Hello everyone
Below are my bloggings of our holiday in the Republic of Ireland which we have recently returned from. This time I typed everything up on the laptop when we got home every day so it took less time to upload this one.
There may be some spelling mistakes but I am going to go through these periodically over the next few days to iron those out as well as adding a few photos here and there too. If you go to the top of the blog, you will see a slideshow of photos which you can click on to enjoy on their own, or go here: https://picasaweb.google.com/brocklehurst79/Ireland2010
Also, I have redecorated my blog - do you like it? :o) Oh yes, and the posts read from top to bottom as I prefer them to. Enjoy! :o)
Siobhan xxx
Thursday 17 June 2010
Holiday in Ireland!
Saturday 29th May
I was glad I had packed thoroughly the night before, as I was suffering from hay fever and waiting for my anti-histamines to kick in! All packed and ready to go, we filled the car and headed out at 8:15am. The weather wasn’t too good, this time the weather forecasts had been right! It rained pretty much all the way to Holyhead.
We made good time, reaching Bangor in north Wales by 11:45, stopping off at a service station. I thought we would take about an hour to reach Holyhead, but we got to the ferry terminal by 12:30 at which point I ate my lunch in the car whilst waiting to board the ferry.
Finally we boarded and we had plenty of time to find a seat - if we could find one, that is….! We ended up parking in lane 6 on the far right which turned out to be the lane for large people carriers. We weren’t actually supposed to be in that lane, but the man telling us where to go was standing in lane 4 at the time and we heard his yelp of desperation as we decided NOT to run him over..!
We got out the car and headed up the stairs to investigate the ferry and its facilities. First off (and I didn’t manage to get a photo of this because I thought the abundance of people as we entered AND exited the ferry would think me very strange indeed, PLUS lots of moving around to get from A to B meant it would have been difficult to pause long enough for a photo), was a sign on the door which stated “Crew Only”….but the graffiti “of doom” between these two words made me laugh. I doubt anyone else saw it though. I know I should have taken a photo, but it was hard to stop with all the commotion!
So, it turned out that only two decks of the ferry were worth being on, unless you had booked a room for your 3 hour journey. Hmmm. It seems to me there were an awful lot of rooms on that ferry just for a 3 hour journey. More seating could have easily fitted up there….but hey, perhaps these ferries don’t just sail between Holyhead and Dublin. I have no idea.
The main deck where everybody seemed to be, was a hub of activity, from screaming children to most people wanting to order and eat their lunch (late lunch, as it was around 1:30 at this point) as soon as possible. There were enough places to get food, but it was the seating which was the issue, we thought. Most people seemed to rush in and order their late lunch straight away which meant that, by the time most people were on the ferry, there was very little seating available.
And this didn’t just apply to the seating near the food places. On this deck there was a “lounge” which must have consisted of about 50 comfy seats in total, and the “Stenna Plus” seating area which you had to pay extra for had around 150 plush seats. Of course. This is how they make their money. We then decided to go down one deck, and suddenly it was very quiet. Hardly anyone was around on this deck, and a very large redundant area in the centre used to be an eatery with lots of seating for diners was totally empty. What’s more was another “Stenna Plus” lounge which had a poster stating that “Stenna Plus is now located on deck 8”. Nobody was checking tickets here like they were on deck 8, so we went in and found the entire area pretty much empty and wonderfully quiet.
After we cleaned my first clumsy incident of the holiday up, we settled back down in our comfy seats and “Magic Matthew’s” act lasted half an hour, but some children decided to extend his entertainment until around 4pm when it began to turn quiet again and I could finally concentrate on reading my book until it was time to get back into the car and arrive in Dublin.
After getting onto the main motorway, we thought it was very strange that it was so incredibly quiet, there were only 3 cars within the space of a mile. The roads were easy to use of course, driving on the left hand side as we do in England, although it did feel like we were actually in a different country. The layout seemed very continental, having seen roads in France and Germany, it was more similar to that than English roads.
After driving around some of the smaller roads around our destination of Ardcath, we eventually found the right road to go THROUGH the place and found our accommodation for the week. The owner greeted us and showed us around the quirky little converted barn, it was small, only enough room for two people and not a great deal in the way of storage space! BUT it was cosy, with a log fire, stone walls with little recesses in which there were books, DVDs, CDs, mirrors were leaning against the walls in the corners, and every little space was pretty much utilised by something useful like a wine rack or a clock.
We unpacked, called home to say we’d arrived safely, had some salad and finished off our late dinner with a fresh home made scone and jam which the owner had left for us to enjoy. I thought he reminded me of Louis Walsh, he had a very similar face! He lent Mathew a decent road map of Ireland so we wouldn’t get lost again, and we settled in and unpacked.
No curtains in the roof-windows - or rather, sky lights - in the ceiling above the bed….I hoped we wouldn’t be woken too early by the sun and the birds the next morning!
I was glad I had packed thoroughly the night before, as I was suffering from hay fever and waiting for my anti-histamines to kick in! All packed and ready to go, we filled the car and headed out at 8:15am. The weather wasn’t too good, this time the weather forecasts had been right! It rained pretty much all the way to Holyhead.
We made good time, reaching Bangor in north Wales by 11:45, stopping off at a service station. I thought we would take about an hour to reach Holyhead, but we got to the ferry terminal by 12:30 at which point I ate my lunch in the car whilst waiting to board the ferry.
Finally we boarded and we had plenty of time to find a seat - if we could find one, that is….! We ended up parking in lane 6 on the far right which turned out to be the lane for large people carriers. We weren’t actually supposed to be in that lane, but the man telling us where to go was standing in lane 4 at the time and we heard his yelp of desperation as we decided NOT to run him over..!
We got out the car and headed up the stairs to investigate the ferry and its facilities. First off (and I didn’t manage to get a photo of this because I thought the abundance of people as we entered AND exited the ferry would think me very strange indeed, PLUS lots of moving around to get from A to B meant it would have been difficult to pause long enough for a photo), was a sign on the door which stated “Crew Only”….but the graffiti “of doom” between these two words made me laugh. I doubt anyone else saw it though. I know I should have taken a photo, but it was hard to stop with all the commotion!
So, it turned out that only two decks of the ferry were worth being on, unless you had booked a room for your 3 hour journey. Hmmm. It seems to me there were an awful lot of rooms on that ferry just for a 3 hour journey. More seating could have easily fitted up there….but hey, perhaps these ferries don’t just sail between Holyhead and Dublin. I have no idea.
The main deck where everybody seemed to be, was a hub of activity, from screaming children to most people wanting to order and eat their lunch (late lunch, as it was around 1:30 at this point) as soon as possible. There were enough places to get food, but it was the seating which was the issue, we thought. Most people seemed to rush in and order their late lunch straight away which meant that, by the time most people were on the ferry, there was very little seating available.
And this didn’t just apply to the seating near the food places. On this deck there was a “lounge” which must have consisted of about 50 comfy seats in total, and the “Stenna Plus” seating area which you had to pay extra for had around 150 plush seats. Of course. This is how they make their money. We then decided to go down one deck, and suddenly it was very quiet. Hardly anyone was around on this deck, and a very large redundant area in the centre used to be an eatery with lots of seating for diners was totally empty. What’s more was another “Stenna Plus” lounge which had a poster stating that “Stenna Plus is now located on deck 8”. Nobody was checking tickets here like they were on deck 8, so we went in and found the entire area pretty much empty and wonderfully quiet.So we took our seats by the window and gradually the area started to fill up with more passengers as they stumbled upon the secret quiet deck 7. At 1:50pm we sailed off, and the rain had stopped but it was considerably foggy. Not a thing could be seen. We usually always go outside on the deck for the majority of ferry journeys, but today it was wet and foggy so we sat inside. The sea - thankfully - was very calm with the odd gentle swell, and I felt my eyelids drooping as I dozed on and off.
Until 3pm when it was announced that “Magic Matthew” would be performing on deck 7 in the lounge. Lots of children came to visit and take part of course, and he was a huge hit. It was a little noisy but it wasn’t too bad. I decided to get a hot chocolate for myself as I usually do on ferries, and a tea for Mathew. I was concerned about dropping it on the stairs as I had to go up to deck 8 to get them, but I was fine. Until I got back to Mathew and set down the tea on the table, only for it to slip and tumble on its side and spill all over everywhere!! Fortunately it missed his brand new book reader and he thought it quite amusing which was a relief for me, because it basically looked like I’d said “here you go!“ and thrown it down on purpose!
After we cleaned my first clumsy incident of the holiday up, we settled back down in our comfy seats and “Magic Matthew’s” act lasted half an hour, but some children decided to extend his entertainment until around 4pm when it began to turn quiet again and I could finally concentrate on reading my book until it was time to get back into the car and arrive in Dublin.
After getting onto the main motorway, we thought it was very strange that it was so incredibly quiet, there were only 3 cars within the space of a mile. The roads were easy to use of course, driving on the left hand side as we do in England, although it did feel like we were actually in a different country. The layout seemed very continental, having seen roads in France and Germany, it was more similar to that than English roads.
After driving around some of the smaller roads around our destination of Ardcath, we eventually found the right road to go THROUGH the place and found our accommodation for the week. The owner greeted us and showed us around the quirky little converted barn, it was small, only enough room for two people and not a great deal in the way of storage space! BUT it was cosy, with a log fire, stone walls with little recesses in which there were books, DVDs, CDs, mirrors were leaning against the walls in the corners, and every little space was pretty much utilised by something useful like a wine rack or a clock.We unpacked, called home to say we’d arrived safely, had some salad and finished off our late dinner with a fresh home made scone and jam which the owner had left for us to enjoy. I thought he reminded me of Louis Walsh, he had a very similar face! He lent Mathew a decent road map of Ireland so we wouldn’t get lost again, and we settled in and unpacked.
No curtains in the roof-windows - or rather, sky lights - in the ceiling above the bed….I hoped we wouldn’t be woken too early by the sun and the birds the next morning!
Sunday 30th May
After having a good night’s sleep, the daylight woke us up at 5:30am but we continued to doze until just after 7am. We like getting up early, but not THAT early!! It was chilly in our little house, but it wasn’t too bad. There was no central heating, just a heater for hot water and a stove in the living room to make a fire - we used the latter last night and again this morning until it was time to leave at around 8:50am. Today we were going to visit Newgrange and Knowth, and the information stated that it was best to arrive early to avoid the disappointment of not being able to go on the tours.
Back onto the minibus we got, to the visitors centre again, and our next visit was to Newgrange. We got there in the end - there were two buses going there, and it turned out that two people had either got on the wrong bus or at the wrong time. Mathew and I were split on the journey there but we were fine going back. We got to Newgrange and we had a tour guide who spoke to both bus-loads of people, and while one group roamed around outside first, the others got to go into the tomb and we switched over afterwards. Of course, we were in the group to go inside first!
