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The Ballybunion thread

snow scorpion

I was in Ballybunion 20 years ago and have happy memories of the village.

I'd love to hear what it's like today and how much it has changed.

The only recent picture I've seen on the world wide interweb is this:

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snow scorpion

190th & 205th - you guys are in my neck of the woods.

fintonie

snow scorpion wrote: »

190th & 205th - you guys are in my neck of the woods.

yep ooooooooooo how I miss nickys pizza do you know is it still there (sorry if I am of thread here)

snow scorpion

fintonie wrote: »

yep ooooooooooo how I miss nickys pizza do you know is it still there (sorry if I am of thread here)

I'll check tomorrow. There were two big fires up there about seven weeks apart: http://www.bronxnewsnetwork.org/2009/10/fire-guts-14-stores-in-norwood.html
http://boogiedowner.blogspot.com/2009/12/another-fire-devastates-norwoods-204th.html

We're getting up to 16 inches of snow today. :eek:

TargetWidow

Rider2 wrote: »

anyway.... TW: there is a series of Pilates classes starting in the leisure centre soon. Registration is tomorrow (Wed night) @ 8.15
I dont know if they do 1:1 tuition, but it would be a good place to go to find out!

Ah bugger! I only just checked the thread now at 10pm, that class would be over now. Will investigate in the morning when dropping her highness off at creche. Thanks Rider.

Interyurauldone

Just wondering if any of the Ballybunion locals have any update on the half marathon?

Many people entered? Big crowd expected? The course looks pretty challenging!

Rider2

Interyurauldone wrote: »

...Many people entered? Big crowd expected? The course looks pretty challenging!

Lots of folk signing up .... a few hundred so far, i heard. And lots expected to sign up at the last minute. So, if you are interested, better get in sooner rather than later.

Yes, the course seems tough (to me). Lots of ups and downs . If the weather is good on the day, it will really help.

I am going to stick to the 10k myself....

snow scorpion

Rider2 wrote: »

So, if you are interested, better get in sooner rather than later.

Why, Rider? Is there a limit on the size of the field?

snow scorpion

The 2014 Winter Games to be held in .... Ballybunion?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-0u3SO2YLs

jezzag

Snow Scorpion - that is one of the coolest Ballybunion related events I've ever seen! Closely matched by this of course, which I had the luck to witness live (and no one back in England believed me until the video appeared on YouTube a year or two later):

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

Rider2

snow scorpion wrote: »

Why, Rider? Is there a limit on the size of the field?

no, no limit on field size. There might be a limit on complemantry t-shirts though !

Rider2

jezzag wrote: »

... no one back in England believed me until the video appeared on YouTube a year or two later...

thx Jezz .. thats my video. I wanted to record it for posterity, as people will just not believe it .... I think it was the last terrier race ever (or maybe 2nd last) . Glad I got it on video (apologies for the quality, it was taken as a series of mini-movies on a digital camera, not on a digital video-camera.

The terrier race was part of the Ballybunion (International) Bachelor Festival. It was a great week of party / events / dance / etc, in years gone by, but it was getting quieter and smaller as years went by. It wasnt held last year, or the year before.

All these things have their day and pass away . The Sea Rescue annual Raft Race is no-more. The cinema is long closed, and so is the dog track. There are only 2 hotels in town now. But sometimes somethign new comes along. We have a Leisure Centre (with pool!) now, and a theatre! There is a Half-Marathon on Easter Sat so that will attract a lot of attention.

And there is Monday Madness .... i guess not all new things are to everyones liking! (i think its great fun)

jezzag

I'm just glad you managed to capture some of it! Was watching with my father in law after a few pints in Mikey Joe's laughing at the madness of it all (one of my many "Quiet Man" experiences...). I used to like the Bachelor festival, shame it stopped. As per all the other things. Been thinking for a few years now that BallyB needs a reboot - a bit of new energy and enthusiasm to make it more attractive to those who don't see its beauty at face value.

Why did the raft race stop? Health and safety or just lack of enthusiasm?

