Athlone’s friendly welcome a real winner

Athlone has a lot to offer, as Claire O’Sullivan discovered on a recent family trip to Hodson Bay Hotel.

IT’S 9pm on a Friday and we’re in a car, driving around in the dark. Needless to say, we shouldn’t be going around in what seems like circles; we should be enjoying dinner at L’Escale Restaurant at the Hodson Bay Hotel, but we’re lost in Athlone town and sheets of rain are crashing off the pavement rendering the place a ghost town.

Eventually, we spot a brave smoker standing at the door of a bar.