Day 41 and 118 to go
With a comfortable bed we both
had a good night’s sleep between Pauls’ lager bombs, hence gift of the gas. I
would be surprised if the echoing didn’t wake others staying in the nearby
rooms. It certainly woke me with a jump a few times.
I finished the loading of
pics before we went for breakfast. The breakfast room was beautiful and the
selection of fruits, yoghurts and cereals was extensive. This was all before
the amazing cooked breakfast. Talk about stuffed.
We finished the breakfast
before loading the car again, setting out the route and heading on from
Kilkenny through Aughrim and into the Wicklow mountains. It was another
beautiful drive, with rolling hills covered in yellow canola and green
pastures.
I set the GPS to take us
straight across Glenealy and on to the coastal town of Wicklow. We stopped here
finding the tourist office to collect a map and suggestions of where to head.
We walked out to the ruins of the Black Church on the coastal cliffs. We were
able to see up the coast quite clearly. 
We returned to the car and
drove the coastal route to Arklow before heading into the Wicklow Mountain
towns. We drove through Woodenbridge before stopping in Avoca to have a quick
snack. This town is famous for the filming of the TV series Ballykissangel. We
watched a red kite bird of prey circling nearby and over the river. It was a
pretty town.
Our next stop was the town of
Glendalough that we reached after driving through Rathdrum and Laragh. Glendalough
is only small but is a tourist hub because of the monastic buildings and lakes.
We wandered around the ruins of the church and graveyard. It was such a
wonderful day to spend out in the sunshine in such beautiful surrounds.
We had to return to Laragh to
drive the Sally Gap road into the Wicklow Mountains. It was a similar drive to
the one we did through dingle. Once you reach the flat area at the top it is
quite barren with areas of peat bog. We also passed many cyclists. It was tough
enough coming up in the car I would not want to ride up the mountains. After
reaching the top we made our way down the other side passing the beautiful
Lough Tay. With the clear weather we could really take in the beauty of the
landscape unlike when we drove Dingle and Kerry.
The road took us through
Roundwood and onto Newtonmount Kennedy where Paul decided to pull into the local
pub. It was empty and a little dingy but he was desperate for a drink so we had
a pint. Some locals came in after us, one with 2 black eyes! Paul got chatting
to one bloke about bikes and before we knew it we were being whisked off to his
place in his van to have a look at the Harley he is building. Paul was very
impressed and happy to talk bikes and hear the Harley started up.
We returned to the pub and
had another drink where Paul continued to chat to Roger. As it was getting on
we had to say goodbye and head on to the seaside village of Bray 15mins down
the road. Unfortunately due to the late time we weren’t able to check into a
tourist office for directions to a B&B so we drove the main streets
expecting to see B&B signs but there were none so we returned to Mount
Kennedy where we had passed a hotel.
We went to reception and were
told it was 90 Euros, which was more than we were willing to pay and we were
directed to a B&B around the corner YAY!
We found Ashby House and with
a room to spare we were able to finally relax.
After settling in we went to
the pub at the end of the road. We had the 3course meal special that seemed
like a good idea, but I was so full by the end of it I could hardly walk! I
don’t know how I got out of the chair.
When we returned home we went
through our cases and sorted things to send home. I was so buggered and glad to
call it a night.
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