Day 11

Monday, September 7th

Homeward Bound

We were up early as we wanted enough time to take one more walk about the Temple Bar area (and have a last chance at a full Irish breakfast). We had a great trip. We both have many things waiting at home for us, but the memories of these 10 days will keep us smiling and laughing as we look at the pictures and have a pint or two.

We hope you enjoy our little travel diary. We will need to start planning our next adventure?

Ellen and Rose, just two homeward bound women.

Days 9 and 10

Saturday, September 5th
Sunday, September 6th

We started the day with another great Irish breakfast. We have been eating only two meals a day, breakfast and dinner. Of course no dinner is complete without a pint or two. Smithwicks is Rose's beer of choice. I have tried a few including Murphy's which is pretty "thick" but tasty.

Touring the city of Kilkenny took us to Kilkenny Castle, Rothe House and St. Canice's Cathedral where President Obama's great granduncle--Kearney.

We left Kilkenny about 11:30 and headed for Cashel. We managed to find the narrowest road ever on this trip, having to back up when we met another car. We back tracked off that road and found the right road, eventually. We got to Cashel about 1 and were overwhelmed with the sight of The Rock. We climbed the hill and spent an hour just walking around the grounds and through the ruins. The cemetery had some of the finest examples of celtic crosses as headstones.

From Cashel we headed south east to Carlow to a cute little B&B with our usual difficulties finding Barrow Lodge, on the Quay, pronounced "key". Fish and chips/boiled potatoes was dinner with another lovely pint.

Sunday morning, we had a great breakfast and lovely time talking with our hostess, Mary. We sort of lolled around, knowing we only had one night left in Ireland. It was a gray, rainy day as headed over to the east and the Wicklow Mountains. We stopped at an ocean overlook (Celtic Sea) and found a golf course situated on the side of a mini-mountain. We thought the climb up to the Cashel Castle was tough, but this walk seemed harder to me. Too many pints? :)

We headed back into Dublin, dropped the car off at Hertz and took a taxi back into the city. Our cab driver was chatty and we were happy to listen. We had a beer, went shopping (always good after a beer), had another beer and gave up any more sightseeing plans. Dublin Castle? Next trip for sure. We went back to the room and contemplated our evening...
We ate at a little pub, Fitzsimmons. No fish and chips, we both opted for pasta, and another pint. No late night for us tonight, packing and repacking, it seems dirty clothes take up much more room than clean ones. Rocks added some weight--talk to Rose. :)

1800+ kilometers and we are ready to return to driving on the "right" side of the road. Fabulous road trip.

And so we come to: Day 11

Day 8

Friday, September 4th

We were doomed from the start, our plan to get to Cashel was interrupted by lousy road signs and questionable navigation. So mid plan we headed for Waterford on the south coast. This was the only time Rick Steves failed us. The Waterford Crystal factory closed down in January and over 1000 people lost their jobs. We looked around the showroom and decided there was no crystal in our future. But being the optimists that we are, we decided to go on to Cashel, but couldn't get any phone numbers for B&Bs to work.

So plan "C" took us to Kilkenny. We found the B&B with no problem in spite of huge traffic jams due to the upcoming hurling match with Kilkenny's black and amber vs. Tipperary's blue and gold. These folks are crazy about this sport, hockey in the US being the closest comparable sport.

Our B&B was Breagagh View. No internet, even though Paul, the 23 year old son of the owners, did his best to help with my computer. We planned to see the sights in Kilkenny and then head to Cashel.

Day 7

Thursday, September 3

"She" dragged me out of bed at 5:30, to follow our Lord Rick Steves' advice to hit the Ring of Kerry before the tourists and buses overtook the roads. I must admit I was very happy that we rose early and skipped breakfast to have the quiet, early morning to travel past quiet lakes, waterfalls, mountains and valleys. We spent about 5 hours traveling around the ring. We came back down through Killarney to Kinsale. We had just a little difficulty locating our B&B as all signs in Ireland appear to lie.