Inside, the corridor was low and narrow, but once in the main chamber it was fine. There was a lot of artwork - the same spirals and zig-zags as before - only in this tomb we weren’t allowed to take photos, which is fair enough. The only new pattern we hadn’t seen before was a fern leaf, which was really quite nice! Once we were inside the tomb, our tour guide organised us so we could all see the floor and she gave us a demonstration of what it would be like in the tomb when the sun rose on the solstice. She turned out the lights and switched on another light (mimicing the sunlight) which came through gradually as she spoke, and then gradually left. It was quite a nice demonstration and left us all feeling we had experienced the magical moment these monuments had been made for!
After this, we went outside and roamed around and then awaited the bus back to the visitors centre. Going on the different theories set by different people, it was clear that whoever studied Knowth thought that the white quartz and large rounded stones were used as a pavement, while at Newgrange it had been incorporated into the outside walls of the mound. Either way, both are great places to visit, and Knowth is good to visit before Newgrange, because the latter is the best one of course!
Back at the visitors centre, we had lunch in the café which came with generous side salads and was really delicious! “Tasty food and snacks” is what the brochure says and it’s not a lie! We then strolled into the shop, bought some postcards (Mathew to send, me to use for jewellery inspiration…!) and had a look at the exhibit which was really nicely laid out with colourful drapes, patterns from the tombs, dioramas and a few exhibits of replicas, such as the flint mace head I already mentioned. We forgot to enter the “solstice lottery” to win a chance to go back and experience the real thing at Newgrange! Damn! Ah well.
So, after lunch we continued. Monastaboice was our first visit, which boasted a HUGE tower (and it was really very very tall - I have no idea how it’s still standing..!), although it is missing its conical roof and the ground around it has risen over the years so its not even as tall as it used to be. Still, its very impressive. In the cemetery were other ruins (which you would think the tower would have fallen down to the same height, but no), and two very large crosses. The first was the widest and chunkiest celtic cross I have ever seen, and the workmanship on it is eroded, but fabulous. Just imagine what it would have looked like when brand new! The second cross was in front of the massive tower (built by the Irish as a response to the Viking invasions, there are apparently lots of these towers all over Ireland), and this one was similar to the first, only more taller and narrower.
Old Millefont Abbey was next up, which seemed more ruined that most Abbeys in England; barely anything remained although they did have a nice collection of architectural stone and what was left standing here was really quite nice. The only bad thing about this place was not being able to take a photo because a family tour group decided to stand in the same spot for about half an hour, right in front of the most photogenic standing ruin! But, we are used to this happening, they moved eventually and we got our photos in before the French tour group got their hands on it..!
The final trip of the day was a little bit of an adventure. The owner of the place we were renting for the week, suggested that we might like to go see a place called “Fourknocks” which was only down the road from where we were staying, in Ardcath. Earlier in the day we had seen the familiar brown tourist signs for it, and thought we’d do it at the end of our day out. So we got back to Ardcath and found the sign…but could we find this place? We kept driving round and round in what we thought were probably large circles, and we did keep seeing signs for Fourknocks, only each time we passed the “kilometres to go” were gradually doing down - as they should do - although I am sure we weren’t going in the most direct route. It didn’t help that the map of Ireland didn’t have it on there.
After a little while, we eventually found it and Mathew got out to read the sign at the path entrance. Now, we had already been told that we would have to go to the landowner’s house to collect the key and investigate the tomb ourselves. But after today we have learnt a few of things about Irish road signs and their language:
2. When a road sign states something like “Kilmoon” with no distance, the name on the sign is the name of the road, not where it leads to.
3. When you see or hear directions of “at the cross turn left” - this can also mean t-junction as well as cross-road.
Now, the directions were to “turn left at the first cross down Kilmoon Road and it’s the 5th house on the right”, we went down said road (the sign just said “Kilmoon” no “road”), and found the 5th house on the right. Bit it seemed a little odd to Mathew because there were so many houses on the left. We went back to the sign and read the name of the person was “Mr.White”, and as said 5th house said “WHITE” on its wall, that must have been it. Down Kilmoon Road we went again to collect the key from the right person with a fully refundable deposit should we happen to run off with it, and back up Kilmoon Road back to Fourknocks, almost definitely totally confusing the locals having been up and down this road 4 times already!
Eventually we had the location and the key, and we took a torch from the car just incase. It was a small mound, with a little information board near the entrance, which was closed with a locked metal door. When we got inside, we discovered that the effort of finding it and the key was definitely worth it! The ceiling was false but holes had been put into it to let natural light in, in a very clever fashion to make it look like spotlights. The torch wasn’t needed, although we used it in the dark recesses, of which there were three. There was even more art work on the stones which we could touch and photograph, and there was on slab of stone which is said to have the only depiction of a possible human portrait on it. I can see a human resemblance, if a little abstract, but its there! So, after all that effort we were finally rewarded with a really good treat, and to see the artwork up close and to touch it - it’s just not the normal thing we are used to, so it was nice.
We locked up, took the key back to Mr. White on Kilmoon Road, got our deposit back, and finally got back home to Ardcath to have a nice cup of tea and a slice of Mum’s fruit loaf. Yum!
It was a chilly start to the day outside, but by lunchtime it was really quite nice and warm. We went to the Bru na Boinne visitors centre where we bought tickets to go on the tour of both Knowth and Newgrange. A mini-bus took us there and back to both sites, and Knowth was first. Our tour guide showed us around, explaining that the artwork on the stones has no definite explanation, just theories as to what they might be, what they may symbolise. It was the story which we - as archaeologists - are used to hearing; theories about the sun and the moon, celebrations of the equinoxes and solstices. Usually we think that when people start saying things about ritual practice, it's because they can't think of any other explanation and it just sounds good. But in these cases it was very, very believable. The artwork could easily be seen as records of moon phases, spirals as depictions of the sun, zig-zags an illustration of the oscillating pattern of the sun or moon orbits. Personally I don’t think it’s by any mistake that the sun enters these tombs on the equinoxes or solstices. It’s just all really very believable, at least, to me anyway. The thing I’m not quite sure about is ley lines and dowsing - and yes, there were two guys wandering around the site with dowsing rods. Hmmm. I’m really not quite sure about that….! Most archaeologists would call it “pretend archaeology”.
We weren’t able to go into the main mound at Knowth, but we were able to look down one of the passages. I always like how they light these things to make the place look eerie and mystical! We finished off the tour with our guide telling us about the star find of the place - a flint mace head. And, having seen flint and knowing that this material is incredibly hard to shape, it is really quite remarkable. Whoever created this piece of flint with that much smooth decoration on it AND a large perforation used to put a handle into, must have been incredibly patient and it must have taken absolutely forever to create! Later on we saw a replica of it in the exhibition at the visitors centre - but we were really hoping that it was going to be in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin when we go. We really want to see the real thing! I’d also like to compare the real to the fake, just to see how real it looks!
After the tour ended, we were free to roam around and take as many photos as we liked. Ten minutes was just about enough really, there were large stones around the edges of the main mound which had lots of spirals, coils, half moon shapes, zig-zags. I had my jewellery designs in mind, of course! The other great thing here was that we could actually go up and touch them. I really liked this.
Back onto the minibus we got, to the visitors centre again, and our next visit was to Newgrange. We got there in the end - there were two buses going there, and it turned out that two people had either got on the wrong bus or at the wrong time. Mathew and I were split on the journey there but we were fine going back. We got to Newgrange and we had a tour guide who spoke to both bus-loads of people, and while one group roamed around outside first, the others got to go into the tomb and we switched over afterwards. Of course, we were in the group to go inside first!
Inside, the corridor was low and narrow, but once in the main chamber it was fine. There was a lot of artwork - the same spirals and zig-zags as before - only in this tomb we weren’t allowed to take photos, which is fair enough. The only new pattern we hadn’t seen before was a fern leaf, which was really quite nice! Once we were inside the tomb, our tour guide organised us so we could all see the floor and she gave us a demonstration of what it would be like in the tomb when the sun rose on the solstice. She turned out the lights and switched on another light (mimicing the sunlight) which came through gradually as she spoke, and then gradually left. It was quite a nice demonstration and left us all feeling we had experienced the magical moment these monuments had been made for!
After this, we went outside and roamed around and then awaited the bus back to the visitors centre. Going on the different theories set by different people, it was clear that whoever studied Knowth thought that the white quartz and large rounded stones were used as a pavement, while at Newgrange it had been incorporated into the outside walls of the mound. Either way, both are great places to visit, and Knowth is good to visit before Newgrange, because the latter is the best one of course!
Back at the visitors centre, we had lunch in the café which came with generous side salads and was really delicious! “Tasty food and snacks” is what the brochure says and it’s not a lie! We then strolled into the shop, bought some postcards (Mathew to send, me to use for jewellery inspiration…!) and had a look at the exhibit which was really nicely laid out with colourful drapes, patterns from the tombs, dioramas and a few exhibits of replicas, such as the flint mace head I already mentioned. We forgot to enter the “solstice lottery” to win a chance to go back and experience the real thing at Newgrange! Damn! Ah well.
The final trip of the day was a little bit of an adventure. The owner of the place we were renting for the week, suggested that we might like to go see a place called “Fourknocks” which was only down the road from where we were staying, in Ardcath. Earlier in the day we had seen the familiar brown tourist signs for it, and thought we’d do it at the end of our day out. So we got back to Ardcath and found the sign…but could we find this place? We kept driving round and round in what we thought were probably large circles, and we did keep seeing signs for Fourknocks, only each time we passed the “kilometres to go” were gradually doing down - as they should do - although I am sure we weren’t going in the most direct route. It didn’t help that the map of Ireland didn’t have it on there.
After a little while, we eventually found it and Mathew got out to read the sign at the path entrance. Now, we had already been told that we would have to go to the landowner’s house to collect the key and investigate the tomb ourselves. But after today we have learnt a few of things about Irish road signs and their language:
1. There are a few road signs which have been stolen, we presume for scrap metal, but we kept seeing bare posts at junctions where they should have been
2. When a road sign states something like “Kilmoon” with no distance, the name on the sign is the name of the road, not where it leads to.
3. When you see or hear directions of “at the cross turn left” - this can also mean t-junction as well as cross-road.Now, the directions were to “turn left at the first cross down Kilmoon Road and it’s the 5th house on the right”, we went down said road (the sign just said “Kilmoon” no “road”), and found the 5th house on the right. Bit it seemed a little odd to Mathew because there were so many houses on the left. We went back to the sign and read the name of the person was “Mr.White”, and as said 5th house said “WHITE” on its wall, that must have been it. Down Kilmoon Road we went again to collect the key from the right person with a fully refundable deposit should we happen to run off with it, and back up Kilmoon Road back to Fourknocks, almost definitely totally confusing the locals having been up and down this road 4 times already!
We locked up, took the key back to Mr. White on Kilmoon Road, got our deposit back, and finally got back home to Ardcath to have a nice cup of tea and a slice of Mum’s fruit loaf. Yum!
Monday 31st May
First off this morning we decided to go to Dalkey. There was a castle there which was a “living history” museum as well, and the leaflet made it look really quite interesting. We arrived at around 10:30am and strolled in, only to find out that a bus tour had only just gone in - 52 people!! We were told the next tour would take place at 11:45 which left us with just over an hour to play with. We walked around and found a café called “Idlewild Café”, Mathew had a large pot of tea while I had a hot chocolate - which I must add, was really very nice!
