Before The Gallaghers Go was a blog, the Gallaghers were already going.
And this summer, we went somewhere a little different.
We went home. Well… I went home.
Ash and the kids have been to Ireland before, but this was their first time experiencing it in the summer — and incredibly, my first summer back home in 18 years.
I’d almost forgotten just how good an Irish summer can be. Beautiful temperatures, ridiculously long days where it feels like the sun doesn’t want to go down, and an energy that’s hard to describe.
Throw in my little sister getting married, almost two weeks with family, a road trip around the country and an obscene number of full Irish breakfasts, and we had the makings of a pretty special Gallagher adventure.
We landed in Dublin on July 22 and spent our first three days exploring. We walked the city, demolished some incredible baked goods at Bread 41, stopped for drinks and generally enjoyed the craic.
Dublin in the summer just hits differently. The streets are buzzing, the pubs spill outside and the long evenings make you feel like there’s no rush to get anywhere.
But Dublin wasn’t really why we’d crossed the Atlantic.
We had a wedding to get to.
The Main Event
On Saturday, my little sister got married at Tankardstown House.
What a day.
The setting was beautiful, the bride and groom looked amazing, and the craic was at an all-time high.
The meal delivered too. A parsnip and curry soup was an unexpected highlight, the scallops were on another level, and my beef was about as tender as you could ask for. Passionfruit cheesecake finished things off nicely.
Then the party started.
The band was top class, the dance floor was pumping and eventually everyone stopped checking the time.
Some craic.
Which made Sunday morning slightly less enjoyable.
I was in full recovery mode.
Fortunately, there was a Day 2 party to prepare for, and sometimes there’s only one solution.
Hair of the dog.
Slowly but surely, life returned to my body. Pontius Pilot kicked things off before a DJ and saxophonist transported the whole place back to the ’90s.
Non-stop dance and trance.
The kind of music where the first few notes hit and suddenly an entire generation believes they’re 19 again.
The place was electric, and another amazing night bled into the wee hours.
Westward Bound
Monday morning began with another full Irish breakfast before we pointed the car west toward Westport, County Mayo.
Our timing could not have been better.
The day before, Mayo had won the All-Ireland Football Final and Sam Maguire was finally coming home after more than 70 years.
The entire county was buzzing.
Red and green everywhere. Flags flying. Supporters lining the roads. Every time we passed another group?
BEEEEEP!
The closer we got to Westport, the more it felt like we’d accidentally driven into one enormous county-wide party.
You can book hotels and plan itineraries.
You can’t plan something like that.
We checked into the Westport Coast Hotel, which ended up being one of our favorite stays of the trip.
Naturally, after two straight days of wedding celebrations, our idea of recovery was to immediately head into town for a mini bar crawl. The streets were packed with Mayo supporters and the pubs were overflowing.
What a time to be alive.
The following day we slowed things down. I made full use of the pool, sauna and steam room while the ladies enjoyed a spa day.
The weather had turned classic west coast — overcast, drizzly and moody — but we still headed out to see Croagh Patrick looming over Clew Bay.
We didn’t climb it. Maybe next time.
Although I’m saying that from the comfort of South Carolina.
Westport also gave me what might have been my favorite dinner of the trip. A three-course meal at the hotel’s rooftop restaurant with a pork belly starter that absolutely stole the show.
Even breakfast was a highlight.
By this point I’d consumed enough full Irish breakfasts to sustain a small village.
But who’s counting?
Bundoran
Leaving Westport, we headed north with one important stop along the way.
Bundoran.
The amusements there were a favorite pastime of my granny’s, and I have so many memories of that place tied to her. So it just felt right being there. Then something happened that couldn’t have been scripted much better.
Mum was playing one of the machines when up came…Five 7s. €300. Maybe it was just a lucky spin.
Or maybe she had an angel on her shoulder that afternoon.
Either way, Granny would have absolutely loved it.
Castle Living
With Mum €300 richer, we wisely left while we were ahead and continued to Lough Eske Castle.
We checked into our beautiful Garden Suite and immediately encountered our only real complaint. The flies. Boys, the flies were out. We battled through. A few pre-dinner pints helped.
Dinner was another three-course affair, but this time the main stole the show. The beef had been slow-cooked for hours and just melted in the mouth. And then there was the rosemary mashed potato.
I don’t know what they did to those potatoes or how much butter was involved. Frankly, I don’t want to know.
I just know I still think about them occasionally.
That night we opened a few bottles of red and enjoyed the moment. Family together. Staying in a castle in Donegal. Good wine. Full bellies.
The next morning brought another steam room and sauna session before Ash and I were somehow the only two interested in breakfast. Their loss. It became a little breakfast date — just us, another fry and some freshly carved ham that was absolutely sublime.
Then we packed up. This time, though, we weren’t heading somewhere new. We were going home.
And with that, it was time to leave the Republic behind and start making our way into the North — but the trip was far from over. We still had some of the most meaningful days ahead of us: time back home with family, a drive along one of the most beautiful coastlines in Ireland, a visit to something Finn McCool supposedly knocked together a few years ago, and two nights in Portrush to finish it all off.
The Gallaghers were heading north. And, as usual, there’d be plenty of food, a few pints, and no shortage of craic along the way.
To be continued…