Rider2

jezzag wrote: »

... Been thinking for a few years now that BallyB needs a reboot - a bit of new energy and enthusiasm to make it more attractive to those who don't see its beauty at face value...

my thoughts exactly

...Why did the raft race stop? Health and safety or just lack of enthusiasm?

not H&S (for once!) or anything related to resource, time etc. I think it was just lack of enthusiasm. For the last raft race there were more support boats in the water than rafts!

(actually, come to think of it, that was my first time in a support boat at that race ... and i videod the last terrier race .... .OMG !! ITS ME !! I am causing the end of all these traditions !! lol)

If anyone has any ideas to re-vitalise the town ... then post them here. I know a few of the town merchants & shakers look in from time to time.

jezzag

Where do I start? Clear up the mess, a couple of decent eateries - one destination (perhaps on the beach where the old seaweed baths are), one more family friendly, would be a start. Some of the current places are good - but expensive. BallyB needs places that people want to travel to go to. How about a proper pizzeria? Need to keep the golfers in the town instead of helicoptering / bussing in and out. There's a start.

Celtise

Hi all, been ages since I popped in. Terrible memory but cheers me up when I do and especially given my extended breaks away from the place I call home.

Oh wow at the snow pics, I was snowed in myself up the country so never got to head home and see it all! Actually haven't been down yet this year after a flying visit at Christmas because I'm moving again soon.

Love the drive through town vids, my house is on it.

Also, I think I was at that terrier race, I do remember going to ones during the bachelor fest and my neighbour was big into that kind of thing so I probably went with him.

To be honest, trying to open anything new for seasonal locations just doesn't really work in my opinion. The place I currently live is very seasonal for different times/reasons and at the start of every new cycle half the things that opened the previous cycle have died off. Especially in this economic climate.

Qwerty27

Am coming down from Dublin for the race on Easter Saturday and was planning on spending the weekend there but by the sounds of things theres not much to do about the place or any decent places to go for a meal afterwards. Has anyone any recommendations of somewhere to stay or what to do in the town? Also if I come down on Good Friday will the place be like a ghost town?!

Rider2

Well, a lot of places will be closed on Good Friday, like most towns in Ireland. All the pubs and shops will be anyway. Best thing is to come down on Thurs evening and get settled in and see the lie of the land. On GF you can go for a walk on the beach (or a surf, or swim if you are brave enough). Explore the country side or take a leaisurly stroll around town to find somewhere you can go the next day. There will be lots of folk wandering around on the Fri. Do you know anyone in Ballyb? If you do, there is sure to be a session in someones house on GF night, cards, music, drink & craic. Get yourself invited somewhere!

For a good walk try going out to the Golf Course, and there is a lovely walk from the left of the club house (just go under the arch) across to the beach. Or there is an unusual walk from the Cashen Car park (just go straigh on past the Golf Club to the car park at the end), where (when the tide is out) you can stroll across to the dunes and see a man-made rock pool that fills with water when the tide is in. Good place for a dip when its too hot! The Cashen Car park is also home to 2 notable sites of medieval / stoneage significence. I heard recently, that the Cashen was to be the site of the trans atlantic airport, but Dev was from Clare, so it went to Shannon.

Closer to Ballyb, on the mens beach, there is the Black Rocks. When the tide is out (this Easter this is abut 3pm) they are well worth an explore. Just be carefull! They rocks are slippy and sharp ! Opposite the Black Rocks is Yellow Point (look for the remains of a wall by an old concrete pipe). If the sand is washed away, there are great fossils to be seen in the bedrock.
On the Ladies Beach the cliff is worth a good look (if you are a geoligist). Or try the cliff walk (start of this walk is halfway down the Glen road ... the hill road that goes down to the seaweed baths...are these open Easter w/e?). That goes along the top of this cliff all the way around past the 9 Daughters Hole and you can see the Virgins rock (a big arch'ed island in the sea), just near the Nuns Strand. If the tide is out, you can go down to the nuns strand via a steep & wet slope that has a rope secured nearby for assistance. This is not reccomended if you are on your own, or have never done it before. Get an experienced friend to show you!

There is the Runballybunion race on Sat so there will be lots of life around then. I know you are running Qwerty, but others may like to just sit by the side of the road and watch the Half Marathon straggleres come in. After the race there will be great craic in the pubs & clubs (The Golf Hotel nite club Roumers, and JD's & Cashen are good dancing venues too).

