Friday 18^th July      SKERRIES  -  COYNE’S CROSS  -  GLENDALOUGH  -  WATERFORD  -                                                              LISMORE

A huge travel day today, but one that has gone really well. We were up around 7 in our Skerries house to get everything organised and the car packed. That proved a bit difficult, as our driveway was on a slope – not huge, but enough to ensure that the ports Lex was trying to pack kept sliding towards him, and Jo’s port went merrily rolling off down the driveway and into the gutter before I got to it! After Lex reversed the car, it all went much easier.

Cait and Danny called just before we left, so we chatted to them and then said goodbye to navigate the road around Dublin as we left, at about nine o'clock. We had a good run on the roads and were heading south from Dublin when we saw a sign to Coyne’s Cross. As this is Jo’s name, we were intrigued, so diverted off to check it out. It turns out that it’s more a locality than a town, but it did have an excellent ‘services’, so we stopped for morning tea there.

From there it wasn’t far to Glendalough, our first planned destination. It’s in a gorgeous valley of the Wicklow Mountains near the Wicklow Gap. This is a monastic site that dates back many hundreds of years, and has a huge tower (still in really good condition) with a very high doorway where the monks would retreat when attacked, and draw the ladder up after themselves! Vikings were a major problem to the Irish in the early medieval period. There are also several ruined churches, a priest’s house and a graveyard which appears to still be in use. Hundreds of people were there – it’s obviously a major tourist destination. We really enjoyed a wander around the site, and the weather was pretty kind to us, with only the odd light shower of rain. It was also quite warm, despite the forecast being for a high of 18 degrees. We’ve realised that 18 degrees in Ireland as a maximum is quite different to Queensland – it’s somehow much more moist so warmer than you expect.

                                                                  Glendalough Monastic Site

                                                       Ruins of the oldest church

Next oldest church (St Kevin's), still intact

Then we were back in the car, and heading off over the beautiful Wicklow Mountains, through Wicklow Gap, and following St Kevin’s Way for a good deal of the time.  Our destination was Waterford, a city on the Suir River near where it meets the sea. It’s renowned for its Viking heritage, and was actually settled by them. We navigated our way without too much bother into the town parking area, and walked the few blocks to the ‘Viking Triangle’, which has the original Viking tower, Reginald’s Tower, a replica of a Viking ship, and ‘The Reg’, a fabulous little pub which gave us a great late lunch. Jo and I both had potato skins with pulled beef and cheese sauce (yum) while Lex really enjoyed his fish chowder. He also got some sweet potato chips, so we all shared them.

Beautiful scenery in the Wicklow Mountains; Wicklow Gap

                                                          Reginald's Tower and the Viking replica

We had lunch at The Reg

Our next most important destination there was the Waterford Crystal Centre. Lex and I did the tour there in 2014 and bought Ash and Jay’s wedding present there and a lovely little vase that I treasure.We wandered around and looked at the eye-popping prices. I was perhaps tempted by the 1500 Euro crystal dog dish, but decided that Flash probably prefers her plastic bowl, anyway. Jo was there to buy Christopher something, which she did…..and it can’t be revealed, as it’s a surprise!

                                                     We are not bringing this home for Flash!

                                                     So many very expensive items.....

Purchase made!

By now it was getting on for 4 o’clock, so we went back to the car and headed off for our final destination of the day – Lismore. It’s not like the NSW one at all! But it is a gorgeous little town in Waterford, near Cork, and we are here for two nights. We’re staying in a very quirky little first floor apartment right in the main street. It has a green plaque on the wall which informs us that Fred Astaire was a frequent visitor to this house! The Centra grocery store is right across the street, which is very convenient. Once we’d lugged our stuff in, we popped across to get some tea, so a chicken curry is bubbling away in the oven as I type. We’ve also got little apple turnovers and our absolute favourite custard we’ve discovered, Avonmore (also the name of a river we went over today.)  Lex has gone for a walk to check out what he can see of Lismore Castle and surrounds. It’s nice to have an earlier night after our massive day yesterday – mind you, we’ve had 5 hours or so in the car, so it has been a big day anyway. Tomorrow we are off to explore the city of Cork.

                                                   Our Lismore accommodation

Lismore Castle on the banks of the River Blackwater