Sorry folks having such a good time we haven't kept up to date but will do so over the next day or so. The boys felt very guilty at not stopping for us to do some shopping at Galway when we left Sligo - so we stood our ground and we did serious RT and the boys took off to the Royal Sligo Golf Course to have a look at a true links course. All was achieved with RT and the boys were happy too. Heading for Londonderry for which we were a bit worried about as the news had said a series of pipe bombs in the city of 'Derry' however pressed on and got there well before expected after doing a short tour of 'Derry' and stopped for lunch and a bit more RT ... read more

Hello - writing this after another evening meal although not at a pub although we wished we had been to the pub.. we went tonight to a restaurant called Davis's and never again even if we lived here yes we're a bit fussy in our old age re food but chili in fish cake? John wasn't happy either with his Irish Stew which was no more than a soup so heading back to the pubs in future while in Ireland. Yesterday morning we said our farewells to our Adare hosts and ventured onto King John's Castle - so John and I went in and were quite impressed with how it had been restored and how the story was told before taking photos of the outside... John said it was it was HIS castle in a former ... read more

Headed off with the intention of doing the Ring of Kerry - however, wrong turn and we missed the major part of it - we ended up doing an alternative route and went through the Killarney National Park and what magnificent sights we saw - absolutely fantastic - inland lakes and mountains and the best of all - guess what - we found our ideal renovator!! As you can see by the photo - it has the following attributes: 1. Located in the national park it doesn't require any permits 2. Has the most spectacular views 3. Is very well air conditioned 4. Has a great shop 100 metres up the road 5. No neighbour problems 6. check out the photos - we loved it! As we took the short cut to Killarney we arrived here ... read more

When we left Kilkenny we took a locals advice and headed across country to Cashel noted for the Cathedral called The Rock of Cashel. This created a problem as so few streets are named and of course we got lost and the streets became lanes and we stumbled across a little pub where we chatted with the locals at the pub to have lunch - great people and the publican waved us on our way when we were leaving. Probably glad to get rid of us and make sure we had left... however he did mention that once we leave Cashel that best we get on the freeway and that would take us straight to Cork and then to Blarney. At the Cathedral/ Rock I was unable to climb up to the top of the rock ... read more

Good evening - have had a good evening although damn cold here - went between 11 - 18 degrees today... the hottest part last about 25 minutes but tonight it was so cold we caught a taxi to - Oliver St John Gogarty Irish pub in Temple Bar... think Kings Cross Sydney..... the whole area was buzzing and was really great - people of all ages out and about despite the cold that we felt.... not sure about the others - some were in short sleeves etc. RE: Oliver St John Gogarty - From escaping prison and certain execution to breaking sporting records, Gogarty lived quite an active life from his birth in 1878 until his passing in 1957. Gogarty was known to his friends as a quintessential joker, many stories and 'legends' have been told ... read more