Not sure what is on in the theatre that w/e. Will have to check & get back to you (or you can find out on your GF stroll around!). The leisure centre is open, and so is the library & community centre. The library is a quaint old church that was transported brick by brick from nearby Ratoo.

I think a trip to the Golf Club could be good, you never know when someone wants a 4th to make up a team.

Pubs (for thurs sat & sun night)
Railway bar (trad pub with music often)
Mikey Joes (good pub, loved by the locals)
Bunker (music, karakoe, pool table & good restaurant upstairs)
Cashen & JDs (music & dancefloor, good mix of young & old)
Badger Kellys (newly done up & good food too)
Olde Attic (juke box & pool table, younger crows early in the evening, older later .... my local during the summer!)
The Exchange (great pub, lots of life & craic, & smallest beer garden in the world!)
Hartey Costellos (lovely lovely pub...)
Kilcooleys (great trad pub, great restaurant & pub grub, award winning chief, oldest pub in Ballyb?)

Restaurants:
Black Rock Cafe
Kilcooleys
Bunker
The Exchange
Hanrahans

Most pubs will do pub lunches, and there are a few good chippers in town too..... Chineese on East End, beside Country Flavours, an Indian on main st, Marios pizza opposite the Golf Hotel,

Check out Cissie Macs, the oldest toy shop in Ballyb. Or see the Marconi Stone where Marconi sent the first wireless voice radio braodcast across the atlantic.

Rider2

Forgot to mention Fishing ..... if you like to fish, try out the Cashen, or from the beach near the black rocks. Also, I have seen folk fish from the cliffs and rocks a bit further up the coast.

There is also a great beach just a few miles up the coast called Beal. At one of the entrance you can drive on to the beach (if there are a lot of rocks in front of you and a car park to your left, then this isnt the drive-in entrance!)

If you like sailing, you can launch a boat at Ballylongford and sail the few miles down the shannon to Ballyb. Watch out for the big ships heading to and from Foynes with coal and bananas !

Also, you can get peri-winkles from the beach and cook them yourself !

There is a great view from up on Cnoc An Oir. You will prob drive up, as its quite steep and a long walk (bad combo!). Take the Listowel road out of town, and take first left (just before Ahafona cross) and follow oyur nose. On a clear day you can see 5 counties, they say. Great view of the Cashen filling & emptying depending on tide too.

TargetWidow

May I also suggest that we now have a really good leisure centre and swimming pool if you don't fancy facing into the Atlantic ocean (it can be a little nippy to the uninitiated before June!). And McMunns on Sandhill Road opposite the road down to the Men's Beach for the grub. They do a great earlybird menu in the evenings-3 courses for 15 quid and the lunch is fantastic as well. For myself it's the only restaurant worth trying in the village. And Marios for the chips and pizzas but the seating is a bit bare and you get an arctic breeze in everytime some eejit leaves the door open, but the food is worth it. By Easter McCarthys Ice-Cream parlor is probably going to have re-opened for the season, try the Ballybunion Blast. I have heard excellent reports of the local Indian Takeaway also. There is a dotey little library located in the old Protestant church in Sandhill Road also. And finally if you are licenced to your own shotgun, bring it down and you will probably be able to shoot a few lines of clays at the local clay pigeon club.There is a surf school which operates on the Men's beach by the shop and lifeguard hut, don't know if they are back in action by Easter but it's worth a stroll down if you fancy trying your hand at a lesson.

I agree with Celtise. Having grown up in family that ran several businesses in Ballybunion and married a man who did likewise, it is no joke trying to make enough money in 6 or 8 (hopefully fine) weeks of the Summer season to feed a family and turn enough of a profit to last the whole year. Unless you run a pub, which obviously everyone can't do. It's no life. I never had a summer holiday as a child, and if it rains all summer your business can go down the tubes in one season. But I do agree that there are more businesses that could do well in Ballyb such as a SeaWorld type aquarium and more craft businesses and activity providers such as the surf-school. The difficulty is partially that property values are inflated by speculators and holiday home owners, making it prohibitively expensive for small new businesses to get a foothold.

Qwerty27

Lots of info there, thanks very much!

