The Ballybunion thread

snow scorpion

Rider,

I was looking at your pics a little more closely.

Main Street is now one-way all the time?



So if you're going from Doon to Ahafona, you have to take Church Road?

RiderOnTheStorm

snow scorpion wrote: »

One way? So how do people come back from the golf course or cemetery?

part of Sandhill road (from Supervalu to Rin Bhui, going in that direction) is one way. Coming back from Golf / graveyard, you would turn right onto Kit Ahern road and go past the sports centre, and come out at the Garda station. It mames that part of town a big circle.

RiderOnTheStorm

snow scorpion wrote: »

So if you're going from Doon to Ahafona, you have to take Church Road?

Yes, Church road is still both-way traffic, but the road over the ladies beach / Cliff House Hotel is one way (heading out to Doon), so when coming in from Doon, you have to turn left and go down Church road. When coming down main st, you can go straight on to Sandhill Rd, or turn right at Cissy Macs to go to Cliff House.

grenache

Ballybunion - great memories of great childhood spent there. Its a pity the local authorities have done so little to improve the place amenity-wise over the last 20 years. A sports centre here and a one way steet there will only go so far. How about an indoor water arena for when the weather is bad and beach outings not feasible, something similar to the Aqua Dome in Tralee perhaps?

Another thing i'd like to commment on is the troublesome 'Limerick' crowd who take over Ballybunion at certain times of the year. Its important to include the word City after Limerick. Us county folk are a different breed of citizen

snow scorpion

Welcome to the thread, grenache. I hope you'll stop by here often.

And welcome to Ballybunion ... although I guess Limerick folk would be coming down the Doon Road. (But I don't have any pics coming into town from the Doon Road ... ... next time I get over there, please God. )

grenache

snow scorpion wrote: »

Welcome to the thread, grenache. I hope you'll stop by here often.

And welcome to Ballybunion ... although I guess Limerick folk would be coming down the Doon Road.]

Yes i'll pop in now and again no doubt, i hope to be back there for the batchelor festival. Ah yes the Doon road, the road from the Listowel, seeing the mobile homes and smelling the sea air gets a kid very excited!

RiderOnTheStorm

grenache wrote: »

Ballybunion - great memories of great childhood spent there.

i join snow in welcoming granache. :-) I hope you will be a regular visitor & contributor here. I, for one, dont care where people come from. If they love Ballyb, then they are welcome and an asset here.

Of course, Ballyb being a summer town, it does have a very lively athmosphere and there is often trouble, i'm afraid. sunshine (when we get it), drink, and population that went from 1500 in winter to approx 8,000 in summer, all makes for a volitole mix. 99% of the time, things are great, and the craic is brill. But sometimes things get out of hand. There are always some that just want to ruin things. I hope I have not painted all Limerick people as troublemakers. Folk from Limerick are only part of the influx of holidayers to Ballyb. It is grossly unfair to say that they are always causing trouble, or that they are all the same ..... some of my best friends etc :-)

RiderOnTheStorm

For Snow, grenache, and all lovers of Ballyb, here are some new photos (taken last evening):

This is that deep & narrow cove with the steep cliffs on both sides.


and the same cove, looking at the cliff on the left (from path on the right)

RiderOnTheStorm

The 9 Daughters Hole.
I knew that (according to the story) 9 daughters of some chieftan were thrown in here, because they had the nerve to fall in love with 9 vikings (that had been captured when the vikings raided onetime), but I didnt know until recently, that the 9 vikings were thrown in too!



and looking down from a different angle, we can see that the hole has an arch (actually several) at water level.

RiderOnTheStorm

Nuns Beach
Awkward to get down to. There used to be steps, but these wore away. Now there is a steep slope and a rope for help.


and looking back along the cliff walk:


Along the cliff walk, they have put a fence up to help prevent accidents (falling into the sea!).

snow scorpion

I like the pics, Rider.

The Nine Daughters' Hole always makes me a little nervous. When I was a kid my dad used to walk around the edge of that thing (this was back in the 1970s before the fence was up.)

