Blogs from Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland, Europe - page 3

July 30 Kinsale - I caught the 252 bus at 1030 out of Parnell Place bus station to Kinsale. The 249 bus wasn’t leaving till 11:45. It was a short bus ride with its only other stop being the Cork Airport. I asked the bus driver to drop me off at the Dempsey Hostel outside of Kinsale and he said OK. The hostel is next to a Texaco gas station and store and so he let me off there. I went in and there was no one at the desk and a sign said to punch the button and someone would come to the desk. I punched the button a few times but no one came. After a bit a man came in who said his name was George and he was staying at the hostel ... read more

Geo: 51.7064, -8.5233Woke up once last night, but at least it wasn't 2:00 a.m. It's so quiet here, and my room was really dark too, so I slept very well. Decent water pressure in the shower this morning, but only about a minute's worth of hot water. It's really amazing how cold cold water can be; it's not invigorating either: it's shocking!There were plenty of choices for breakfast, including scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs with cheese, scrambled eggs with fish, and several fish dishes. I opted for the buffet and just got soda bread, cheese and a rolled up crepe thingy that had ham in it. Tasty.We all met at 9:00 to go on our walking tour of the town with Don Herlihy. We walked essentially the same route we walked last night with Declan, mainly because ... read more

We travelled by train to Shrewsbury, on a long day that involved as much waiting as it did travel – waiting for a connection at Brussels, waiting for a connection at London Euston, waiting for a replacement train at Crewe when the rostered guard didn’t show up. Shrewsbury is a nice quiet town, a bit historic and in a nice setting but for us it was good for some down time after all the cities we have been to. It does have some nearby attractions though. We visited Ironbridge, a UNESCO site and regarded as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Ironbridge has numerous museums celebrating the various industrial activities that took place in the valley – iron-making, pottery, coal mining – as well as the famous (and appropriately-named) Iron Bridge, the first iron bridge in ... read more

Tuesday, October 12: Rise and Shine!! We wanted to get to Kilkenny Castle this morning so we were up early and hiked up the street to be the first two visitors of the day. We did a self-guided tour of this beautiful site with helpful information from the docents. What a lineage-it was a castle, then a manor, and now has been restored lovingly to its 19th Century splendor. It is a work in progress but well worth the time to visit. The rose gardens and fountain, and the view to the river below were beautiful on this clear, bright October morning. We collected our car from the Car Park and stopped back at the inn to pack and check out. We stopped briefly on the way to the Car Park for a scone and cookie, ... read more

Rivermount House is simply stunning. The magnificent residence is perched on the side of the hill overlooking the valley. Not long after signing off yesterday, the weather came in and the view disappeared. It rained all night, not that I really know with the double glazing and quiet rooms. Breakfast was unsurpassed, a cooked breakfast with all the trimmings, with full dinner service and cutlery. After breakfast I packed up and headed outside. Whilst it looked as if it was raining, it was actually just low cloud. The cloud that skips by the top of lofty, but here is drifts along the surface. So it was 17 degrees, dry, with visibility to 100metres. Yey, the Irish are metric, a nice change after the yards and miles back in UK. Drove 5km back into Kinsale and went ... read more