Any suggestions of places to stay? might spend 2 nights as dont fancy driving the whole way down to just do the run and then heading back so wouldnt mind making a weekend out of it

Rider2

TargetWidow wrote: »

And McMunns on Sandhill Road opposite the road down to the Men's Beach for the grub......By Easter McCarthys Ice-Cream parlor is probably going to have re-opened for the season, try the Ballybunion Blast

+1 on McMunns (how could I forget that place!)

+1 on McCarthys Ice Cream too ... they are open every Sat at the moment, but will increase days as we get closer to Summer.

I have a list of accomodation around here somewhere... I will dig it out today and post it up.

bbfishy

Someone mentioned the surf school - I saw something over the weekend saying it was open over Easter -

A link might help - http://www.ballybunionsurf.com/

As to where to stay - of the top of my head the below are all good - there are many other -

Harty Costello Town House - in town
Iragh Ti Connor - in town
Teach de Broc - near Golf Course

snow scorpion

Welcome to the thread, bbfishy. I don't remember seeing your name before.

Is there any word on where the half-marathoners and the 10K runners will be separating? I assume everyone gets to enjoy the fun of running the first mile uphill, but somewhere along the line the two groups have to part ways.

Rider2

The runners will be on the same path up to about halfway to Beal. Then the 10k runners will turn around and come back, and the Half-M will continue on to (almost) Asdee and then come back by the main road .
Check out www.runballybunion.com/course.htm for exact route.

Also, I heard the the event organisers have a lot planned for the weekend and Sat night. I dont know details, but it will be common knowledge come the Saturday, ie I reckon they will tell all on the day! So, I would stay the extra night if I were you.

as usual .... I am a big fat liar, and didnt post the list of Accomodation on the day I mentioned ... I promise to have it up soon

snow scorpion

Rider2 wrote: »

The runners will be on the same path up to about halfway to Beal. Then the 10k runners will turn around and come back, and the Half-M will continue on to (almost) Asdee and then come back by the main road .
Check out www.runballybunion.com/course.htm for exact route.

I was thinking about that just yesterday during my run. It's certainly the most logical way of doing things. Having everybody on one course and closing one road would cause fewer problems for everyone involved than closing one road of the half-marathoners and another road of the 10K folk.

Rider2

i got a list of accomodation !!! yeahh .....

this is by no means a complete list, and I am very very sorry if I have forgotten anyone. Its not deliberate, and I am not pushing these places over any that I have forgoten.... these are just the few that I have on my computer.

Kilcooleys – town centre, 17 rooms, restaurant & bar - 068 27112
Cliff House Hotel – 3 star – sea view, restaurant & bar – 068 27777
Golf Holiday homes – 4 star self catering – 1 min from clubhouse on site facilities– 068 27882
Golf Hotel – 3 star – town centre, sea view – 068 27111
Harty Costellos - guesthouse – town centre, seafood restaurant & bar – 068 27129
McMunns – 10 rooms – town centre, sea view, restaurant & bar – 068 28845
19th Green – guesthouse – 14 rooms – 100yds from clubhouse – 068 27351
Cashen House – 12 rooms – 100yds from clubhouse – 068 27351
Teach de Broc – 4 star guesthouse – 50 yds from clubhouse 068 27581
The Tides – 5 room – out of town b&b (walking distance) – 068 27980
Seanor House – out of town b&b (walking distance) - 068 27055
Eagle Lodge – guesthouse – town centre, private car park – 068 27224
The Olde Attic – pub & guesthouse, main st - 068 27080

Irishkid

Hi,

I am new to this thread and been to Ballybunion quite a few times, what do you think of this development?

http://www.daft.ie/searchnew_development.daft?id=10772

jezzag

I saw that a few days ago. What an eyesore

I agree that something ought to go there as what is there now doesn't do the beach any justice. But that...

Irishkid

I actually think its quite nice, but then again thats just my taste, if they had gone with the original plans it would have been bad, 48 holiday apartments.

jezzag

Well that is true. But IMO a development like that at the top of the hill and closer to the main street would benefit the town more as it would stimulate development. Although the location on the beach is fantastic, its too far removed to spur the town into cleaning up its act, and without that I wonder if the development will happen anyway if the town is less attractive a proposition for prospective purchasers.