Wattle UK 2018

Sunday, June 17, 2018

Rosslare - Gorey

Another nice gentle trip today, keeping things in the county of Wexford. Went from Rosslare to Wexford town to Gorey.

Today's journey

Went to 6 pm Mass at St Brigid's in Rosslare last night. Took me about 15 mins to get there, but the time suited better, so I could have my dinner as well. Wasn't as packed as Westport last week, but still a sizeable crowd. Lucky I got there early to get a decent parking spot.

St Brigid's in Rosslare

Had a bit of an interrupted night's sleep last night. As I mentioned the hotel was not in its prime and it had big heavy fire doors in the corridor that banged every time someone went through them, so about 12.30pm I think the music show was over downstairs and it went bang... bang... bang...
Just got sorted from that then a couple decided to have a very loud conversation in the corridor at 1.30am. There are some things about travel that I won't miss!!!!

Moving on to today...

Very misty when I had breakfast and I could barely see the port where all shipping action was happening last night. Very light rain falling too and that persisted for the first part of my journey.

First port of call was Wexford city. I don't think I've ever been there before, and Sunday morning is not always the most scintillating time in any Irish city.

Here's the usual wikipedia info...

Wexford (Irish: Loch Garman; Yola: Weiseforth)^[2] is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 National Primary Route; and to Rosslare Europort, Cork and Waterford by the N25. The national rail network connects it to Dublin and Rosslare Europort. It had a population of 20,188 according to the 2016 census.^[1]

Interesting times in Wexford...

^{County Wexford was the centre of the 1798 rebellion against British rule. Wexford town was held by the rebels throughout the Wexford Rebellion and was the scene of a notorious massacre of local loyalists by the United Irishmen, who executed them with pikes on Wexford bridge.}

^{Wexford Town from the pier}
^{Ships in the harbour}

Ships in the harbour

The railway runs alongside the pier and the main street

Railway alongside main street

Memorial to lost mariners

Wexford town looking back from the pier

Wexford Port

It was a bit quiet in Wexford at 11am on a Sunday morning, but the town was just starting to warm up when it was time for me to move on.

My final target for the day was Gorey, as it is the home of Paddy Cooke - brother of my friend Bernadette. I took the coast road again, but my little GMaps didn't like that at all and kept trying the "re-routing" trick. I had to stop and reset it, so it could take me safely to my hotel.

Paddy came and picked me up from the Ashdown Park hotel and took me to coffee shop called Insomnia for lunch.

Paddy and Moira

Then he took me for a drive down to Courtown which is the closest beach to Gorey.

For once, it wasn't me taking all the pics. Paddy was the happy little snapper and forwarded them to me afterwards.
Sad, but true, I'm in most of them!!!!

Courtown obviously has a nautical theme and they have boats for the kids to climb on - all on the land..

Courtown Beach

The Irish have an interesting sense of humour...

Then Paddy took me to the seal rescue centre, which is apparently the only one in Ireland. Seals are brought here from all over Ireland to recuperate, and when they are better, they are transported back to where they came from to be re-inserted into the ocean.

Spot the seal!

Another sad but true moment - it's father's Day in Ireland today.... no wonder this hotel was so expensive tonight! There's a performer on tonight called Jimmy Buckley (don't think it's the same guy that played for Carlton in the 70s or 80s????). The tariff for staying here tomorrow night was half of what it is tonight.... Aaaaahhh well... there's only a few days left and it is a nice hotel!

So that's been the day so far.... tonight we are going out to Katie' Daley's pub, or another similar one, provided everything is not booked out!

It's been a lovely day so far... the sun is out again and it's actually a bit steamy today.

Making the most of every moment!

Saturday, June 16, 2018

Killarney to Rosslare

Once again today was about the journey... Last night I stayed at a lovely hotel in Killarney

The Heights Hotel

As I explained in yesterday's post some royal intruders spoilt my run at Killarney, so I ended up not going into the town (sorry Katie!) I didn't set my alarm last night and consequently didn't wake up until 8am and I knew I had a significant drive today, so I decided just to push on...

Once again I took the blue route

Now, you may well ask, why did you go to Rosslare...??? Truth is, it was the only place where I could get reasonable accommodation. I was trying for either Waterford or Wexford, but everything was either booked out (Sat night!) or didn't have parking, or was extremely expensive.

So this was another pin in the map job!

