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I love the songs of Leonard Cohen and the title of this piece is one of his most famous songs. A gentle sad song of goodbye. Cohen is generally regarded as the bedsit troubadour, the man who sings sad depressing songs for lonely over-emotional students. In fact, I personally find him uplifting, life-affirming and thought provoking but that’s not the point of this blog.
With no plans for Halloween and never having been North of the border I was delighted to be invited to Derry for the Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival by the Derry Visitor & Convention Bureau. I was greatly looking forward to this trip and I have to tell you it surpassed my greatest expectations. Derry is a beautiful city and I would highly recommend at least a 2 night stop to anybody but particularly for anyone with an interest in the history of the troubles in Northern Ireland.
Recently I was invited on a familiarization trip around Cavan, Leitrim, Meath, Mayo and Roscommon by the lovely people at Irish Country & Manor House Hotels (CMV), Ireland’s premier group of independent hotels. I was very interested to discover this particular part of the country as apart from Co. Mayo the counties included would not be on the typical tourist route which tends to stick very much to the beautiful coast lines of Ireland.
After spending the night in a very comfortable hotel room provided by the brand new Clarion Hotel in Cork my colleague Sylvie and I caught an early morning flight from Cork to Dublin with Aer Arann.
This fam trip, organized by the Derry Visitor and Convention Bureau, focuses on Derry City in Northern Ireland with special emphasis on the Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival. It takes in hotels in and around Derry as well as the city’s key attractions and is not just for tour operators but also for journalists and members of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
As expected from a Halloween fam trip, our journey begins on a dark and windy night in West Cork, when my colleague Genevieve and I set out from the office to make our way to Kinsale where we will spend the night before the big trip. Big in so far, as it is a long journey from our corner of West Cork to Derry. There being no flights from Cork to Derry we have to catch an early morning flight (7 am) from Cork to Belfast and then take a 2 hour bus ride across Northern Ireland. After a quick stop in Cork to pick up some essential party accessories (there is a Halloween fancy dress party on Wednesday night on the itinerary) we arrive in Kinsale around 2 hours later. I have never been to Kinsale but don’t really get to see much of it as it’s dark when we arrive. We check into our hotel, Actons, which nicely have given us a complimentary room for the night, and only venture out to get something to eat as it’s late and both of us are starving. The food is lovely but definitely on the expensive side, as Kinsale is gourmet capital of Ireland.
Here at myguideIreland we have a social committee to organise events throughout the year for our colleagues which gives us an excuse 
to let our hair down (those of us who still have hair that is!). This weekend, the fantastic committee (yes I am a member; how did you guess?) has organised a two night stay in a little town in County Kerry, called Kenmare. We will stay in some self-catering houses in a development called Inbhear Sceine for two nights while enjoying some activities together and perhaps a party on Saturday night.
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