So, 11:30 came round and we strolled around back to Dalkey Castle, only this time we were told that they were running late and the next tour would actually be at 12:15. The lady was very apologetic and polite about it, and she gave us a leaflet for a little walk along the coast where we could go to see Dalkey Island. Why she hadn’t given us this the first time around, I have no idea…! But still, we thanked her and strolled off to the coast, the first part of which was dominated by posh houses with massive gates, obviously owned by very rich people who were greedy enough to want a view of the Island to themselves, and probably - I would imagine - a path at the bottom of the garden onto a secluded beach or a cliff or something similar. We continued onward until we found a little seating area and a viewpoint, where we finally saw Dalkey Island which looked quite nice. There were “ferries” or rather, small boats you could get from the mainland to the island, as we saw local posters and a boat already coming from the Island itself. We went on further down to a little park where we were rewarded with a very nice view of the Island and part of the wild looking coastline where we were. Whilst admiring the island, I said to Mathew that perhaps we could go to the Island if we couldn’t get onto the next tour at the Castle.Looking at my watch it was just before 12noon and the next tour was in 15 minutes! I didn’t think we were going to get there in time, so we really power-walked it! This was one of the rare occasions that I walk as fast as I can to get somewhere in time for something, and I ignore the protests my legs make. This does not happen very often, usually when I am very determined to do something can I do this. Mathew was trailing behind me, despite having a longer stride and walking pretty fast himself he remained at least 10 metres behind me as I powered off past the viewpoint, the posh houses, up the hill, round the corner.
We arrived at Dalkey Castle at exactly 12:15 and third time lucky we managed to get tickets. Mathew had to top up the car parking ticket while I paid and went to sit in the area where the introductory DVD was being shown. Mathew joined me just before the DVD started, and we were told a brief Medieval History of the Castle. Then we awaited the arrival of our first Tudor character in costume which was a ghost. She asked where we were from and other questions like if we were attending the King’s Feast that evening. She took us through the graveyard and told us about the Yew tree and its use as a poison, and showed us her gravestone, and asked if we could figure out who killed her because she couldn’t remember. Everyone seemed to think her own husband killed her, especially after she told us that he married her sister soon after her death!
She then introduced us to her husband, the second costumed character who spoke to us in the same manner. He took us up to the second level of the Castle where he told us about the practice of medicine. There was a chair in which he said the patient would sit, and he started showing us some of the equipment used and what it was used for. Mathew ended up being the victim for a “urine sample” - of course he didn’t give a real one, to which out turn guide responded with “You don’t have much Sir, do you?”And he moved on to me, asking me to show him my teeth. Of course, he thought I needed a tooth taking out, so I had to sit in the chair! Various instruments were waved at my face as he demonstrated which tools would have been used to take out a tooth, scrape out the bits in the gum, cauterise the wound and waved a bottle of cloves under my nose and said I would have had them to rub on my gums to relieve the pain. When he asked me for a couple of coins to pay for “two burly men to take me out of the chair”, I would have given him some loose change but I had none on me, so like everyone else I pretended to give some money to him to which he responded with “Hmm. You’re not a very profitable customer!”. He then asked another guy to sit in the chair as he demonstrated blood letting, addressing the guy as “Lord Evil Monkey” as he had exactly those words on his T-shirt (Those who know the TV series Family Guy will recognise this!)
Our last character was a bowman who spoke to us about the Tudor dining experience, the food which would have been eaten, where fleas were living on his body, how plates were cleaned with spit because the water was tainted with raw sewage, how clothes were cleaned with urine, and he passed his long-bow around, Mathew volunteering to draw it and impressing the tour guide who said he wouldn’t want to be in his way if he got angry! He took us up onto the tower and showed us how bowmen would have shot their arrows, and the difference of the power of an arrow if it were used on a long bow or a cross bow.
He took us all back down and asked us if we had figured out how the lady had been killed - we all still thought it was the husband, and it tuned out the bowman had accidentally shot her with an arrow when fighting invaders, and her husband, in giving her a potion made of yew bark or leaf to make her feel better, ended up killing her instead! All in all this was a very enjoyable place to visit, unfortunately we had to hang around a little, but if anyone else is thinking of visiting and has to wait for an hour, ask about the coastal walk and you’ll get a leaflet with a map and an hour will be plenty of time to go on the walk - which is very pleasant - and come back in time without having to rush. If the tour is delayed again like ours, go for a coffee nearby!
Next up we went to Powerscourt Gardens. We had a late lunch in the café before heading out to the gardens, which turned out to be very Italian in style and were really quite extensive. The place must have taken considerable landscaping skills, as there were walled gardens, a Japanese garden, and a very very large pond (among several small ones). There was even a little “Pepperpot Tower” which was said to have been built by the owner as a tribute to his actual pepper pot. Yes, he had a pepper pot he loved so much, he decided to build himself his own tower in the same shape. Hmmm. What’s going on there?!
The shops at Powerscourt were very small and cute, boutique in style and in the clothes department, very expensive. 120 Euros for a waterproof coat which wasn't from an outdoor specialist company - I don’t think so! It was nice…..but not THAT nice….! Included in this little arcade of shops was a clothes shop, book shop, an Irish souvenir shop, children’s toys and clothes shop, food shop and a perfume and soap shop. Before we left I decided to buy some Irish made soaps as souvenirs for a couple of family members and a friend, and we drove back home. We drove through Garristown to see if there were any nice looking place to eat, but it was a small place and had 2 pubs, one of which had a place for a menu outside, but there was nothing in it. There was a little supermarket however, so it was useful to know that was there. The went back to Ardcath for a nice cup of tea!
The same evening, I ended up falling down the staircase at our cottage - I just lost my footing, possibly because of smooth socks, smooth wood and long trousers. These steps - if I haven’t already explained - are unusual because they are half-steps and one-sided, they look a little like paddles. It’s a quirk of the cottage and if they had been normal steps, the entire staircase would not have fit into the room. These stairs are quite steep, so I suddenly stumbled a couple of steps down and fell the rest of the way, seeing the floor coming towards me as I missed the last 6 steps and landing at the bottom on my front. I was winded so I couldn’t speak properly as I landed, and Mathew was immediately over me asking me questions which I couldn’t answer until I got my breath back! I felt a stinging sensation in my right knee and hip, otherwise everything seemed fine. Mathew checked me over everywhere else until I was happy to turn onto my back, at which point Mathew helped me stand. My hip felt very sore, and there was a deep graze on it, probably from a small cable which I was coming down the stairs with, which promptly got dropped the minute I knew I was about to fall. The rest of the evening, Mathew and I were checking over everything making sure I wasn’t swelling up too badly.
Miraculously, my leg was moving absolutely fine, whilst the sorest part of me was up in the ribs on the right hand side, front and back. My right arm felt strange, but that was because I had landed more heavily on my right, arms outstretched to break the fall. I did not hit my head or anything else, it seemed I landed fairly flat on my front, and I think my arms may have taken the full force of it, which meant my ribs took in a lot of the shockwave. Pretty much straight away I was walking around just fine, although with a sore hip, sore knee and very sore ribs.
That night I slept on my back and partly on my left side which was more comfortable than I thought it was going to be, considering. I didn’t get much sleep possibly because I was still in shock about the fall and worrying about any swelling and possibly having to go to hospital the next morning. The rain didn’t help either - I usually like rain falling on the window at night, but it was raining pretty hard out there! I got some sleep but I have no idea how much I got.
Tuesday 1st June
This morning I felt sore but okay. I hadn’t swelled up anywhere significantly, but the bruise on my knee had come out nicely and the graze on my hip had scabbed over. I was expecting at some point for a bruise to come out there eventually as well, because the hip is really quite sore, although not when walking. My right ribs were the most painful part, fortunately not when I was just sitting breathing, but when I straightened my posture, when I leant over in a funny way, if I used my right arm to push, pull or lift. The right arm was stiff, my knee was sore and my hip was sore. That, I could deal with. But my ribs were really very uncomfortable but I decided that if anything had been damaged that badly, I would have known it by now. So I got dressed and I decided - from now on, go up and down the stairs BAREFOOT!! It seemed to do the trick, and I felt safer…although I have to admit that I kept looking at those stairs for the rest of the week feeling quite scared of coming down on them. As a consequence each time I came down the stairs I took it EXTRA slowly!!
So, today we were planning to go to Dublin, and I was feeling fine so that’s where we went. We used our pop-out map of Dublin all day which was very handy to get to where we wanted.
We then went up into “The Long Room” which was basically a huge library of many very very old books which were in the process of being preserved or had finished the restoration process. Two levels of books, from floor to ceiling and in the centre there was a small exhibit of “The Irish in India” which was quite interesting.
We were then taken back downstairs into the shop which was really quite good, although I didn’t buy a great deal. I bought a couple of “Thank You” cards for the owners of the places we were renting during this holiday, as I had forgotten to create my own to take. I bought a souvenir for my brother - a mouse mat with a celtic pattern - and we went on towards the National Museum of Ireland.
The Museum - like most Museums - was free to get into, and surprisingly, there was no fee for the lockers to put bags and coats into. The first thing we did was go to the café - I hadn’t realised that it was 12noon and I hadn’t had anything to eat since Breakfast. That and not getting much sleep last night probably didn’t help how I was feeling - I was fine, but I was feeling a little like a zombie, as you do when you don’t get much sleep the night before!
We both had a “twice backed potato” which was really very nice as it had been mixed with ham and cheese, and baked again, and it came with two side salads. A large meal for the middle of the day, so we though we might have a light meal for dinner!
This Museum was really very very good. Apart from what seemed like random exhibits on the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Cyprus, and a Roman exhibit, pretty much everything was either Irish, from Ireland, or had Irish connections. Irish archaeology spanning from the Palaeolithic (stone age) right up to Medieval archaeology was displayed, and I have to say, the Irish have some pretty impressive archaeology. The prehistoric pottery was very different from English pottery - ours is plain with occasionally some decoration, while Irish pottery is FULL of patterns, filling the entire surfaces. Some pots even came with lids - which we don’t see in England - and the patterns went from rim to base.
The Irish seem to have quite a lot in the way of textiles and leather, and also wood - a wooden cauldron was quite an impressive piece - probably because Ireland had a lot of natural peat bogs in which this stuff was found. The waterlogged conditions preserve things like wood, leather, and any textile really, so these things barely perish in places like this. We saw a lot of shoes and leather capes, and scabbards and sheaths for swords, some of which were intricately decorated with the typical celtic pattern we associate with Irish Iron Age archaeology.
Something else which was exhibited in an interesting way, I thought, were bog bodies. They had all been found in peat bogs, so the skin and hair had been preserved, which was quite amazing to see. The interesting thing was how they were displayed. The entire exhibit showed other things which had been discovered in bogs due to the amazing preservation conditions, but the bodies were hidden away in the middle of circular walls which you had to walk around to get into, to see the bodies. I thought this was a good way of displaying them, because not only were they lit dimly to preserve them, but it shielded them from eyes which did not wish to see them, and allowed people to enjoy the rest of exhibit without seeing them if they didn’t wish to. I think this also gave the bodies an enormous amount of respect too, especially as all the bog bodies here were killed in such unpleasant ways. It was a really good way of exhibiting them.
