Sunday 2 July
Another lovely
breakfast at Knockbrack, again accompanied by the 2
Irish men who delighted us with local knowledge, Irish customs, lingo etc.
We left Dublin
intending to travel south through the Wicklow
mountains but instead travelled round and round in
circles for more than 2 hours before giving up and heading to the coastal
highway. Finally we made it to Avoca, setting for the TV series Ballykissangel. Very pretty though very commercialised. We bought souvenirs, then found a
pub just out of town and had delicious soup and bread...a habit we've continued
to do each day.
Not far from there
were wonderful ruins of an old church, where we stopped to photograph and do a
mini painting...a 'pen and wash' postcard which I sent to my friend Pam.
Ruins near Avoca
Fitzgerald's Pub
Our rental car is a
Ford Focus. Russ says "it goes well, has plenty of grunt
and handles OK except for the turning circle...needs plenty of room for U
turns". Driving on the main road south was pretty much like
Tonight we are at Dungarvan on the southeast coast. Saint Garvan
founded Dungarvan in the 7th century. 'Cairbre House', our B&B, was built by Lord
Dungarvan
Cairbre House
The gardens here as
everywhere we've been, are particularly beautiful and include several
Australian natives including bottlebrush and eucalyptus.
Even the dowdiest of
houses with no front yards have wonderful hanging baskets and window boxes.
As we were running
pretty late today we skipped
View of Bay from Cairbre House
'Cairbre
House'
Brian & Geraldine Wickham
Strandside North, Abbeyside
Phone 058 42338