

oh. So there's no jobs then. Although, I guess an hour commute by train wouldn't be too bad... provided the trains are anything like the trains in Holland.

Oh, and kudos to Ireland for having a mass transit system that's faster than the highways. Alternately, shame on Ireland for having such a highway system so poor that it's faster to travel by rail.

 

[JAXvillain]

my great grandfather was a fob from ballygurk...ever been there?

 

[Galen]

oh. So there's no jobs then. Although, I guess an hour commute by train wouldn't be too bad... provided the trains are anything like the trains in Holland.

Oh, and kudos to Ireland for having a mass transit system that's faster than the highways. Alternately, shame on Ireland for having such a highway system so poor that it's faster to travel by rail.

Newry is the base for a huge Pharmaceutical factory and research facility, so I'm sure if you could find a job in those sectors. As well as that Dublin is the opposite direction by train and takes the same amount of time to get to there as it does to Belfast. There's a lot of work in both places as most qualified students prefer to emigrate. I myself intend to emigrate once I'm done paying back the debts that I will incur during my training though experience can only be a good thing.

The train can be fast or slow. There is a specific batch of trains that will only stop at a few large stops, not every hole in the hedge and thus time spent on it is drastically cut.

 

[Galen]

my great grandfather was a fob from ballygurk...ever been there?

Ballygurk is in Co. Derry I think. I have only been to Derry once though, maybe I'll be able to swing by in Summer and pick up a few pictures.