The Viking archaeology and all the jewellery was also very impressive, and the entire Museum was well laid out and took you in chronological order from beginning to end. By the time we had finished, it was around 3:15pm and we thought of going to the “Dublinia” experience but our feet were aching and we were both quite tired. We walked around to see the Liffey (the Irish river), and I was on the lookout for Irish tourist shops so I could browse postcards and other crafty little things. I saw one as we came into Dublin but it must have been quite a way out from where we were. To be honest, we didn’t really see much in the way of tourist shops, like you do in London, Edinburgh or even Paris - you get quite a few tourist shops, but we were struggling to find even one. The other thing about Dublin is that it didn’t really disappoint me as such, it’s just that it seemed like a normal city. It didn’t have anything to define it really as the capital city of Ireland, in the same way London is English, Paris is French, and Rome is Italian. I just didn’t find Dublin distinctly Irish, just as a city centre.
So, we made our way back home to enjoy a nice cup of tea, relax and hopefully have a better night’s sleep than last night, and being EXTRA careful with those stairs. All this time I have been worrying about Mathew falling down them, and I ended up being the one to do it instead!
So, today we were planning to go to Dublin, and I was feeling fine so that’s where we went. We used our pop-out map of Dublin all day which was very handy to get to where we wanted.
First off we went to Trinity College to see the Book of Kells. The entire thing was an exhibition of many illuminated manuscripts, about their history and how they were made. There were numerous exhibits such as “pocket books” which were thick, small and just as pretty as the larger books. The ink was bright and the gold leaf was very shiny. All the books were in very good condition, considering their age - the first couple of books we saw were about 600 years old, whereas the actual Book of Kells is just over 1000 years old. I became particularly mesmerised by a little video in the exhibition, showing how a book would have been made - the pages being sewn together, then the front and back, then covering the front with leather or vellum, sticking it on, sewing it to secure it…. I don’t think I reached the end of the video but I had to tear myself away from it because of school groups and I had lost track of how long I had been standing there with my mouth gaping open at the video….!
Throughout the exhibit, like many I suppose, there were enlarged poster-sized copies of many of the books, mostly the totally illuminated pages with no text. The light behind them showed up the colours and the shapes, but when it came to see the Book of Kells, the colours were much darker, and duller. I was still impressed by them of course, what with all the detail put into the tiniest of spaces, the work was really quite exquisite. But this book is over 1000 years old, you can’t really expect the pages not to fade can you? The pages with text were a little brighter, but then again the only illuminated parts were the first letters of each paragraph - still, with exquisite detail in the patterns.
We were then taken back downstairs into the shop which was really quite good, although I didn’t buy a great deal. I bought a couple of “Thank You” cards for the owners of the places we were renting during this holiday, as I had forgotten to create my own to take. I bought a souvenir for my brother - a mouse mat with a celtic pattern - and we went on towards the National Museum of Ireland.
The Museum - like most Museums - was free to get into, and surprisingly, there was no fee for the lockers to put bags and coats into. The first thing we did was go to the café - I hadn’t realised that it was 12noon and I hadn’t had anything to eat since Breakfast. That and not getting much sleep last night probably didn’t help how I was feeling - I was fine, but I was feeling a little like a zombie, as you do when you don’t get much sleep the night before!
We both had a “twice backed potato” which was really very nice as it had been mixed with ham and cheese, and baked again, and it came with two side salads. A large meal for the middle of the day, so we though we might have a light meal for dinner!
This Museum was really very very good. Apart from what seemed like random exhibits on the Ancient Egyptians, Ancient Cyprus, and a Roman exhibit, pretty much everything was either Irish, from Ireland, or had Irish connections. Irish archaeology spanning from the Palaeolithic (stone age) right up to Medieval archaeology was displayed, and I have to say, the Irish have some pretty impressive archaeology. The prehistoric pottery was very different from English pottery - ours is plain with occasionally some decoration, while Irish pottery is FULL of patterns, filling the entire surfaces. Some pots even came with lids - which we don’t see in England - and the patterns went from rim to base.
The Irish seem to have quite a lot in the way of textiles and leather, and also wood - a wooden cauldron was quite an impressive piece - probably because Ireland had a lot of natural peat bogs in which this stuff was found. The waterlogged conditions preserve things like wood, leather, and any textile really, so these things barely perish in places like this. We saw a lot of shoes and leather capes, and scabbards and sheaths for swords, some of which were intricately decorated with the typical celtic pattern we associate with Irish Iron Age archaeology.
Something else which was exhibited in an interesting way, I thought, were bog bodies. They had all been found in peat bogs, so the skin and hair had been preserved, which was quite amazing to see. The interesting thing was how they were displayed. The entire exhibit showed other things which had been discovered in bogs due to the amazing preservation conditions, but the bodies were hidden away in the middle of circular walls which you had to walk around to get into, to see the bodies. I thought this was a good way of displaying them, because not only were they lit dimly to preserve them, but it shielded them from eyes which did not wish to see them, and allowed people to enjoy the rest of exhibit without seeing them if they didn’t wish to. I think this also gave the bodies an enormous amount of respect too, especially as all the bog bodies here were killed in such unpleasant ways. It was a really good way of exhibiting them.
So, we made our way back home to enjoy a nice cup of tea, relax and hopefully have a better night’s sleep than last night, and being EXTRA careful with those stairs. All this time I have been worrying about Mathew falling down them, and I ended up being the one to do it instead!
Wednesday 2nd June
Last night I slept much better than the night before! Still stiff in the right shoulder and ribs area, but I felt it was improving.
Today we were off to the Wicklow Mountains, and we took the scenic route, of course. As we entered the Wicklow Mountain National Park, the landscape turned into peat bog, and at some points we could see how think the peat was. I remember from the Museum yesterday that 98% of Ireland’s natural peat bogs are gone due to fuel extraction, so this being a National Park, is protected. The cotton grass was out which was how I could tell it was a bog.
The landscape changed from peat bog to heath land to forest, reminding us of the road to Tofino in Canada, Scotland, Yorkshire and the Derbyshire Peak District all in one go! The roads were rough and windy, and we stopped off at several viewpoints along the way, and eventually we got to the Heritage/Visitors Centre in Glendalough, which we didn’t go in with the exception to ask for a map of walks and some information about the park. It looked pretty empty though…
First, we strolled around the historic ruins. We walked through “The Gateway” to the “Monastic City” of Glendalough which took us into the old graveyard with its old old gravestones. There was a round tower in the graveyard, very much like the one we saw at Monastaboice just the other day, only this one was complete. Like all or most of these round towers in Ireland, this was built of solid granite and mica-slate, standing at 30 metres in height with the doorway 3.5 metres from the base. It had a complete conical roof although it had been rebuilt from the original stones. They were bell towers but were also used as store houses and places of refuge in times of attack.
There was a small church of “St.Kevin” which we couldn’t enter, but it too had a little round tower at the end, as its spire, and the “Priest’s House” which as in ruins, but almost totally reconstructed from the original stones based on a 1779 sketch, we could walk around and explore. along with the Cathedral. There are more monuments and ruins like these nearer the water.
We decided that it was really quite hot and layers and thick socks were removed before continuing. We did two walks combined into one. The first was the pink route called “Poulanass” which from the Irish imeans “Hole of the waterfall” and we stopped when we got to the Upper Lake for lunch just 20 minutes into the walk. Afterward, we followed the route up hill and this was where I got my walking sticks out - which I found out today, are REALLY very good! I was having trouble breathing at points because of my bruised ribs on one side, but I soon discovered a position to take in order to take a big breath. I went at my own pace, but the sticks made it better, made me go faster, and I really felt I was getting a full body work out and not just using my legs. I think if I hadn’t had them, I almost definitely would have been moaning all the way.
We soon got to the junction where the second walk called “The Spic” began. It was basically ALL uphill. Now, I don’t usually go for these, but I had my sticks and I was in the mood for achieving something today, and although we didn’t complete the entire walk of “The Spic”, we got to the very top where we were rewarded with a great view which we enjoyed for a little while before going back down. The entire walk here had been on wooden board walks, basically large chunks of wood which were built as a staircase. I actually felt scared coming down them, mainly because of my fear of falling which arose from what happened on Monday, but all the wood was covered with chicken wire and had lots of these metal stud things in to prevent slipping. AND I had my sticks. I had to stop a couple of times because my legs were feeling wobbly, otherwise I made it just fine back to the beginning of “The Spic”. My right knee was just starting to hurt as I bent it so I had to change my stride to come down with a straight right leg. This was the bruised knee….! Everything else was fine, I just think I burned quite a few calories today! The total distance we walked today was 7km (4.5miles), and the total ascent was 250metres which I have to say, is pretty damn good going for me, not being an experienced walker! The sticks definitely helped, and I don’t care whether or not its real or psychological! They’re great!
We celebrated by going back to the main hub of the Glendalough where Mathew got some strawberry sorbet and I decided to get an ice cream “99” with a flake, the ice cream flavoured with butterscotch sauce. MmmMmm! Just what you need after a good long “up” walk! So much for "99" these days, this one was E2.50! While we were there, we noticed there seemed to be a randomly ad hoc “market” there selling souvenirs and such like. I had a look, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. You know you get good souvenir shops and bad souvenir shops? Well, this wasn’t really either, it was a souvenir shop in limbo selling nothing particularly special. I checked out the postcards and I couldn’t find anything I liked at all, that I wanted to send home. I was hoping to send some tomorrow but I just couldn’t find some really nice ones. Perhaps I was being too picky? I have noticed there seems to be a distinct lack of Irish souvenir shops where we have been so far. Not even the Visitors Centre had anything - and it was more like an information desk, as you had to pay to get in and see an exhibition, and there wasn’t even a shop there. I found this lack of shops very strange, and I just wanted there to be something, as so far I hadn’t bought any sort of souvenir for myself, save a small book for the National Museum of Ireland which I bought yesterday. I was looking for something like a cross stitch kit or something - and I hadn’t seen anything like that so far. I don’t want a bright green furry hat with a Guinness logo on it or a t-shirt with a shamrock on - I want interesting, unusual things. I ‘m pretty sure they do exist though, as I am sure we have driven past a few shops which may have sold something more interesting but we couldn’t stop in the middle of the street now, could we?!
We started off on our long journey back - this would be the furthest we were going to travel this week, with the exception of driving to our second holiday cottage on Saturday. We stopped off at Aldi in Ashbourne to get a few bits and pieces and finally made it home at 7:15pm, which is the latest we’d come back that week. Hopefully a really good night’s sleep would follow.
Today we were off to the Wicklow Mountains, and we took the scenic route, of course. As we entered the Wicklow Mountain National Park, the landscape turned into peat bog, and at some points we could see how think the peat was. I remember from the Museum yesterday that 98% of Ireland’s natural peat bogs are gone due to fuel extraction, so this being a National Park, is protected. The cotton grass was out which was how I could tell it was a bog.