The rates were quite reasonable, but you only get what you pay for and one of my favourite descriptions for a hotel like this is "faded elegance"! This one, I suspect, is very faded!!! But it's a roof over my head on a night where it was so hard to find a bed.

But its outlook is just lovely... however I'll come back to that in a short while...

Today's journey was just lovely. I virtually drove right across the bottom of Ireland.... I went through multiple counties..

I started in the Kingdom of Kerry, then flirted with Limerick. Crossed through Cork. Went into Tipperary, Kilkenny, Waterford and ended up in Wexford. Hope I didn't miss any....

Map of the Irish counties

The roads were generally very good and I didn't stop for many pics... mainly because there weren't a lot of stopping places!

I stopped for morning tea at a pub in Mitchelstown

While I was there, I had to take a pic of this....

Collection for St Anthony!

I put a couple of Euros in that because, as many of you know, St Anthony gets a real workout from me, as I continually lose stuff!

Found one place to stop and take a pic...

On the road

The road was mostly pastoral and flat with some hills. Not really mountains though, although you could see them in the background often.

And of course the mighty Hawks were playing today (Sat night in Melbourne) so I ended up streaming the radio broadcast from 3AW as I was driving along. How did we ever live without the Internet. And they won, so that was a bonus!

I stopped for lunch at Waterford.... it's a lovely town. I've been there before, on a bus tour yonks ago...

Here are some pics of the town...

It's set on the River Suir

From wikipedia

Waterford (from Old Norse Veðrafjǫrðr, meaning "ram (wether) fjord", Irish: Port Láirge) is a city in Ireland. It is in County Waterford in the south east of Ireland and is part of the province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford Harbour. It is the oldest^[2]^[3] and the fifth most populous city in the Republic of Ireland. It is the eighth most populous city on the island of Ireland. Waterford City and County Council is the local government authority for the city. Waterford is known for Waterford Crystal, a legacy of the city's former glass-making industry.
According to the 2016 Census, 53,504 people live in the city of Waterford and its suburbs.^[4]

Clock Tower

Main Street

I found the Cathedral, as you do...

Inside St Patrick's Cathedral

Outside St Patrick's Cathedral

They have a lovely pedestrian area and there seemed to be a lot of life in the city! I only had 1 hour on my parking ticket - wished I had more time to explore...

This wasn't the main mall, but shows what it was like...

After lunch, just hopped back in the car for one more hour's drive to get to Rosslare. I didn't realise that Rosslare is a major ferry terminal.

From wikipedia again...

The village of Rosslare Harbour (Irish: Cuan Ros Láir, meaning "harbour of the middle peninsula") grew up to serve the needs of the harbour of the same name (now called Rosslare Europort), first developed in 1906 by the Great Western Railway and the Great Southern and Western Railway to accommodate steamferry traffic between Great Britain and Ireland. This port also serves France and traffic is mainly roll-on roll-off (RoRo). It is thought that harbour expansion and/or privatisation could improve exporting and logistical options for businesses and producers in Ireland offering an alternative to Dublin Port which dominates trade but relies on the UK corridor for much EU trade. Rosslare Harbour railway station opened on 30 August 1906.^[1]

Once I had checked in to my hotel, I went around the front and could see it all before me...

Don't know if you can see, but the trucks all have Nolan on them! Hello to all the Nolans and Haldanes out there!!!

Rosslare ferry terminal

My hotel

There is also a walking track that follows the coast around here...

Explanation of walking track.

Map of this peninsula

I walked a little way along the track and had some lovely sea views...

Rosslare Sea Views

So, that was my day so far. I've ended up in the bar now with a half pint of Smithwicks and an interesting view in front of me. As I've been sitting here typing, one ferry has left and another has just berthed. Apparently this is the major crossing to Wales, and 3 times a week, the French ferry calls in too. Amazing what you learn on the journey!

Ferries coming and going while I type!

So that was another pleasant day... and another day in Wattle's Wanderings.

Tomorrow I'm off to Gorey in Wexford and hope to catch up with Paddy, brother of my friend Bernadette. Then 2 more nights in Dublin and it's all over Red Rover!! Fly out Wednesday night (Dublin time)

I've had the best time though... how lucky I have been.

Friday, June 15, 2018

Lahinch-Bunratty Castle - Adare - Killarney

Well apparently there are some pretty special people in Killarney at the moment, and you may be surprised to know that it's not just me!!! Seems that Charles and Camilla have decided that it would be nice to pop into Killarney while I'm here.... Wish I had known... I would've chosen a different town for tonight's stop!!!! Had traffic diversions and all.... The papers are describing it as a visit to the Kingdom.... apparently that is how County Kerry is known locally!

