It looks like we will have a dry day ahead for our ‘tiki tour ‘around Kent and perhaps even some sunshine as the day progresses. Despite the rest area where the Days Inn is located being busy we had a great night’s sleep and no noise at all from the place that goes 24/7. We haven’t bought another toaster after leaving the one we had in Europe at our last stay before we headed to Ireland. So this morning there is none of the traditional toast and jam rather Tesco croissants which while they were OK and filling didn’t have that ‘buttery ‘taste of the ones we enjoyed in France. We headed off down the M20 towards Ashford and took a stop in at the shopping mall. The locals in England haven’t really taken to Sunday ... read more

We weren’t too sure what Jean and Stella have planned for us today but the weather doesn’t look too bad for some sightseeing in the Portsmouth area. Breakfast done and we are off to the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and with Stella driving we can sit back and be passengers. Like most large cities Portsmouth can be a problem to find a car park handy to where you are going so we travelled down to the Park and Ride and took a double decker bus down to the harbour where the bus stopped almost right outside the entrance. Portsmouth has had a long association of over 800 years with the Royal Navy although the days of the Navy needing all of the port for its facilities have passed and what they don’t need has been developed into ... read more

Our last full day in Ireland and we are going to take another day trip via Rathmore to see if we can find the elusive graveyard where my great grandparents the Mahoney’s of Knocknagree are buried. The lack of internet connection at our stone farm cottage has been frustrating and of course any time we have wanted to do something that requires a connection we have had to drive down to Den Joes or find a tourist information centre or library. The days of the internet cafe that used to be in almost every town have gone with mobile connections via the cell phone taking over the simple tasks that most people want and that is to check emails or Facebook. Rather than look obvious parking outside Den Joes again and using their free internet we ... read more

We have planned for our day, a trip to Cobh which is the harbour of Cork city from where the majority of Irish people emigrated from in the 1800’s.Along the way we will call into Knocknagree, the village closet to where the Mahoney family lived (my mother’s Catholic side of the family) and also see if we can take our own photos of where Daniel’s parents Michael and Catherine are buried in Rathmore. It has dawned as another typical Irish day so we expect it will follow that the drizzle will clear soon and will remain dry for the day before the drizzle comes back at night. This pattern of weather is becoming very predictable to us. With what could be a long day ahead we left home at 9.30am and headed across the county border ... read more

We think we know what the pattern of the weather in Ireland in summer is all about. You get grey overcast skies with low cloud first thing, and then it starts to brighten up with patches of blue appearing on the horizon, then a little bit of almost full sun and then the overcast returns. We reckon that is summer. Yesterday the woman who cut Gretchen’s hair had talked about how lovely the weather was when it was distinctly overcast outside and a guy in an electronics store we had gone into near Tesco’s said the same thing. We think that if you live here this might be all you can ever expect out of an Irish summer. We can appreciate why my ancestors left Ireland for a new life and better weather in New Zealand ... read more