The landscape changed from peat bog to heath land to forest, reminding us of the road to Tofino in Canada, Scotland, Yorkshire and the Derbyshire Peak District all in one go! The roads were rough and windy, and we stopped off at several viewpoints along the way, and eventually we got to the Heritage/Visitors Centre in Glendalough, which we didn’t go in with the exception to ask for a map of walks and some information about the park. It looked pretty empty though…
First, we strolled around the historic ruins. We walked through “The Gateway” to the “Monastic City” of Glendalough which took us into the old graveyard with its old old gravestones. There was a round tower in the graveyard, very much like the one we saw at Monastaboice just the other day, only this one was complete. Like all or most of these round towers in Ireland, this was built of solid granite and mica-slate, standing at 30 metres in height with the doorway 3.5 metres from the base. It had a complete conical roof although it had been rebuilt from the original stones. They were bell towers but were also used as store houses and places of refuge in times of attack.
There was a small church of “St.Kevin” which we couldn’t enter, but it too had a little round tower at the end, as its spire, and the “Priest’s House” which as in ruins, but almost totally reconstructed from the original stones based on a 1779 sketch, we could walk around and explore. along with the Cathedral. There are more monuments and ruins like these nearer the water.
We decided that it was really quite hot and layers and thick socks were removed before continuing. We did two walks combined into one. The first was the pink route called “Poulanass” which from the Irish imeans “Hole of the waterfall” and we stopped when we got to the Upper Lake for lunch just 20 minutes into the walk. Afterward, we followed the route up hill and this was where I got my walking sticks out - which I found out today, are REALLY very good! I was having trouble breathing at points because of my bruised ribs on one side, but I soon discovered a position to take in order to take a big breath. I went at my own pace, but the sticks made it better, made me go faster, and I really felt I was getting a full body work out and not just using my legs. I think if I hadn’t had them, I almost definitely would have been moaning all the way.
We soon got to the junction where the second walk called “The Spic” began. It was basically ALL uphill. Now, I don’t usually go for these, but I had my sticks and I was in the mood for achieving something today, and although we didn’t complete the entire walk of “The Spic”, we got to the very top where we were rewarded with a great view which we enjoyed for a little while before going back down. The entire walk here had been on wooden board walks, basically large chunks of wood which were built as a staircase. I actually felt scared coming down them, mainly because of my fear of falling which arose from what happened on Monday, but all the wood was covered with chicken wire and had lots of these metal stud things in to prevent slipping. AND I had my sticks. I had to stop a couple of times because my legs were feeling wobbly, otherwise I made it just fine back to the beginning of “The Spic”. My right knee was just starting to hurt as I bent it so I had to change my stride to come down with a straight right leg. This was the bruised knee….! Everything else was fine, I just think I burned quite a few calories today! The total distance we walked today was 7km (4.5miles), and the total ascent was 250metres which I have to say, is pretty damn good going for me, not being an experienced walker! The sticks definitely helped, and I don’t care whether or not its real or psychological! They’re great!
We celebrated by going back to the main hub of the Glendalough where Mathew got some strawberry sorbet and I decided to get an ice cream “99” with a flake, the ice cream flavoured with butterscotch sauce. MmmMmm! Just what you need after a good long “up” walk! So much for "99" these days, this one was E2.50! While we were there, we noticed there seemed to be a randomly ad hoc “market” there selling souvenirs and such like. I had a look, but I couldn’t find anything I liked. You know you get good souvenir shops and bad souvenir shops? Well, this wasn’t really either, it was a souvenir shop in limbo selling nothing particularly special. I checked out the postcards and I couldn’t find anything I liked at all, that I wanted to send home. I was hoping to send some tomorrow but I just couldn’t find some really nice ones. Perhaps I was being too picky? I have noticed there seems to be a distinct lack of Irish souvenir shops where we have been so far. Not even the Visitors Centre had anything - and it was more like an information desk, as you had to pay to get in and see an exhibition, and there wasn’t even a shop there. I found this lack of shops very strange, and I just wanted there to be something, as so far I hadn’t bought any sort of souvenir for myself, save a small book for the National Museum of Ireland which I bought yesterday. I was looking for something like a cross stitch kit or something - and I hadn’t seen anything like that so far. I don’t want a bright green furry hat with a Guinness logo on it or a t-shirt with a shamrock on - I want interesting, unusual things. I ‘m pretty sure they do exist though, as I am sure we have driven past a few shops which may have sold something more interesting but we couldn’t stop in the middle of the street now, could we?!We started off on our long journey back - this would be the furthest we were going to travel this week, with the exception of driving to our second holiday cottage on Saturday. We stopped off at Aldi in Ashbourne to get a few bits and pieces and finally made it home at 7:15pm, which is the latest we’d come back that week. Hopefully a really good night’s sleep would follow.
Thursday 3rd June
Well, last night I had an unbelievably good night’s sleep! I slept pretty much straight through, and I felt absolutely fine this morning. With the exception of my right upper ribs of course, which were still pretty sore.
Excuse me?! Who's idea was this? So it turns out that either we haven’t been going to the right places, OR there are NO postcards of anything in Co. Meath. Other than Newgrange at Newgrange and Knowth at Knowth. Even they didn’t have postcards of anything in Co. Meath except the actual attraction we had some to see, and some of artefacts found there. Where are the rolling hills? Why were there no photographs of the coast? Cliffs? Fields? Flowers? Why no photographs of the mountains in Co. Wicklow?! Seriously - this is like going to the Lake District and finding NO postcards of the Lake District. It is really incredibly strange!!
Anyway….where was I? Oh yes, we went to Howth. Disappointed yet again with the NON abundance of shopping (unless you want to just eat fish or buy fishing supplies of course. Oh and golf paraphernalia.), this is not what we came for. We FINALLY discovered where the public toilets were just as we were wondering if there were any, save for the single toilet outside a pub at the other end of the road which seemed to just be there for anyone. One more thing to say about Howth is that they have signposts - to the restaurants. Nothing to say where the public toilets are, where the main village centre is…just where the restaurants are. Yet more oddities!
We parked in one of the many car parks and found the coastal path which we headed along, and of course I used my sticks again. I don’t think I had quite as much determination as I seemed to have yesterday, but we walked all the way to the lighthouse at the end and all the way back again. This was only part of the entire coastal walk, and I really would have liked to have gone much further, but my feet just don’t allow that kind of walking, which I find terribly irritating because the rest of me really wants to do it! We had lunch overlooking the Irish Sea, and we had a nice little snooze in the sun when we got to the lighthouse. The weather was nice, but quite humid on the way there. The views we had during the walk could have DEFINITELY made it to a postcard, so I have no idea why there are none of this picturesque coastline.
After the snooze, we went on our way back to the car, although this time there was more of a breeze in the air which was really very pleasant, and my breathing became easier. Back to the car, we went up to Howth Castle - which is still privately owned and lived in so it’s not open to the public - but we could go into the gardens which was (oddly) behind the golf club, and contained lots and lots and LOTS of Rhodedendrons, everywhere. They were all in flower and there are apparently over 200 species of them here. We didn’t walk up into the cliff side where lots more of them were, but we walked around at ground level which ended up being more of a forest than a garden. Walking back to the car, some golfers amused us by taking a short cut through the rhodedendron garden and flinching and swatting at flies in the same manner as what I used to do when I was 5 years old. Obviously, not used to forested areas and bugs!! Back into the car we got (just Mathew and myself, NO golfers…!) and off into the main town of Howth once more to buy something refreshing (Mathew: fizzy drink, me: ice cream! Yey!) before we set off to Ashbourne where we stopped off to pop into Tesco, fill up the car, and then we were off home to have another nice cup of tea.
Today we went over to Howth, a peninsular to the north of Dublin. We had spotted a coastal footpath which we thought we might explore, although not ALL of it as it would have been far too long for me to do! The first thing I said when we got there was that I would need the loo before going on this long walk. We walked around in Howth centre, as we had found a map of the peninsular in our holiday cottage. We read that there was an abundance of shops and restaurants. Perhaps Howth had some good tourist shops with decent postcards?
The answer of course, was no. Howth, it seems, is a working harbour and has only really recently decided to cash in on tourism as they have obviously learned that tourists like fishing villages like this. There was indeed, an abundance of cafes, coffee shops and of course, seafood restaurants and fish and chip shops, which we expected to see. On the other side of the shopping, there was one jewellery shop and a couple of newsagents. There was one tourist shop but it was one of those bad "kiss me quick" shops selling nothing particularly Irish - more on the theme of seaside in this one. What baffled me was the selection of postcards - yes, there were some pretty decent looking ones finally….but when I turned the postcards around to see where the photograph was……oh dear. Yes there were postcards of Dublin, which were very nice but we wanted Co. Meath. What did we find? Co. Cork, Co. Kerry, Co. Limerick…
Excuse me?! Who's idea was this? So it turns out that either we haven’t been going to the right places, OR there are NO postcards of anything in Co. Meath. Other than Newgrange at Newgrange and Knowth at Knowth. Even they didn’t have postcards of anything in Co. Meath except the actual attraction we had some to see, and some of artefacts found there. Where are the rolling hills? Why were there no photographs of the coast? Cliffs? Fields? Flowers? Why no photographs of the mountains in Co. Wicklow?! Seriously - this is like going to the Lake District and finding NO postcards of the Lake District. It is really incredibly strange!! 
Anyway….where was I? Oh yes, we went to Howth. Disappointed yet again with the NON abundance of shopping (unless you want to just eat fish or buy fishing supplies of course. Oh and golf paraphernalia.), this is not what we came for. We FINALLY discovered where the public toilets were just as we were wondering if there were any, save for the single toilet outside a pub at the other end of the road which seemed to just be there for anyone. One more thing to say about Howth is that they have signposts - to the restaurants. Nothing to say where the public toilets are, where the main village centre is…just where the restaurants are. Yet more oddities!
We parked in one of the many car parks and found the coastal path which we headed along, and of course I used my sticks again. I don’t think I had quite as much determination as I seemed to have yesterday, but we walked all the way to the lighthouse at the end and all the way back again. This was only part of the entire coastal walk, and I really would have liked to have gone much further, but my feet just don’t allow that kind of walking, which I find terribly irritating because the rest of me really wants to do it! We had lunch overlooking the Irish Sea, and we had a nice little snooze in the sun when we got to the lighthouse. The weather was nice, but quite humid on the way there. The views we had during the walk could have DEFINITELY made it to a postcard, so I have no idea why there are none of this picturesque coastline.Friday 4th June
We left for Trim, and Trim Castle. Trim seemed like yet another town not geared up for tourism really, with no souvenir shops in sight. The tourist information centre had a café and tiny gift shop which we decided to investigate, but it had very little in the way of nice souvenirs and although it had some postcards, there were none of anywhere in particular, but plenty of those really bad photo-shopped college images which I find cheesy and irritating! For a moment I thought I saw a postcard of the castle next door, but alas, it was a totally different castle although it was on the same river. No postcards of Trim castle at all.
Into Trim Castle we went, and we were given a couple of tokens which we would give someone when the tour of the keep began. We could only go into the keep with a tour, so this is what we did - and it wasn’t that expensive either. We walked around the ruined remains of the rest of the castle before finally starting the tour which was really very good indeed. The woman taking us around had obviously done this so many times before, she spoke fast, easily and seemed to know pretty much everything about everything!
