Day 77 – 79 2nd – 4th May 2017
Breakfast with Norma – there is no better. What a feast. To add to the joy I had porridge to try and curb the excess of “Full Irish breakfasts. Norma brought the porridge out asking if I liked Baileys Irish Cream. Puzzled I answered “Absolutely”. “Well I have added a little to your porridge, if you don’t like it I will get you another one”. Baileys on porridge why had I not thought of that before. It was deeeeeeelicious.
First stop and our reason for being there – the Michael Collins House. Well initially we had been heading to the Michael Collins Museum on the outskirts of Clonakilty which rarely seemed to open. A local then explained there were two Museums – Oh so pleased he did! What an experience.
On the day we visited the Audio Visual displays were not working but this hardly mattered. History and memorabilia of Michael Collins life over the 3 or 4 floors of a house in the centre of Clonakilty. Magic. As we left Chris went to purchase a Michael Collins pencil. Such is the wonderful Irish way the person on the ticket counter gave Chris a free Michael Collins centre pencil as compensation for the AV not working!
Continued out on the way to Kinsale and stopped at Timoleague Abbey. Quite an experience – Abbey ruins filled with tombstones. A strong and seemingly recent warning notice about grave-diggers at the entrance was a puzzle!
A picturesque drive on into Kinsale. As usual the fussy eater (me) had a desire – this time for seafood. This culiminated in a table for two at at Fishy Fishy – yummmmmmm.
This was one of those times when we both tried to please the other and neither said what was on their minds so we ended up leaving the lovely seaside town of Kinsale. And on we went finally booking a room at Corbett Court Hotel Everything about this place was better than expected – seemed out in the middle of nowhere. We were not expected but there was one remaining room. My lasting memory will be a woman (and I am so sorry I did not find out her name) who did everything. Checked us in affably, waited on us for dinner and their she was in the morning efficiently preparing breakfast for everyone – cracking eggs onto the grill with one hand while dishing up the rest of a Full Irish with the other.
Randomly put a pin in the map somewhere between the hotel and Dublin. Cashel seemed to be the place. Having no idea about it we were surprised to find it had a number of sites which included the Rock of Cashel with Cashel Castle – we had to be content seeing it from a distance because we chose to spend time in the fascinating Bro Boru music museum nearby.
Driving on we decided on the random spot on the map Port Louisue for lunch. A brief walk through the village to stretch our legs and choose the best spot. Despite our desire for coffee with our food the café was changing over their coffee machine so no go.
On to Dublin via M8 and overnight with friends at Baldoyle. Dropped into the Marine Hotel for a drink overlooking the water before a lovely evening at home.
Again it was a lovely morning with friends followed by a surprisingly painless drive to Dublin airport. Once more with HereWeGo guiding us all the way to the rental car return.
Today was our first Ryan Air flight and while the horror stories floated through our minds it all worked. We had booked check in bags just in case.
After a quick transfer from the ‘John Lennon’ airport (does that sound right really!)to buses and trains we made it to Chester. Helpfully met at the station by our friends and guided to our Mill Hotel and Spa ready for our trip on the narrow boat
Dinner was a lovely evening at The Botanist – oh the Malaysian Curry!
