Tag: ireland

Coping With Grief

by patrickmungovan, posted in Lifestyle

Hey guys, happy new year to everyone out there! Sorry I haven’t been writing much here recently, I really need to post more frequently.

I spoke about coping with grief on my Instagram story a few months ago and it was the most viewed story I’ve ever had! I received hundreds and hundreds of messages from people telling me their stories and the different ways they learnt to deal with grief after a loved one passed away.

I’ll list a few of them below, just to help anyone out there that may be struggling and always remember that time is a healer. It might not seem like it at the moment but over time it does make coping with grief a little easier. Having to deal with grief is one of the most difficult things we will go through in our lives, you will feel empty and there are a few things to help make it a little easier.

1. Talk to others – it is very important to talk to your family or friends and explain to them how you are feeling. Talk to them about your loss and sadness and although you won’t expect them to have answers, it will help to have someone to listen to. There are lots of support groups to contact if you feel like talking to s stranger about what’s going through your mind. ALWAYS talk to someone!

2. Keep a routine – make sure you look after yourself. It’s good to have a daily routine and it will avoid extra stress if you stick to this, just simple things like getting up in the morning and keep yourself busy. The busier you are, the less time you have to think about everything and avoid making major changes if possible.

3. Take some time to yourself – it’s important to remember that family members or friends may also be grieving at the sad loss and sometimes tempers can rise between each other and the stress levels are high, that’s why you should take some time out and just even go for a walk. Everyone needs their own space to think and simple things like walking, go for a drive, go to the cinema, can all help you coping with grief.

4. Cry – sometimes all you feel like you can do is cry and that’s normal. There has been lots of talk about this recently, especially when it comes to men! Always remember that it is not a weakness to cry and I find it hard to understand how people would even think that! It’s just like a valve, helping you release the thoughts in your head. It can feel good to let it all out and it’s always good to get it off your chest instead of holding it in which may build up more stress than you need at this time.

Thank you all for reading this post, if you ever want to speak to someone, you can contact me on Instagram @PatrickMungovan or send me an email at Hello@PatrickMungovan.com ❤️

Loop Head & Kilbaha Gallery

by patrickmungovan, posted in Travel

Here in county Clare, we have lots of breathtaking scenery and tourist attractions. One of my favorites has to be a drive around the Loop Head Peninsula. Personally I think it is nicer than the world famous Cliffs of Moher! It’s a lovely drive around the peninsula and it’s something that the whole family will enjoy.

The Loop Head Peninsula was recently voted the best place to holiday in Ireland and it’s easy to see why! Stunning views which are miles long, it is a very popular area for geologists and you can often spot dolphins and even whales swimming in the waters!

It is also home to the famous lighthouse where you can do a tour to see how it works and you can climb to the top for the ultimate views from county Kerry all the way to the Cliffs of Moher!

It is in a rural area of west Clare which means it is very peaceful and the roads are quiet, it’s the ideal weekend drive! There are many small villages which have restaurants and bars to keep your stomach full while employing this beautiful area of Clare.

You can even write your own message with the stones left on the ground, it makes for a lovely photo to send home to friends or family. I have visited this site multiple times and every time is just as breathtaking as the last. You could never get tired of seeing it!

The best thing about driving on rural road is that usually the only traffic jams are caused by farmers moving their herd of cows from one field to another! It’s easy to see why so many tourists visit this part of Clare every year.

About 5 minutes away from the lighthouse is a lovely gift shop called Kilbaha Gallery. It is a contemporary art gallery on the Wild Atlantic Way. Co-owners Ailish and Liz are so friendly and make you feel very welcomed once you walk in the door. The rest of the staff are also so nice and they are all very jolly and upbeat. They sell lots of gifts to suit every age group.

Kilbaha Gallery stocks work from some of Ireland’s best contemporary artists. From bronze sculptures, oil paintings, and mixed media to ceramic and textile art. 

My favorite thing about Kilbaha Gallery is that they sell mostly handmade products, the majority of which are even produced in county Clare. I love the idea of this as I think it’s great to support local businesses within our county. The girls are very friendly and they are very helpful if you require assistance or have any questions. The pictures below show just a few of the beautiful range of products on sale;

There’s a café onsite, they have a great selection of cakes and drinks. I also really liked the presentation of the drinks, the teapots and cups have different designs on them, I even brought home a teapot for my mother, just like the one below. It’s lovely to have a warm cup of tea after being out and about on the cliffs for the evening.

If you are interested in the history of the gift shop and the history of the local area, you can head upstairs to the historical section of the gallery. It’s nice to see some of the old artifacts which people used long ago and there’s a film playing on a TV so you can see how people lived back then! Henry Blake was a local man from the area of Kilbaha and the film explains all about his life.

You can check out Kilbaha Gallery by clicking here.

If you would like to read more about the Loop Head Peninsula you can do so by clicking here.

Thank you for reading!

