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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast

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Speaker 1: from news Talks at b.

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Speaker 2: Well, Google, Sutherland mightn't be bothered by usage eras from

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Speaker 2: time to time. I feel like our travel correspondent Mike

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Speaker 2: Yardley is going to be a man of higher standards

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Speaker 2: on the language front.

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Speaker 3: Oh well, I try. I try to keep the standards

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Speaker 3: ub ject. But hey, we're all mortal.

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Speaker 2: What erarors do you make the most? Because I will

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Speaker 2: accept that I make errors from time to time, but

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Speaker 2: it doesn't stop me from being utterly pretentious and telling

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Speaker 2: off people when they've made areas as well when they

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Speaker 2: use less than instead of fewer than or you know.

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Speaker 3: Oh yes, yeah, that does get my grill under my grill.

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Speaker 3: The one I actually struggle with personally, which I I

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Speaker 3: don't know why I seem to have a block on this,

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Speaker 3: the is in the R I often use them incorrectly,

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Speaker 3: you know, in terms of plural. Yeah, that's a very

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Speaker 3: basic mistake. That's interesting, isn't really? No?

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Speaker 2: Well, but I mean obviously it's not like you don't

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Speaker 2: actually understand it and you can't think about it, But

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Speaker 2: it's just your brain in the moment when you're speaking

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Speaker 2: sometimes plays a little trip. Yes, yeah, it does. Yeah, Okay, Anyway,

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Speaker 2: this morning we are focusing on road tripping through Ireland's

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Speaker 2: hidden heartlands. So what exactly are the hidden heartlands? Are

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Speaker 2: we talking under the radar places?

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Speaker 3: Yes, we are, and I thought we would round off

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Speaker 3: the year Jack by taking a bit of a roadie

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Speaker 3: through Island and those hidden heartlands. They are the interior counties,

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Speaker 3: lesser traffic places like County Leitrim, Sligo, Rosscommon and they're

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Speaker 3: just such a world away from your big banner destinations

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Speaker 3: like Dublin and Galway. And what I love about the

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Speaker 3: heartlands is it's the history, the story traditions that still

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Speaker 3: be so strong in these places. So yeah, if you

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Speaker 3: want to dabble with the emerald dial at a slower,

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Speaker 3: more scenic pace, Hello Heartlands.

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Speaker 2: Nice you hit the in an EV. So how well

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Speaker 2: equipped is Ireland with charging points?

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Speaker 3: Yes? I ended up hiring a pure electric Mercedes SUV.

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Speaker 3: It was a wholking beast of a thing, but was

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Speaker 3: EV and it was the first time I've actually extensively

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Speaker 3: traveled around any country in an EV. So, as I'm

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Speaker 3: sure you can appreciate, Jack, for me, range anxiety was

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Speaker 3: an immediate concern. But Ireland has really charged a head

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Speaker 3: with its roll out of charging stations, way better than

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Speaker 3: New Zealand. So with a bit of ford planning to

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Speaker 3: tie in your recharge with your sight seeing schedule, it

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Speaker 3: was very manageable. The only thing that surprised me though,

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Speaker 3: was I was comparing the recharge costs to petrol costs

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Speaker 3: and there's not actually much difference. EV charging was not cheaper.

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Speaker 2: Oh that's interesting. Really is just ye, it must just

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Speaker 2: be an Ireland thing.

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Speaker 3: Maybe they're just ripping EV users off.

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Speaker 2: How much how much would have would it cost you

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Speaker 2: to fill the you know, to recharge your battery to

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Speaker 2: eighty percent or whatever.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, generally it was costing me anywhere between twenty and

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Speaker 3: thirty euro right, so wow yeah yeah, and that was

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Speaker 3: like maybe for three hundred and fifty k yesk, yeah,

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Speaker 3: yeah it didn't. It didn't strike me as cheap.

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Speaker 2: No, that's very interesting. So anyway, you're on the road,

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Speaker 2: what led you to drum Shambo?

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Speaker 3: Great question, it's the question of the year. What the

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Speaker 3: hell did you go to drum Shambo? So from Dublin

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Speaker 3: I headed Western County, leaked from and drum Shambo. Is

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Speaker 3: this resolutely Irish village which has father ted connections, which

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Speaker 3: I am a major sucker for. But drum Shambo's berg

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Speaker 3: claim to fame is its namesake gin drum Shambo gunpowder

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Speaker 3: Irish gin and who was up so many global awards, Jack.

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Speaker 3: People just go gaga on this gin. So it's produced

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Speaker 3: at a place called the Shed Distillery. And I know

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Speaker 3: that distilleries for some are becoming a bit to a penny,

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Speaker 3: but this distillery is such a splendid establishment, and the

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Speaker 3: gin is a fusion of Asian and Irish botanical so

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Speaker 3: it includes things like Chinese gunned outer tea, which is

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Speaker 3: that very strong green, smoky tea, and that certainly gives

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Speaker 3: the gin quite the kick. So yeah, definitely head to

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Speaker 3: the Shed. It is just fantastic.

