LETTER TO THE EDITOR

SATISFIED TOURISM
CUSTOMERS

Sir,

Here is a reflection on a recent visit my husband and I had to Monaghan. After watching a Nationwide programme which featured places of interest in Monaghan I decided to book a mid-week break immediately. We stayed at Lynster House and travelled up from Galway to arrive at our B & B after 2pm. We were greeted by a welcoming hostess, Elizabeth McGuinness, who after showing us to our room gave us a welcome cup of tea and told us of places of interest around the locality. Both my husband and I are keen cyclists, so it was great to see there were roads which were almost traffic-free apart from the odd car or tractor. The places we visited were Sliabh Beagh, Glaslough, Caledon, Emyvale, Ballybay, Mullan village, Carrickmacross, Inniskeen and Castleblayney.

On our way home we visited Rossmore Park. Needless to say we were not disappointed with Sliabh Beagh having its beautiful walks and lovely cycling roads, and Glaslough being a winner of the national Tidy Towns title and numerous other awards. Mullan village like the Phoenix – it has come back to life. One of the highlights of our visit was the “surprise” breakfasts we got every morning from Elizabeth. We remarked that, if we were staying in the fanciest hotel, her breakfast would be the winner. We were also very impressed with the Patrick Kavanagh Centre. It is a top-class venue and well worth a visit. We were greeted by Maurice who was very informative and we learned things we hadn’t known before about Patrick. The one criticism we would have is the condition of the roads – they need a lot of resurfacing especially on the back. We cycled over 200 km and we had sore bums as a result of poor roads. Overall we had a wonderful stay and we have been spreading the word around Galway to our friends. We will certainly be back.

Yours, Gerry and Frances Hynes