Afterward, we realised that there was no gift shop as such, just a kiosk with a notice board which displayed leaflets, a souvenir booklet of the castle - which I have to say, is the first souvenir booklet I or Mathew had seen on this holiday - a poster and 4 postcards. Yes, postcards! BUT - they were reconstruction drawings of the castle, not photographs. As cute as they were, I like them but I would not have sent them to anyone. I was hoping that, since I had read about the town of Kells, there would be something more substantial. Little did I know I was going to be bitterly disappointed.
Arriving in Kells, the traffic was quite heavy. I thought this must be a really popular town, which I thought was because of it being a historic town. Driving through, I took the time to look around at the shops and quickly realised it was just another town in Ireland, with the usual grocery shop, butchers, hardware store etc. etc. So I knew that there was going to be no shopping “in town”. That left the Heritage Centre which I really had high expectations for, and after we realised it was just behind where we had parked, we decided to go in, although somewhat reluctantly because it looked pretty empty.
Inside, there was one reception desk with some leaflets, no shop, no gifts, no postcards. Mathew asked about an exhibition, and the lady informed us that the Heritage Centre was closed because it was having its roof repaired. They had brought a few things from the exhibition down into the foyer for people to see, but that was it. There was not even a mention of the “historic walking trail” around the town which I had read about so many times before we came here.
So, we ended up staying in Kells for the most part of 5 minutes before leaving for home. We were bitterly disappointed with Kells, but at least on the way home we found some fresh local strawberries being sold at the side of the road, which funnily enough I had mentioned to Mathew that I wanted for my waffles tomorrow. And there they were - these strawberry stalls by the side of the road! Seriously - what are the chances? We pulled over, I got out and bought a box and it was quite full so of course, I nibbled some on the way home.
So tomorrow we head west for County Clare for our second week in Ireland. Spending some time in the eastern counties of Ireland has taught us quite a few things so far:
1. There seems to be a signpost shortage, not only in the countryside, but on major junctions too. It seems that either nobody wants people to know where they are heading to, or there is an issue with people stealing signposts and selling them as scrap metal. And I think the locals like turning the signs so they point the wrong way....!
2. The term “T-Junction” doesn’t seem to exist here. It’s “cross” or “cross roads” which can mean a junction of any kind.
3. The eastern counties of Co. Meath and Co. Wicklow at LEAST are not really geared up for tourism, despite there being plenty to see here. Indeed, there are lots and lots of things to see and do, but if you decide to spend a week on this side of the country, don’t expect there to be much in the way of souvenir shops, crafts or scenic postcards (that is, unless we have just been going to the wrong places and haven’t found these things).
4. Regarding the postcard thing - tourist attractions at least in the eastern counties of Meath and Wicklow, don’t seem to do postcards of the actual attraction itself, although you may have a few exceptions like Newgrange.
5. The Irish are very friendly and welcoming people.
6. There seems to be a strange Grapefruit Juice Conspiracy here. We just can’t find any grapefruit juice anywhere. Not even in Tesco….!!
So….onward to the next week of our holiday on the west coast of Ireland! Here’s to decent postcards and souvenirs, gifts and craft shops! I’ve been there before, I KNOW they exist!!
Saturday 5th June
Today we planned to travel from our cottage in Ardcath, Co. Meath to Fanore in Co. Clare via Roscrea Castle to break up the journey and perhaps have lunch there too.
We were all packed and ready to go. We looked around for the owner but he wasn’t there so we left a Thankyou card and a message in the visitors book, and left. The journey to Roscrea was fairly uneventful which was a little surprising since this weekend is a Bank Holiday weekend in Ireland..! We reached Roscrea at around 11am and went around the castle, which was small and cute. There was a house there too, although it was closed for renovations but we were able to go into the cute little garden. This morning my side (ribs) were really very painful indeed, and I later wondered if packing and washing my hair last night had anything to do with it. Or perhaps it was because I hadn’t done anything as strenuous as the walking we have been doing…! I had no idea. But I popped into a pharmacy and got some ibuprofen gel to rub on the area. As I type now, it is a little better, but it is really rather sore today. I was getting concerned about visiting the Isle of Aran (Inishmore) because I was looking forward to riding a bike….and seeing if I could remember how to ride it!
After a quick walk around the small town of Roscrea, we headed off to Portumna for lunch. Looking at the map, we thought that we would find a park with some nice picnic tables and some nice scenery……no. We followed a road down to a gate which ended with a camp site. So we turned around and just stopped in a random spot within the park area and sat outside for lunch. We were under some trees and it was a little chilly - the first chill we have really experienced here whilst in Ireland! After lunch we explored the random friary ruins, and set off for Fanore in County Clare, and of course we passed the proper entrance for the Portumna Park which would probably have given us some nice picnic tables and scenery to enjoy….!
Again the second leg of the journey was fairly uneventful, although these roads were winding and twisting here there and everywhere and I started to get sleepy. Perhaps it was the rocking of the car on the uneven roads which was making me doze. We eventually started running parallel to “The Burren” which is a National Park in which we were staying for our second week in Ireland. Lots and lots of “limestone pavements”, basically its incredibly rocky absolutely everywhere. It’s such a surreal landscape, its very strange, yet really nice to look at because of how the stone has worn away and how grass and flowers grow in between the cracks.
We stopped off at a viewpoint so we could take a photo of the “mountains” (well, hills really….!) we had just driven through, some of the limestone pavements and the turquoise of the water in Galway Bay. Not sure if it would come out in the photos, we took some anyway! We walked down as far as the limestone pavement coast would let us, and I ended up losing one of my batteries to the Burren - a rechargeable one too! Good job I had plenty more! I think I may have strained to hard to try and get it out because my right side had been feeling okay until then!
Back into the car, we continued along the road, but not for long - we had reached our second holiday cottage “The Sanctuary”, which pretty much overlooked Galway Bay with the Aran Islands in the distance. We were hoping to see some nice sunsets from our cottage as we were facing west!
So finally we were in the next holiday cottage, settling in for our week in western Ireland.
After a quick walk around the small town of Roscrea, we headed off to Portumna for lunch. Looking at the map, we thought that we would find a park with some nice picnic tables and some nice scenery……no. We followed a road down to a gate which ended with a camp site. So we turned around and just stopped in a random spot within the park area and sat outside for lunch. We were under some trees and it was a little chilly - the first chill we have really experienced here whilst in Ireland! After lunch we explored the random friary ruins, and set off for Fanore in County Clare, and of course we passed the proper entrance for the Portumna Park which would probably have given us some nice picnic tables and scenery to enjoy….!
Again the second leg of the journey was fairly uneventful, although these roads were winding and twisting here there and everywhere and I started to get sleepy. Perhaps it was the rocking of the car on the uneven roads which was making me doze. We eventually started running parallel to “The Burren” which is a National Park in which we were staying for our second week in Ireland. Lots and lots of “limestone pavements”, basically its incredibly rocky absolutely everywhere. It’s such a surreal landscape, its very strange, yet really nice to look at because of how the stone has worn away and how grass and flowers grow in between the cracks.
Back into the car, we continued along the road, but not for long - we had reached our second holiday cottage “The Sanctuary”, which pretty much overlooked Galway Bay with the Aran Islands in the distance. We were hoping to see some nice sunsets from our cottage as we were facing west! Up to the cottage we parked and knocked on the door of the owner. An old border collie dog padded slowly up to greet us, later introduced to us as Timmy. We found the owner around the back of the property doing some gardening, she welcomed us, showed us around and left us to it. She had left some fruit cake in the fridge for us, MmmmMMmmm!
So finally we were in the next holiday cottage, settling in for our week in western Ireland.
Sunday 6th June
Today was a funny old day! We spent a little time deciding what do to, wondering which places would be closed or too crowded, what with it being the Bank Holiday weekend. Honestly, I don’t think we needed to worry about it - as so many people kept telling us today, the roads were “very busy” or that’s what the Irish think is busy….to us, the roads were practically empty. Yes, there were a few people around but not what I would call “heaving”…!
There was also an Iron Age road which I have to say, was very badly maintained - we could only just about see it as it was so overgrown. We thought that perhaps the recession had hit this place particularly badly and they had not been able to afford the upkeep of certain things in Craggaunowen. We finished off looking in the shop, and I remember it being better than it is now - yet another “kiss me quick” shops where the only items sold are green or with shamrocks or Guinness on them, was what this shop had unfortunately turned into. There were a few locally made handcrafted items, but really not that much, and this is what I usually like to see when I go on holiday. Unique, handcrafted locally made souvenirs with a difference. Still, this little shop had postcards, and I decided - since I hadn’t been able to find any on this holiday - to buy 6 postcards while I was there. I bought 5 of the Cliffs of Moher which we were visiting later on today, and one of the Aran Islands which we will visit later in the week.
Leaving Craggaunowen, we were a little disappointed with the “tearoom” as it had been called a “restaurant” in the brochure and on the website. This to us meant the availability of soups and sandwiches, while it was actually just tea and cake. We decided to find out about the eatery in the next stop, which was Dysert O’Dea Archaeological Centre.
Now, I was thinking that Dysert was a little village, the Castle was O’Dea’s, and the Clare Archaeological Centre was also a different building. Not so! We arrived at the Castle which was also the Archaeological Centre. Fair enough. We didn’t see any evidence of an eatery until we got inside, and you guessed it - it was yet another tea and cake place. So why the brochure and advertising on the roadside said “shops!” I have NO idea. This Castle was along a narrow rarely used road (identified by the grass growing down the centre), and that was it - no shops in sight, no village. Which again, was fair enough, we didn’t mind. Inside, the castle was quite fun, and slightly odd because every room had some exhibits in which obviously belonged to “Dysert O’Dea Archaeological Unit” with their hand written cards telling you what items were in the cabinets. It was a little like an old fashioned Museum in a way, and it was just really quite quirky, odd and not exactly what we expected it to be!
We stopped off down the road which we had came up, to have a look at the High Cross and St. Tolla's Church which was quite nice, especially as this was the church with the really nice Norman arch! It was worth going there just for that!
Leaving Dysert O’Dea, we wondered what we would do for lunch. We had been lured by the “restaurants”, “eateries” and “shops” which didn’t really exist, and we had not brought a packed lunch. I had eaten a snack earlier so my appetite was doing just fine, and Mathew’s appetite had gotten hungry but it was over that and not really bothered any more. Still, we decided to look out of any interesting places which might have been worth eating at.
Along the road back to Fanore, we stopped in Quin which had a ruined Friary. When we got to the information board, it turned out that the building had originally been a Castle (identified by the round towers on each of the four corners, now ruined), and then had been turned into a Friary. And this was the first ruined Friary we had been to where there was someone inside who welcomed us and asked us to keep to the gravel and not walk on the gravestones, and if we had to step on the gravestones, try to avoid the inscriptions. All the ruins we had been to before had not had any sort of “keeper” person at the door.