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Speaker 2: Aside from the scenic countryside are their roadside curiosities in

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Speaker 2: the heartlands.

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Speaker 3: So many popping up all over the place. Two particular

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Speaker 3: recurring themes. First of all, wholly Wells, so they are

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Speaker 3: generally named after a local saint and the local swear

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Speaker 3: by their powers. Jack, So I think we went to

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Speaker 3: Saint Lucia as well, and the funny thing was so

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Speaker 3: many local students had laid pens by the well in

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Speaker 3: the hope of some divine assistance with their upcoming school exams.

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Speaker 3: The other thing in the heartlands, which is quite the

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Speaker 3: marvel the megalithic sites. My goodness, Island has so many

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Speaker 3: of them, and they are enormous, these massive stone monuments

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Speaker 3: and burial chambers. They're like complexes of tombs. A lot

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Speaker 3: of them are over five thousand years old, so are

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Speaker 3: we're talking older than the Pyramids of Geezer or Stonehenge.

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Speaker 3: And the funny thing is, I know this is a

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Speaker 3: bit sacrilegious, but many local farmers have actually repurposed some

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Speaker 3: of these really old stones to prop up their fences.

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Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, are very good. So were is good for

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Speaker 2: a castle stay?

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Speaker 3: Yes. County Rosscommon is home to Kilronan Castle, which is

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Speaker 3: a fantastically affordable and escapist castle stay. Its history dates

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Speaker 3: back to the sixteen hundreds, but the castle actually fell

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Speaker 3: into really extreme decline like that. The roof was actually

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Speaker 3: removed from the castle to avoid high taxes at one point,

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Speaker 3: but about twenty years ago millions of euros was put

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Speaker 3: into what has been a tip to toe Neo Gothic restoration.

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Speaker 3: So it is just ravishing. So yeah, if you're fancy

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Speaker 3: adding a little touch of Irish castle magic to your trip,

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Speaker 3: killed Ronan gets the big tick.

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Speaker 2: Nice. I see you went to Sligo. Is that where

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Speaker 2: the seaweed bars are?

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Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, Jack, Yes, So the County of Sligo

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Speaker 3: stretches right out to the Atlantic coastline, and there was

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Speaker 3: this little seaside town called Strandhill, which is home to

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Speaker 3: the Voyer seaweed barths. These guys have caused a lot

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Speaker 3: of buzz in recent years because they have revived the

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Speaker 3: Celtic tradition of seaweed bathing. If you go back one

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Speaker 3: hundred and twenty years ago, for example, apparently there will

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Speaker 3: one hundred seaweed bathhouses all along the west coast of Ireland.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

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Speaker 3: So at Voya they hand harvest fresh seaweed from the

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Speaker 3: ocean in Strandhill. It's all very organic, all wild. And

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Speaker 3: I spent an hour marinating myself in this hot, gloopy

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Speaker 3: bath of seaweed because it oozes this like gel like substance.

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Speaker 3: It's the most bizarre thing, but I felt like a

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Speaker 3: new man Jack. And the bath house is such a

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Speaker 3: solid hangout the Irish rugby team can't get enough at

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Speaker 3: this place. That's where they go to, you know, sort

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Speaker 3: of recover. And apparently it's the Irodne content and seaweed

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Speaker 3: that makes it such a great detoxifier. Yeah, really interesting.

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Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, oh very nice. Did you smell afterwards or

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Speaker 2: was it?

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Speaker 3: Oh my god, yeah, I smelled like the Atlantic, really, Brian.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, chumming. Yeah, you're jumping straight back on a

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Speaker 2: plane and we just need four hours. Well what about

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Speaker 2: Sligo Town itself.

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Speaker 3: I'm in love with this town. It's not a tourist confection,

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Speaker 3: which is it's magic. It's the real deal. So you've

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Speaker 3: got this compact, charismatic and colorful town with a horde

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Speaker 3: of quintessential pubs that just burst with trad sessions. And

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Speaker 3: the other thing which really struck me in the main

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Speaker 3: street all of these gorgeous old school shops like the

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Speaker 3: Gentlemen Drapers and the watchmakers, and they've remained going concerns

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Speaker 3: for well over a century, handed down through the family,

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Speaker 3: and they just seem immune to the fickle whims of retail.

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Speaker 3: And I just think that adds to Sligo's really stout spirit.

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Speaker 3: Definitely add that town to your checklist.

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Speaker 2: Oh very good. That sounds fantastic. Thank you so much, Mike.

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Speaker 2: We will put all of Mike's tips on tripping through

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Speaker 2: Ireland's hidden heartlands up on the news doalks he'db website

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Speaker 2: NEWSTALKSB dot co dot nz.

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Speaker 1: For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live

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Speaker 1: to newstalks 'B from nine am Saturday, or follow the

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Speaker 1: podcast on iHeartRadio