Days 54 – 67 8th to 22nd April 2017 Loughrea
Today we get to meet our first house-sit family including our charges for the next fortnight – a spanielly dog and a large old cat. Signing up for a number of house-sitting sites we had been watching, reading, learning and waiting. On the site Mindmyhouse we had found, contacted, and talked about this – our first date.
Firstly we say good-bye to John and the wonderful East Park Lodge, and get our last Number 15 bus into Dublin centre. Before leaving the Lodge we had ducked around the corner to a cute coffee shop spotted on our arrival when we were frustratingly lost! Ernestos Cafe – what an absolute treat. Cute place, great coffee, good food and friendly, wonderful service. Exactly as our host said when we were leaving – its a bit chaotic here today its like being at my house. I was sorry I left my camera behind but Instagram has many photos including photos of the pyramids of giant meringues tantalisingly stacked beside our table.
Having already worked out where the bus to Loughrea would leave from we confidently got off the 15 bus at the large gold ball in front of the Ulysses murals – our landmark and walked through.
With all our gear and a couple of hours to wait we settled in the sun and had a cuppa at Hippetys before heading down to the bus stop.
As told for all time Ireland is green – and yes it was as we travelled out from Dublin to Loughrea. Once there we met our new family and our lovely little home for the next two weeks. Stopped in at the supermarket so we could stock up on basics as it was quite a distance from the house. What a thoughtful touch.
Over a lovely dinner and wine we got to know each other. A wonderful evening before an early morning departure and there we were – in our borrowed little house!
We have spent our time catching up on internety stuff – emails, blogging, calls home etc – in between long walks around the town and lake. Nice to have home cooked meals and to shop locally and chat to the shop-owners. A town with the friendly touch of Healesville with Irish accents. A town that seems to have more than its fair share of pubs, churches and pharmacies! Harnies was recommended by one of the people we got chatting to in town – cute tiny pub.
Getting the best out of our time in this lovely town meant lots of walking with and without Molly. We planned walks to eventually cover the town – our favourite was The Walk a clear running moat lined with stones and dotted with small walking bridges. Many old churches and buildings throughout the town – a favourite of mine had a small red wooden entrance door with a beautiful old inscription above
While looking for information about Loughrea we discovered a local musical production – the Loughrea Musical Society – that happened to be on during our time here. Greenday’s American Idiot – what a bunch of talent, what a musical treat! The content was a bit challenging – we decided a modern day “Hair” without the hope. A challenging production carried off extremely well.
While apparently not always the case we were lucky enough to meet with (and stay overnight) with our host before and after the sit which gave us time to ask all the questions we could think of and to get to know each other. I guess it is not always the case but we had such a great time together none of us wanted to leave.