Kinsale is a coastal town that reminded me of Annapolis. Sailboats in the bay, waterfront restaurants and a lively downtown area were a nice change from the sleepy villages we had been seeing. Our B&B was The Rivermount House was the most elegant we had seen, and filled with other Americans.

We planned to go to Cashel on Friday to see The Rock.

Days 4, 5 and 6

Monday, August 31
We left Dublin and headed toward Galway on the west coast. Rain followed us during the entire 4 hour trip but the sun came out as we drove into the Salthill area which is on the bay. We hopped out to take pictures and then looked for a place to eat lunch as it was almost 3pm. We ate facing the bay and then took off for a tour of the City Centre. We left for Ennis and found our B&B about 6:30. This was at a fabulous 300 year-old house called Newpark. The room was lovely and we had our own little deck, which we managed to step out onto before the rain came down again. We ventured into town and had a bite to eat after driving around and around the town. We never really get lost; we just can’t get to where we want to be. There are many one-way streets and never are they going the way we think they should.

Tuesday, September 1
We left Ennis and started off to meet Siobhan, my friend who is a crazy stitcher, married to an Irishman. You can see her blog at www.bluehenhollow.com We didn’t exactly follow her directions and were half way to the Cliffs of Moher before we realized we had missed her house by about 40 kilometers. So we continued on, planning to see Siobhan on Wednesday.

The Cliffs were spectacular as they rise straight up out of the ocean. The walkways are well protected by rock walls so there is little danger of falling over the edge…until the wind picks up and the rangers chase folks off. We were fortunate to have a sunny day. The locals said it has rained for most of the last 6 weeks, every day.

We drove on to Ballyvaughan a small port directly across the bay from Galway. We headed toward the Burren, a glacier scraped, rocky area. It is beautiful in a desolate sort of way. We hit a rock on the switchback road up the hill and when we stopped to take pictures at the top, we heard the air wheezing out of the front tire. When I say the roads are narrow and the rocks are big and the Irish drive like crazy folks, I do not exaggerate. We were counting our blessings as a German family had also pulled into the parking area. The driver realized we had a flat and he jumped out and changed it for us. We were fortunate to have a spare as evidently many of the rental cars do not. We also knew where to look for the locking lug nut. We drove back to Ballyvaughan and found Tom Connolly who has “Tom’s Tyres” and was able to fix us up with a new tire to the tune of 90 Euros. But, given the fact that we found help, both in the changing and replacing of the tire without having to be towed to a larger town, we raised a pint or two to all of the Irish (and German) folks who helped us back on the road to our next stop at Corofin.

This was our second night at a B&B. It was a 9 year-old house compared to the 300 year-old of the night before. This was Corofin Country House. We had a few issues with hot water and drains, but lots of hot coffee and a full Irish breakfast (again) renewed our good spirits. Timmy the Golden Retriever (over 125 lbs) greeted us as we arrived, but was nowhere to be seen as we left.

Wednesday, September 2
We headed back to Ennis to finally meet up with Siobhan. As usual, we were unable to find our way out of the paper bag so she met us in the parking lot of the Tesco and we followed her to her home. Her oldest daughter was also home and greeted us with hot mugs of coffee. We visited, caught up on stitching news and took a tour of her beautiful home. She has more samplers and sampler type pieces than I have up at In Stitches. We also met Duffy, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who is just a love. (catch the Irish here?)

Heading onward, this time toward Bunratty Castle, we found the worst weather of our trip to date. We climbed the steps, turret and towers of this 600+ year old castle and were soaked from the knees down when we finished. It was worth every sodden moment as there is nothing like this back home. From there we went on to Killarney, which is a bustling tourist town at the entrance to the Ring of Kerry. We had our best dinner of the trip, eating Boxty which is a potato pancake stuffed with fillings of your choice and soup and salad. Oh and yes, another pint or two. When in Ireland………….

Try as we might, we are having huge issues with internet connections. The good thing is that I found a plug with a 3-prong adapter so I can charge the laptop and write this in Microsoft office with the hope of cutting and pasting when we get to the next larger town, either to Kinsale or Cashel.