Driving from Shannon Harbour to Ballycastle

I left Shannon Harbour with all day to make it to Ballycastle. I took side roads and wandered around. I don’t know where I was. I’ve tried looking at these photos to see where I was.

Castle in the distance driving through Ireland

“Probably Ireland had as many castles as any country in the world, for the reason that at an early time there were so many chieftains, and the wealth of all was so entirely in cattle that their guard and defense was the principal business of life. A similar condition existed in Scotland, especially on the border. In Ireland almost every castle was on the border, in the sense that at some time it was necessary to defend it from a too near neighbor who was not neighborly.”

Ireland Beautiful by Wallace Nutting, 1925

Charming House has Slate Roof with Decorative Cresting on the Roof Ridge Cap, Victorian Gingerbread Gable & Dormer Decorations and Victorian Conservatory

You might think this sign would help, but it just makes it clear I am heading completely the wrong direction.

Dawson Obelisk, Church Square, Monaghan, Ireland commemorate Colonel Dawson, lost in the Crimean War.
Ruskinian-Gothic Bank of Ireland building with curved front.

Old Postcard of Church Square, Monaghan, Ireland with the Dawson Obelisk

The curved building behind the monument is the Bank of Ireland in Church Square, Monaghan, Co. Monaghan, Ireland. The Ruskinian-Gothic style terraced two story building dates to 1875. Monaghan is known for buildings with curved corners at intersections and squares.

In the foreground is the Dawson Monument or Dawson Obelisk. It was erected in 1857 to commemorate local landowner Colonel Dawson. He died in the Crimean War at the Battle of Inkerman in 1854. The battle was between the allied armies of Britain, France and Ottoman Empire against the Imperial Russian Army. This is the first war Florence Nightingale nursed the wounded. Crimea is a peninsula between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov in Ukraine, very near Russia. Russia and Ukraine are still disputing possession of the city of Inkerman.

Next I have a photo with a vets office that is on on Belfast Rd, Antrim BT41 1PG, UK. So, that’s where I was at this point. So everything before this should be South of this, everything next ought to be North of this. But, it’s not, so I was completely turned around.

Driving toward Ballycastle, somewhere in Ireland

At some point, I got to a really confusing traffic circle near Belfast, I think. It shouldn’t have been as hard as it was. I had been driving on the left for weeks now. And we do have traffic circles in the States. But this one had a lot of lanes and I was supposed to change lanes twice in the circle and there was a lot of traffic. I got in, as the people behind me blew their horns. Then it spit me back out on the wrong road. I was going to turn around and try again when the GPS recalculated and I just took it from there.