I was going to go into town and have a look around after I arrived but not sure I want to get caught up in all the tarradiddle! Might check it out after all the fuss dies down.

First things first - I had a lovely dinner at the Shannon's last night (Marie is married to Pat Shannon!)
It was just a lovely comfortable feeling to be among family. It was good to hear Marie say that she never worried when I was coming because they could just carry on as usual, and I just fitted in! That's a huge compliment!

Here are a few family pics..

Back row - Pat, Marie, Sean. Front row Ellen, Nora and Patrick

Marie, Moira, Sean, Ellen, Nora Patrick

The Sean took the camera

Marie, Moira, Pat, Ellen' Nora and Patrick

Patrick

So, it was with a hint of sadness and a bit of nostalgia that I left Lahinch this morning and set out on today's journey.

Today's journey. I took the blue road.

My target for today was The Heights Hotel in Killarney, which I had booked online. Last night I was thinking I would cross the Shannon on the ferry, but I've done that the last few times, so, after talking with Rosie (my host at Cois Farraige) at breakfast, I decided to go via Limerick and this time I went under the Shannon via the new tunnel. It was good to go a different way and the drive was mostly very pleasant. Had quite a few motorways, which made for easy driving.

Rosie suggested a stop at Bunratty Castle and Adare, which is what I ended up doing!

I'd been to Bunratty Castle before - quite a while ago, when I was on a bus tour of Ireland and I had enjoyed it then.

Bunratty Castle

It was also a folk park and re-created many farming homes from the Clare and Limerick areas.
It was funny, but having just been immersed in my family history again and re-visiting our farm, I found myself wondering what life was like for my ancestors in the early days.... Which of these houses would be similar to where they lived??? I'm not sure if they were poor labourers, or if they were middle class farmers???

Here are a few of the model farmhouses...

The fisherman's house...

Fisherman's house

Their curragh

Brings back memories of Colm Cille again and his method of transportation. Also, yesterday at Spanish Point they talked about using the curragh to go out and view the Spanish wreck.

The Shannon Farmhouse

Shannon Farmhouse

Poor Labourer's Farmhouse

Inside Poor Labourer's Farmhouse

Then there's the rich farmer's house...

Lots of holy images in these houses!

Rich farmer's house

I guess nothing much changes under the sun....!

Here's just a few more pics inside the Castle to finish off this section...

Inside Bunratty Castle

The Great Hall

Fireplace

The Great Hall

Had a nice coffee there, and of course there was the inevitable gift shop.

One other observation - there were heaps of school kids there. As usual, I just said my "Thank you Jesus" prayers that it was not me taking the little loves on an excursion!!!! But, actually they are lucky to have such wonderful resources within reach.

Next stop was Adare. My memory of Adare from my last visit, was of the thatched roofed cottages in the main street.

Thatched Roof in Adare

I also went past the Trinitarian Monastery which was next to the car park....

Info about the Trinitarian Monastery

Trinitarian Monastery

Inside Trinitarian Monastery

Statue of St Anne - don't often see one of these!

I lit the usual candles and said the usual prayers for everyone....

Had a nice toasted sandwich in the pub. I like pubs best for lunch, because, as I think I've mentioned before they have good wifi and nice toilets, and they will usually make you what ever you would like to order.

Here's a few pics of Adare

Adarre Town

Adare Town

So, the rest of the day was a relatively easy drive until I got closer to Killarney and then we had road diversions etc because of all the security for Charles and Camilla. I was actually listening to the radio today and I love the local shows. I started off with Clare FM and you get all the local news and where the traffic is held up etc... Then after lunch I swapped to Kerry FM and they had people covering the arrival of Charles and Camilla. At least I knew what areas to avoid! They had been to Tralee and then came to Killarney. I think they had already been to Cork.

Truly amazing timing to have them here whilst I was here!

I think I've heard the chopper go overhead as I write this, so it might be safe to go down the street now. But there's a wedding on at this hotel tonight and I might lose my parking spot.... Aaaah the things you have to consider on the road.

Actually I had a lot of trouble getting accommodation for both this hotel and tomorrow's. It seems Sat night accommodation is at a premium! But this is one of those traditional Irish hotels with big rooms and a sense of space.

It will do me just fine.