After Quinn, we continued and decided that we would head on to the Cliffs of Moher, since we hadn’t planned anything else, and it was en route. When we passed the car park which was asking for an E8 fee, we rode on to try and fine somewhere to eat before going in there. Mathew was thinking that, even though there was a visitors centre and food was available, there was no telling of what that would be. So we found the “Stonecutters Cottage Kitchen” which was pleasant enough, and I had a warm chicken and bacon salad whilst Mathew had a Panini. Afterwards, we headed back to the Cliffs of Moher, and discovered that the E8 fee was for the “facillties”, meaning everything. Well, with the exception of the extra fee for the tower on top anyway. We walked around and had a look at the shops which looked really promising at first but turned out to be yet more “kiss me quick” tourist shops selling green things and black things, no local handmade crafts whatsoever. In the visitors center however, there was slightly more in that shop, but there was more “kiss me quick” stuff than anything else, save for some really really nice glass items which were E40 at LEAST, and some nice wooden items which were also equally as nice but equally expensive. I know that locally handcrafted things are sometimes expensive, but they don’t have to be. I had already bought locally made things for E4 to E10 which were just as nice. I was beginning to wish I’d bought a couple more things from the Hill of Tara - that really was a lucky find.
Anyway, I bought some Baileys truffles which I am sure I could have got anywhere but I just felt I needed the chocolate and then we went out for a walk to see the cliffs. They were very impressive, although I felt very restricted - there was a barrier of slate or stone preventing people from getting too close to the cliff which is fair enough but it was really very high and got in the way of taking a really nice photo at some points! There was a tower at the top which was asking for more money if you wanted to go to the top of it to get “the best views” of the cliffs, which we didn’t bother with. E8 was too much already thanks! We walked around both sides and took more photos. I know the safety thing is a priority here because people have died off these cliffs unfortunately, and perhaps this is part of the reason why the barrier was so high, mostly at shoulder height. But I really was hoping to have a nice long walk along the cliff top, a barrier of sorts would have been absolutely fine with me, but at the Cliffs of Moher, there is a beginning and an end - you have to stop at certain points.
I think I just found it irritating that there was no safe path to walk along the entire cliff top on (this sort of thing does exist in several English coastlines), and to be honest, the E8 was just extortionate, especially when there is a perimeter which people have to keep to, and are unable to walk along the cliff top safely either side of the perimeter. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a very nice place indeed, but I felt penned in and restricted, I didn’t feel free to roam, and I felt robbed because as far as I’m concerned, it’s an excuse for whatever authority which owns the Cliffs of Moher to get money off people. If you decide to go there, its best to try and park elsewhere and get there on foot.
Eventually, the end of the day came and we made it home to our cottage in Fanore where Timmy the dog greeted us in his elderly man sort of way and the lady living in the house next door introduced us to her two Grandchildren who couldn’t quite understand the concept of two people staying in the cottage for 1 week, and two different people staying in the cottage for another week. She also told us that Doolin was the place for traditional Irish music, if we were interested.
We got inside the cottage and met John (the lady’s husband) who briefly spoke to us and left us to it as he went on to do some gardening. He asked us if we’d been to Galway city which he hadn’t, and he told us it was a lovely place. It’s not on our itinerary but its not that far away….. We’ll see, I guess!
We started out going to Craggaunowen, the Bronze Age Project. We must have been the first people there when we arrived at 11am, it took us the most part of 2 hours to get there. Mathew seemed to have miscalculated the distances between there and the Burren, where he found our holiday cottage. Well, he was the driver, its his fault…!! Anyway, I had been to Craggaunowen before, and I remember it as quite busy. The only thing I had wished different about the place was people dressed up and showing visitors things, talking about what people would have done and made etc. It was obvious the place was geared up for this, as we saw lathes which could have been demonstrated, and weaving looms in mid-weave. Nevertheless, it was fun, and despite there being practically nobody there as we went around, it did feel like someone was living there, thanks to there being a small fire smouldering away in the Castle and the Crannog. Mathew also went down the secret tunnel from the Iron Age fort and I took a photo of him coming out of the exit on the side. I would have done it too, but the ladder down was so rickety and the sign “Dangerous descent" made me think “with my ribs….I think not…!!” Plus, I was obviously in accident prone mode as I hit my head on the door getting out of the roundhouse to take the photo of Mathew on his way out!
Leaving Craggaunowen, we were a little disappointed with the “tearoom” as it had been called a “restaurant” in the brochure and on the website. This to us meant the availability of soups and sandwiches, while it was actually just tea and cake. We decided to find out about the eatery in the next stop, which was Dysert O’Dea Archaeological Centre.
We stopped off down the road which we had came up, to have a look at the High Cross and St. Tolla's Church which was quite nice, especially as this was the church with the really nice Norman arch! It was worth going there just for that!
Leaving Dysert O’Dea, we wondered what we would do for lunch. We had been lured by the “restaurants”, “eateries” and “shops” which didn’t really exist, and we had not brought a packed lunch. I had eaten a snack earlier so my appetite was doing just fine, and Mathew’s appetite had gotten hungry but it was over that and not really bothered any more. Still, we decided to look out of any interesting places which might have been worth eating at.
Along the road back to Fanore, we stopped in Quin which had a ruined Friary. When we got to the information board, it turned out that the building had originally been a Castle (identified by the round towers on each of the four corners, now ruined), and then had been turned into a Friary. And this was the first ruined Friary we had been to where there was someone inside who welcomed us and asked us to keep to the gravel and not walk on the gravestones, and if we had to step on the gravestones, try to avoid the inscriptions. All the ruins we had been to before had not had any sort of “keeper” person at the door.
Anyway, I bought some Baileys truffles which I am sure I could have got anywhere but I just felt I needed the chocolate and then we went out for a walk to see the cliffs. They were very impressive, although I felt very restricted - there was a barrier of slate or stone preventing people from getting too close to the cliff which is fair enough but it was really very high and got in the way of taking a really nice photo at some points! There was a tower at the top which was asking for more money if you wanted to go to the top of it to get “the best views” of the cliffs, which we didn’t bother with. E8 was too much already thanks! We walked around both sides and took more photos. I know the safety thing is a priority here because people have died off these cliffs unfortunately, and perhaps this is part of the reason why the barrier was so high, mostly at shoulder height. But I really was hoping to have a nice long walk along the cliff top, a barrier of sorts would have been absolutely fine with me, but at the Cliffs of Moher, there is a beginning and an end - you have to stop at certain points.
Eventually, the end of the day came and we made it home to our cottage in Fanore where Timmy the dog greeted us in his elderly man sort of way and the lady living in the house next door introduced us to her two Grandchildren who couldn’t quite understand the concept of two people staying in the cottage for 1 week, and two different people staying in the cottage for another week. She also told us that Doolin was the place for traditional Irish music, if we were interested.
We got inside the cottage and met John (the lady’s husband) who briefly spoke to us and left us to it as he went on to do some gardening. He asked us if we’d been to Galway city which he hadn’t, and he told us it was a lovely place. It’s not on our itinerary but its not that far away….. We’ll see, I guess!
Monday 7th June (Bank Holiday in the Republic of Ireland)
We awoke this morning to the sound of rain softly hitting the windows. We looked outside to see that it didn’t look too bad, but once we’d had breakfast, the rain became heavier. We thought about what to do today, especially as the back of my ribs were really quite painful this morning - perhaps it had something to do with me sneezing yesterday, or that I had lain on my back and hardly moved for the entire night in bed. Whatever the reason, it was very painful, but I covered myself with ibuprofen gel, took paracetamol and an anti-histamine to boost it.
We decided on Bunratty Castle as it was probably more likely to be open on Bank Holiday Monday, although we guessed many tourist shops would be. It took just over an hour to get there, but we noticed that most villages and towns we drove through had most of their shops closed. Traffic wise, I guess it was real busy by Irish standards, only occasionally seeing 2 to 3 cars in front of us from time to time. To us, it was quiet and the roads pretty empty!
When we arrived at Bunratty Castle, it was still raining, but we went ahead as we were going to be in and out of buildings all day. I remember when I was here last time, it rained as we were leaving the place and we had a flat tyre and had to wait in the car for the AA to arrive to change it for us! Fortunately, this did not happen to us today.
Exhausted, we finished looking in the Castle and went on to the “folk park” which was like Beamish or the Black Country Museums in England. A street of shops with a cobbled pavement, just how a street would have looked back in the day. We went into several buildings, a Doctors surgery, a Pawn shop, and shops which sold things like Woolen Mills selling scarves and throws in which I really wanted to buy something but they were very expensive and I felt like I was being stared at the whole time, what with us being the only people in the shop and the shop itself being really quite small.
After walking around pretty much everything, I thought about the shop selling expensive scarves again and thought that I would not go back into it, despite wanting a pashmina or shrug of sorts which felt just like the nice warm blanket I had been using in our holiday cottage! I thought I might find some elsewhere. We’ll see about that…!
Finishing our visit, we went into the gift shop and yet again I was disappointed with the lack of crafty things for sale. I know there were the shops in the “village” we had already been in, but honestly, there was more than enough space for more of it to have been displayed rather than mixing nice things with the “kiss me quick” stuff. I went upstairs where the clothes were, although there wasn’t much and it was mostly children’s clothes, I finally saw some warm woolies which I liked. I found a pink “wrap” which was a little like a cardigan which buttoned up on one side, it was a little asymmetrical. I tried it on, and although I liked the colour, I knew it didn’t suit me. The neck was quite high and big, and the asymmetry didn’t suit me, despite the whole thing feeling soft and comfortable. Putting it back on the hanger, we exited the shop and got back into the car.
After posting our postcards, we went less than a mile around the corner to “Blarney Woolen Mill” (a bit like Edinburgh Wollen Mill stores) to investigate their gifts and warm woollies. Unfortunately, it was more of the same “kiss me quick” things for sale, along with Waterford crystal which I wasn’t planning on buying anyway, homewares, food, and when we went into the woollies section, I did find a really nice button up cardigan which was thick and warm, and purple….but it was really very coarse and I thought it would be really quite itchy after a while. You have to be careful with some of this stuff - mohair is often used in Irish and Scottish areas as it’s a very common material to make clothes out of, but if you have sensitive skin, it’s not worth paying E60 for something which is really going to itch so much the first time you wear it, you won’t wear it ever again….! Softer wools are used for other items of course, but it’s the usual case of finding something soft which you like the style and colour of, and which suits you. So, I grumpily removed the itchy cardigan and we left for our holiday cottage. Once back, we greeted a very wet Timmy who had been lying down outside. I am sure he probably didn’t mind the weather as his fur is thick and course and almost sheep like. But he was very soggy so I just scratched his head and said “Hello” before getting back into the cottage to enjoy a nice hot chocolate, and Mathew had a cup of tea. We both curled up with our books for the rest of the afternoon until we had dinner and a relaxing evening.
We decided on Bunratty Castle as it was probably more likely to be open on Bank Holiday Monday, although we guessed many tourist shops would be. It took just over an hour to get there, but we noticed that most villages and towns we drove through had most of their shops closed. Traffic wise, I guess it was real busy by Irish standards, only occasionally seeing 2 to 3 cars in front of us from time to time. To us, it was quiet and the roads pretty empty!When we arrived at Bunratty Castle, it was still raining, but we went ahead as we were going to be in and out of buildings all day. I remember when I was here last time, it rained as we were leaving the place and we had a flat tyre and had to wait in the car for the AA to arrive to change it for us! Fortunately, this did not happen to us today.
