Ireland and Scotland…and That’s a Wrap!

Thanks so much for your patience as over the past month I’ve shared our trip to Paris, the UK, and my time in York, England where I got to see the home where my great-great grandparents lived at the time they emigrated to America. Today, is the final installment of our trip—our time in Ireland and Scotland.

After our tumultuous ferry crossing, we drove through the lush, green countryside to the town of Waterford, where we toured Waterford Crystal and learned the fascinating process of making crystal. It’s no wonder crystal is so expensive!

From Waterford, we traveled to Kilkenny, Ireland, which was a favorite of mine. We toured beautiful Kilkenny Castle and explored charming streets that held so many surprises—including a little getaway with my husband for delicious pastries, Irish coffee, and hot chocolate.

Dublin was next on our itinerary. While there was much to love about this city, we were all a little overwhelmed by how busy and crowded it was! Still, we had two of our favorite meals of the whole trip here. Fish and chips and Irish stew in a cozy pub, and a fabulous Italian meal with the best service and conversation with the Italian owners (who told us they were only in Dublin to learn to speak English, which cracked us up.)

We had a very quick stop in Belfast where we toured the impressive Belfast City Hall and surrounding streets, and I managed to corral the five Raney “kids” (no easy feat!) and even got them to stand in birth order. Left to right, Ken (my husband), Ty, Steve, Phillip, and their sainted sister, Susan. A precious family that I’m honored to be a part of!

From Belfast, we took the ferry on a much calmer channel crossing, then drove Scotland’s coast, which showed off big-time for us! What a gorgeous country!

We arrived in Edinburgh late in the day. I knew I would love Scotland’s capital city when I got a rainy glimpse through the window of our tour bus of Topping & Company Booksellers just a few doors down from our hotel. The rain stopped in time for us to go exploring in the dark, and oh, is Edinburgh stunning at night! The castle in Old Town was all lit up and the sky was magical!

The city was just as impressive the next day as we toured forts and castles and side streets and vendors and quaint shops (where Ken bought a tartan cap and I found several treasures to tuck into our already bulging suitcases).

Edinburgh edged right up there with Paris as our favorite city of all we visited. Thank you so much for letting me take you along on the journey via these posts. I’ve shared barely the tip of the iceberg of the hundreds of photos I took, but I hope it gave you a little taste of the adventures we had. It was truly the trip of a lifetime and I’m so grateful we were able to go with all of Ken’s family. That made everything we did five times as fun!

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Deborah Raney

DEBORAH RANEY's first novel, A Vow to Cherish, inspired the World Wide Pictures film of the same title and launched Deb’s writing career. Forty books later, she's still creating stories that touch hearts and lives. Her novels have won RWA's RITA Award, the ACFW Carol Award, the National Readers Choice Award, and the HOLT Medallion. She is also a three-time Christy Award finalist. Deb is on faculty for several national writers’ conferences and served on the executive board of the 2,500-member American Christian Fiction Writers organization for 18 years before retiring in 2022. She is a recent transplant to Missouri, having moved with her husband, Ken Raney, from their native Kansas to be closer to kids and grandkids. They love road trips, e-biking, Friday garage sale dates, and breakfast on the screened porch overlooking their wooded backyard.

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