I've been meaning to ask: how exactly do you get down to the Nuns' Strand. I saw people down there last summer but I couldn't see where to go down. I don't think I'd like to be down there when the tide comes in. I assume the water comes all the way in?

dominic byrne

is mickey joes pub still there in ballybunion.

thanks dominic byrne toronto

TargetWidow

dominic byrne wrote: »

is mickey joes pub still there in ballybunion.

thanks dominic byrne toronto

It is, but the great man himself passed away a few years ago so it 's under new management. It's Bennetts now. Mikey made a great cup of coffee in his day.

dominic byrne

thanks a lot for the reply i was also wondering are the curtin family still living on cliff rd i was friends with that family in the 70s.

thanks

snow scorpion

Time for another set of YouTube insights - this time who's looking at a video of Ahafona.

Europe
Ireland
UK
Germany
Poland
Netherlands
Spain
Portugal
Lithuania
Estonia

USA
New York
Massachusetts
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
New Jersey
Michigan
Illinois
Texas
Arizona
Oregon
California

Asia
Pakistan


Lithuania, Estonia, and Pakistan? Interested in Ahafona? I wasn't expecting those.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVVs814bQ60

RiderOnTheStorm

dominic byrne wrote: »

thanks a lot for the reply i was also wondering are the curtin family still living on cliff rd i was friends with that family in the 70s.

thanks

not sure if there are still Curtins here. There is a Curtins shop on Doon road (with 2 petrol pumps outside) just up from the Secondary School. there is a photo of that shop in this thread somewhere.... not too old/long ago. I posted it there myself. If you cant find it, I will dig it out again. I will also ask around and see if there are any Curtins left here. I am only a blow in (here 4 years) so I dont know everyone yet.

snow scorpion

271 views in the last 24 hours?!



The old thread is really starting to pick up some momentum.

I don't know who you folks are out there checking in every day, but keep up the good work.

RiderOnTheStorm

snow scorpion wrote: »

I've been meaning to ask: how exactly do you get down to the Nuns' Strand. I saw people down there last summer but I couldn't see where to go down. I don't think I'd like to be down there when the tide comes in. I assume the water comes all the way in?

Its a bit difficult to get down there. In years gone by there were steps in the cliff (I think they were steps cut into the soil / ground, but I may be wrong). The steps are now gone, and there is a steep slope to the beach. There was a rope there last year, to help with some of the slippy/tricky parts. Not sure if its still there. I will get a pic soon and highlight the way down.

Depending on the time of the year, the tide can come in all the way to the base of the cliffs there. Any high tide will cut off your exit, however, if you are not in the 'bay' that has the exit slope.

TargetWidow

Mind yourself going down to the Nun's strand if you do decide to do it. The Sea & Cliff Rescue get called out on average once or twice every summer to get someone down who decided half way down it wasn't as easy as it looks!! Even a few locals have been caught out like this. I myself being horribly afraid of heights have made myself content for 36 years to look down and admire it from a height!

TargetWidow

I really fancy a good boogie. I'd love to go out in the old stomping ground of my youth but alas they have demolished the Atlantic Hotel. I'd try the Q-Club (now Rumours?) but I'm over 16! Any suggestions for a gal who wants to shake her bootie in a chart (not heavy duty "dance/skobey") environment?

BrianCalgary

I just spent a week there and it was magnificent. The people we met were wonderful, the beach was great, the accomodation was outstanding.

Cant say enough good about the place.

RiderOnTheStorm

TargetWidow wrote: »

... Any suggestions for a gal who wants to shake her bootie in a chart (not heavy duty "dance/skobey") environment?

sorry Target, I dont dance too much anymore, so I have very little idea whats out there. There is always JDs, thats a lively spot. And there is Monday Night Madness (lots of pubs gettin in on it now). Stroll down the street on Mon night and if you see something you like, go for it!

RiderOnTheStorm

BrianCalgary wrote: »

I just spent a week there and it was magnificent. The people we met were wonderful, the beach was great, the accomodation was outstanding.

Cant say enough good about the place.

really glad you enjoyed the place. I hope the weather was good for ya! It can be a bit dull otherwise.

BrianCalgary

RiderOnTheStorm wrote: »

really glad you enjoyed the place. I hope the weather was good for ya! It can be a bit dull otherwise.