We went in and started out looking in a few of the buildings which had been either reconstructed or rebuilt as a typical house which a poor family may have lived in, a fisherman, a landless person, a farmer etc. etc. It was fun going into all the thatched cottages and seeing that most had a peat fire glowing in the fire place (really quite acrid smells here!), which would have been really very smoky but would have definitely kept people warm. We went into the Castle going up and down several flights of spiral stairs - goodness knows how many spiral staircases we have already been up and down in during this holiday. Obviously I have no time to be scared of staircases despite my falling off some last week, I thought I was going pretty well, considering. My back and front ribs were painful today but I held on to all and any banisters when going up and down all the stairs since I fell.
Exhausted, we finished looking in the Castle and went on to the “folk park” which was like Beamish or the Black Country Museums in England. A street of shops with a cobbled pavement, just how a street would have looked back in the day. We went into several buildings, a Doctors surgery, a Pawn shop, and shops which sold things like Woolen Mills selling scarves and throws in which I really wanted to buy something but they were very expensive and I felt like I was being stared at the whole time, what with us being the only people in the shop and the shop itself being really quite small. We went into the sweet shop and I decided on some “fizz balls” which were really fizy at first, then turned into a sharply flavoured boiled sweet (orange and lemon flavours). Mathew went with “strawberry sherbets” of which I had one in exchange for a fizz-ball. It wasn’t quite as fizzy as the fizz ball but it was nice and sherbetty making my tougue feel fuzzy when I’d finished it.
We went into a potters workshop in which I ended up buying myself a pendant and a brooch as a souvenir for someone. I thought it quite innovative of a potter making ceramic brooches, pendants, earrings and hairclips which I would have bought one of if my hair stayed up in them (my hair is far too thick, smooth and heavy for those which is really very irritating, otherwise I would probably wear them all the time and my hair would be worn down much more often!!), along with the usual thimbles, jars, and mugs etc. I really like that shop!
We kept walking around, going into knitwear shops which sold very nice locally made sweaters and things which were mostly white (which I didn’t really want because it gives you a typical “I’ve been on holiday” look), and very expensive, which I was expecting. I was planning on buying myself something like this, a cardigan or warm wooly top of sorts. So far, I didn’t see any I liked enough. Also, we found a little post office in which I bought a book of 10 stamps for England for our postcards, which we posted outside the castle where the nice green Irish postbox was.
Finishing our visit, we went into the gift shop and yet again I was disappointed with the lack of crafty things for sale. I know there were the shops in the “village” we had already been in, but honestly, there was more than enough space for more of it to have been displayed rather than mixing nice things with the “kiss me quick” stuff. I went upstairs where the clothes were, although there wasn’t much and it was mostly children’s clothes, I finally saw some warm woolies which I liked. I found a pink “wrap” which was a little like a cardigan which buttoned up on one side, it was a little asymmetrical. I tried it on, and although I liked the colour, I knew it didn’t suit me. The neck was quite high and big, and the asymmetry didn’t suit me, despite the whole thing feeling soft and comfortable. Putting it back on the hanger, we exited the shop and got back into the car.After posting our postcards, we went less than a mile around the corner to “Blarney Woolen Mill” (a bit like Edinburgh Wollen Mill stores) to investigate their gifts and warm woollies. Unfortunately, it was more of the same “kiss me quick” things for sale, along with Waterford crystal which I wasn’t planning on buying anyway, homewares, food, and when we went into the woollies section, I did find a really nice button up cardigan which was thick and warm, and purple….but it was really very coarse and I thought it would be really quite itchy after a while. You have to be careful with some of this stuff - mohair is often used in Irish and Scottish areas as it’s a very common material to make clothes out of, but if you have sensitive skin, it’s not worth paying E60 for something which is really going to itch so much the first time you wear it, you won’t wear it ever again….! Softer wools are used for other items of course, but it’s the usual case of finding something soft which you like the style and colour of, and which suits you. So, I grumpily removed the itchy cardigan and we left for our holiday cottage. Once back, we greeted a very wet Timmy who had been lying down outside. I am sure he probably didn’t mind the weather as his fur is thick and course and almost sheep like. But he was very soggy so I just scratched his head and said “Hello” before getting back into the cottage to enjoy a nice hot chocolate, and Mathew had a cup of tea. We both curled up with our books for the rest of the afternoon until we had dinner and a relaxing evening.
Tuesday 8th June
First off we decided to do Ailwee Cave which I had been to before. It is a cave which was discovered by a farmer and his dog, he explored it using only an oil lamp and a box of matches, and inside there were European Brown Bear bones, proving that the cave was once used by them to hibernate. They have been extinct in Ireland (and the UK) for the last 1800 years or so. It was a good cave to go in, and there was quite a lot to see with regards to calcite formations, and even an underground waterfall. It was really very enjoyable, and this is also where we suddenly realised something - over here, or at least in the west of Ireland, “Craft Shop” means “Gift Shop”, meaning a shop which sells souvenirs loosely related to the attraction you have just visited, with only a couple of things which are actual craft items (such as locally made pottery, jewellery or glass created with innovative and interesting unique designs etc).
We didn’t buy anything, although there was a cute bear in a honey pot puppet which was tempting to buy, but I just didn’t like the idea of having half a bear, despite the honey pot…..! Oh, and the entrance fee was really very extortionate at E18 per person. This also covered the fee for the Burren Bird of Prey Centre which we weren’t really that interested in, but I guess its more worth it if you are. Unfortunately, you can’t just get a ticket for one, you have to pay for both before you get to either. Its definitely worth seeing the cave….just not worth E18 per person!
After coming out of the cave, it was still overcast and raining, but slightly brighter. We went to Poulnabroune which was a portal tomb, very much like the dolmens here in Ireland. I remember last time I was here with my parents and my brother, there was no car park or pathway leading up to it, nor was there a barrier like there is now. Mind you, it was 15 years ago when I was last here - I just remember my Dad getting really excited by seeing this huge thing in the middle of the limestone pavement of the Burren, parking and leaping across to it, the rest of us following and thinking how weird the limestone pavement was!
Anyway, we took some photos of the portal tomb before continuing on to Caherconnell Stone Fort and Visitors Centre. As usual, there was a GIFT shop (not a Craft shop!), and there was also a little restaurant or café. Now, a place like this I would normally think would not have much in the way of food, what with it being so remote and small, although it was a good stone fort with a little film to watch inside before you went to explore it. The place wasn’t even the size of Hadrian’s Wall in England which only has a small but good quality coffee dispenser with snacks, and this tiny place here had a café which served things like Irish Stew, which Mathew had. I had a toastie which included onion, ham and local Caherconnell cheese. I was expecting a toastie like the ones you make at home, but what I got was basically a sandwich which had been toasted in a Panini heater, which I thought made a nice change! I was really tasty, and came with a side salad and Pringles. What made is cute was that it had been cut into triangular quarters! Yum! I followed it up with a scone which was really nice too!
Next up was Lisdoonvarna which firstly, we noticed, seemed to be somewhat obsessed by the “Matchmakers Night” which was advertised absolutely everywhere, and there was even a “Matchmakers Bar”. The graphic for the promotion involved two cherubs - which I understand the use of - but why there was a white bearded fellow holding a loaf of bread and a glass of whiskey in his hand, I do not know - although he did seem to look like he got in the way when a photograph was taken, having an “Oh…er…sorry!” look on his face. Perhaps if you attend these evenings, you get free bread and whiskey from an apologetic man with a beard? I have no idea….
We stopped here because I had read in a leaflet (here we go…) there was a place called “The Smokehouse” which sold “crafts and gourmet foods”. The gourmet foods part was right, but it turned out to be such a tiny place, the “visitors centre” part was crammed in there with the GIFT shop, but Mathew ended up being rather enticed by all the salmon on offer, had a tasting session and ended up buying some, which we will eat later in the week I am sure!
Next up we went to Ballyvaughan which I thought was the place where we had seen some shops which finally looked like craft shops, but it turned out to be a pretty standard and plain sort of place. We stopped off to look for some places to eat out this evening but weren’t enticed by any of them, most of them being either pubs with the usual pub grub or pubs which didn’t have menus outside for perusal which made us think that the food was either normal pub grub or just non existent and more focused on alcohol than food.
On the way around Ballyvaughan I noticed a sign for an actual restaurant, so in the car we got and drove around looking for it. The map we had wasn’t exactly to scale, but we found it eventually after driving further around the corner than it was on the map, and had a look at the menu. It was a little pricey but we’re on holiday here and we were only going to eat out a couple of times, especially what with not having eaten out last week. We booked a table and headed back to Fanore, where Timmy was waiting for us. I said “Hello!” and he looked like he stomped off but he soon came back…..with his ball! I wasn’t really expecting this from the dog who had padded slowly up to us like an elderly gentleman, but we ended up playing ball with him for about 15 minutes until he got a bit tired and just sat down, panting. Enjoying the attention, I took a photo of him as he rested. I guess he’s still got some beans in him after seeing him run around after that ball!!Later that evening we went out to “An Fulacht Fia” which was an appropriately Irish named place, which apparently is roughly translated as “Deer cooking pit”, which is a type of cooking pit found all over the Burren, used from prehistoric to medieval times. They are pits which are sunken into the ground and filled with water. Hot rocks were then put into the pits to boil the water away, then the animal thrown into the hot pit to cook.
Obviously, this was a restaurant where this method of cooking was no longer used….. Or at least I didn’t think so anyway! Mathew started with a chorizo and parmesan risotto which I had a nibble of before returning to my rather nice buttered soda bread which was served as an appetiser. The risotto was creamy and cheesy and went down a treat with Mathew! For our mains, he chose John Dory, a white fish fillet of which he had 4 despite us overhearing the waitress telling another customer he would have 3 fillets on his plate. I had the salmon which came with a spinach and parmesan sauce. Both dishes came with a creamy leek and potato mash which was delicious (and I’m not fond of mash!), and seasonal vegetables. I have to say that I had no idea what the carrots were cooked in but they were delicious. It think it must have been some sort of sweet oil, and there were nuts and seeds in there too. It was just scrumptious.
I had room for dessert (the reason why I don’t usually have a starter…), and I was enticed by the cheesecake, although it came with a Malibu cream which is a rum - and I am not fond of rum. So instead, I went for my other choice - the Crème Brulee which came with summer berries and a scoop of cappucino ice cream. Both were delicious, and the entire meal (with drinks) cost us just under E65 which I thought wasn’t too bad for some top notch posh nosh!Leaving the restaurant, we noticed that the sun began to set, and we drove along the road up to the view point which we had stopped off at a few times before, and made out way out onto the Burren landscape once again, as the sun set to make the sky orange and red, and the clouds a pinky peachy colour. It wasn’t the best sunset, but it was a good one and given the bad weather, it was definitely worth seeing, even if it was a little breezy out there!! After the sun set, we made out way back to the car, and back to our holiday cottage.
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