Flanagans seafood bar

by patrickmungovan, posted in Food

Earlier in the week, I was contacted by a member of staff at Flanagans bar about their new seafood bar/restaurant which is now open. Flanagans is located on the Main Street in Lahinch, county Clare. I have often been in Flanagans bar with friends and when I heard about the seafood bar I could not wait to try it out!


I was invited to visit the restaurant for a taste of their new menu. Myself and my sister Jennifer were looking forward to having our meal. The menu looked fantastic and the staff were so welcoming to us when we arrived.

We were amazed by the choice of selection on the menu, they had everything! The hardest part was trying to decide what we should order. I ordered the fish and chips, while Jennifer ordered the fresh crab open sandwich, which was fresh crab meat served on homemade brown bread. It looked amazing and we could not wait to dig in🍴


Our meal was perfect and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Flanagans. From start to finish, it was very enjoyable. I love fish and chips, and this was by far the best fish and chips dinner I have ever tasted. The tartar sauce was the perfect dip and the green peas made it even better 😍 The bar is in an ideal location with many visitors visiting for holidays. I would highly recommend a visit to Flanagans for your seafood dinner, you will not regret it!

You can check out their Instagram page to keep up to date with photos of their fab dinners @flanaganslahinch 🦀 Thanks to Alan and Olan for inviting us to visit your beautiful establishment. We cannot wait to visit again soon 😊

Our fishing trip 

by patrickmungovan, posted in Lifestyle

Today myself and my father went on our first fishing trip. We went for the two hour fishing trip which also brought us on a tour of our local area which would never have been visible from the land. We set off on our trip from the pier in Doonbeg, Co. Clare. Our boat driver was Cathal and he was very welcoming to us when we arrived. Cathal is the owner of Doonbeg Adventures who run boat trips to the Aran islands, fishing trips, and also bicycle hire. The boat was very comfortable with plenty of space for everyone.

We had just left the pier with five minutes and we had already started to see plenty of activity out at sea. There were many different species of birds to be seen, and we had a group of dolphins swim right beside the boat showing off some of their moves!


I haven’t seen dolphins since I was a young child, so I loved getting to see them so close to us. There were about six or seven dolphins all around the boat, it was great!

We carried on our journey and we shortly arrived at a place called ‘The Horseshoe’. The name is self explanatory as it’s the best way to describe this place. It was a small cove in the shape of a horseshoe which we were able to go in around and have a look at.


The whole place was full of jellyfish which was also very exciting to see. The next part was to move back out to the sea for the fishing 🎣 We left the horseshoe and made our way back out into the middle of the ocean. The views were absolutely beautiful from where we were. The camera doesn’t do justice to this beautiful place.


When the boat was in the right location, the fishing started 😎  This was my favourite part as I have never been fishing from a boat before. I was a bit nervous at the start but within two minutes of the line entering the water, I had a fish!


This was the first fish I caught and it was a nice size. It is a pollock which I’m sure will be delicious for dinner tomorrow. Within minutes we had multiple fish caught, there were lots of fish in the area at the time. We caught a mixture of pollock and mackerel. Our driver Cathal was very helpful and showed us how to let out the line and explained everything to us.


This is a photo of myself, just after catching three mackerel at the same time! Cathal was a great help with removing the fish from the hooks, as it can be quite painful to get stuck with one of them while the fish is jumping around.


Myself and my father were delighted with our evening out fishing, I would recommend this trip 100% to anyone who enjoys fishing. It was brilliant, I cannot wait to go fishing again with Doonbeg Adventures another evening soon! It was such an enjoyable trip and it’s great to see the beauty of our coast here in county Clare. Many of you have been asking me about this company, so here is a link to their Facebook page to keep up to date with upcoming trips or to make a booking: Doonbeg Adventures Facebook. This is definitely a trip that the whole family can enjoy together. Thank you to Cathal and his family for looking after us so well on board your boat. Can’t wait to visit again soon! 🐟🎣

Useful iPhone tip 

by patrickmungovan, posted in Lifestyle

Hey everyone, hope you all had a great and enjoyable bank holiday weekend! So today I just wanted to share this iPhone tip with you that I think is extremely handy and important. I went out with my friends last Friday night for a few drinks and we are always messing with each other’s phones to try and guess the pin code to gain access.


I picked up my friends iPhone but it would not unlock because my finger print hadn’t been set up to work on his phone. It was just then that this idea came about.
I let my three friends set up their fingerprints on my iPhone 7+ so that, god forbid, if anything ever happened to me when I was out or if there was ever a problem that they needed to use my phone in an emergency, then they would be able to access it to contact someone. We then all passed our phones around one by one to set this up for each other. I know that on the iPhone you can have up to 5 fingerprints added at one time, I’m not too sure how many for a Samsung. I just said I would share this with you all as a small tip that could come in very useful for someone. At least by using the fingerprint scanner, the phone is still fully secure if it was lost or found by a stranger.

To set this up on an iPhone:

  1. Settings
  2. Touch ID & Passcode
  3. Fingerprints
  4. Add a fingerprint