Ireland day 1281. Tuesday 01 April 2025- Banchory 1

Today’s summary	Drove to Banchory, Scotland, via the Larne to Cairnryan ferry. A long journey (11 hours end to end) but an enjoyable change from flying everywhere. Dinner at the Banchory Lodge Hotel, where we are staying for the next couple of nights before a funeral tomorrow.
Today’s weather	Bright and sunny all day, in both Ireland and Scotland. Moderate Southerly wind. Appx 14c

Today’s overview location (The blue line shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The red mark shows where we are) (No GPX today)

Commentary

Today was a bittersweet day.

We drove from Malahide to Banchory, in Scotland, taking the new route (for us) involving the Larne to Cairnryan ferry. As we were heading north, it made much more sense to do it this way than to try and go via Holyhead, our normal route. We also wanted the convenience of having a car on hand once we arrived, rather than having to faff around with flights and hire-cars.

I say it was a bittersweet day because we are here for the funeral of our friend Graham, which is being held at the Baldarroch crematorium, tomorrow. So it’s a sad occasion, which was made doubly so when I received a call whilst on the ferry this lunchtime, from another very close friend, who told me that his brother had died this morning. I had known Jonathan all his life, since he was born 63 years ago. He died in Croatia, which means that I will be returning to Dublin via Zagreb for his funeral on Friday. Making all the bookings of hotels and flights took some sorting out his evening.

Anyway, aside from these sadnesses, the drive, although long (around eleven hours, door to door) was very interesting and scenic. It was a beautiful sunny day and Scotland was looking simply lovely. It really lifted our spirits.

We eventually arrived at the Hotel about 7:30pm, ready for a decent dinner of Caesar salad, washed down with a nice beer, at 8pm. Anyway, I think I need to go and decompress now, and get ready for tomorrow’s travails. In many ways, I thing we will both be quite glad when this week is over.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Morning snack at the ferry terminal. The cake on the left is a Northern Ireland speciality called a “Fifteen”. So called because it contains fifteen of everything..	About to board the “European Highlander” – which whisked us to Scotland in just two hours.

All aboard the Trusty Yaris with his giant next-door neighbour	Coming into Cairnryan, with huge wind-turbine blades on the dock, ready for despatch

Looking north from the Old Military Road towards the Cairngorms (Val was driving at this point, I hasten to add!)	Banchory Lodge Hotel – it’s pretty good, and we got a nice Caesar salad and beer for dinner

View south from Cairn O’Mount on the Old Military Road to Banchory