I had just spent two weeks in Italy with high 30's and intense sunshine. The overcast and high teens was the perfect tonic. The sun even came out for an afternoon which we spent at the beach.

carchaeologist

Theres a two page piece on ballybunion in this weeks kerrys eye on pages 44 and 45,just a small writeup really.

For those on the net go to www.kerryseye.com

snow scorpion

Hey, another new kid for the thread!

Welcome, TargetWidow. Interesting name.

TargetWidow wrote: »

Mind yourself going down to the Nun's strand if you do decide to do it. The Sea & Cliff Rescue get called out on average once or twice every summer to get someone down who decided half way down it wasn't as easy as it looks!! Even a few locals have been caught out like this. I myself being horribly afraid of heights have made myself content for 36 years to look down and admire it from a height!

I didn't know it was dangerous going down there. Kinda throws a crimp in my plans.

snow scorpion

I figured there would be some surprises in the YouTube Insights for the "Listowel Road into Ballybunion" video - it has the most views of all the videos I put up. All six regions of the world have looked in on this video.


South America
Brazil

Mideast
Israel

Europe - 12 countries
Ireland
UK
Poland
Slovakia
Italy

Germany
Netherlands
France
Czech republic
Denmark

Spain
Norway

Africa
Ghana

Asia
China
Thailand

US - 29 states
New York
New Hampshire
Connecticut
New Jersey
Pennsylvania

Maryland
Virginia
North Carolina
South Carolina
Georgia

Florida
Mississippi
Alabama
Kentucky
Tennessee

Ohio
Illinois
Michigan
Minnesota
Iowa

Wisconsin
Texas
Oklahoma
Colorado
Arizona

Nevada
Oregon
Washington
California

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpyNxyaPWvg

RiderOnTheStorm

hi all, what news?

I dont have much news here on the ground. Weather has been terrible here in Ballyb. Its often good here when bad elsewhere (even as close as 5 miles away it can be raining, and sunny here). But this Aug, we have had twice the usual monthly rainfall, and Aug is only half over! We could have 4 times the amount by the end of the month...lol

This Aug hasnt been as busy as others in prev years. Perhaps its the weather, maybe its the recession they are all talking about here.

One small bit of news. There is Chip Wars in Ballyb at the moment (its gotten to Cold-War status now, but it was jumpin a couple of weeks ago). A new chipper opened at beginning of Aug. Marios, on main st. Opposite Railway / Cissy Mc / 3 Lanterns. Well, its a run-o-the-mill chipper... serving pizza, kebabs, burgers, etc. They were doing a roaring trade. There were queues out the door at weekends, and the first Sat AND Sunday, they sold out all the food !! Demand was that high. Well, some of the other chippers were not happy. There was shouting on the street and customers of Marios were grilled (pardon the pun) and challenged in the pubs by other chipper owners when they mentioned that they might be going to 'that' chipper. After some investigation it turns out Marios may have pulled a fast one. He only had planning permission for a sit-down resteurant and didnt have one for the take-away part! They were brough to court and he was told to stop serving the take-aways. (he had been serving up to that point, so I guess he made some money). I wonder if he can get the necessary documentation in time for the Listowel Race Week? ha ha ha Also, there was a mention that some of the other chippers may not have planning permission / licence for the sit-down part of their resteraunts.... I wonder if they have shot themselves in the foot?

More pics to come when weather improves. I have plans for some shots of Nuns Beach (the way down to it) and the Doon road into town (requested some time ago, sorry for delay)

snow scorpion

Hey, Rider, good to hear from you again.

Sorry to hear about the rain. With August being so wet, maybe the autumn will be nice and dry. (That will make the farmers happy.)

I'm looking forward to seeing the photos of the way down to the Nun's Strand.

Let me ask you something: Is there anywhere in Ballybunion that has a wi-fi hotspot?

RiderOnTheStorm

hi Snow.
Weather is ok today (and yesterday). I might get down to the Nuns strand today.

AFAIK there is wi fi in the Golf Hotel and in the Golf Clubhouse. There are a couple of other places where there is wireless internet connection, but I dont think its free & open to the public (they may be ok if you ask first). PM me if you want these other names.