Friday 12th June The Blog will henceforth be very eloquent as we kiss the Blarney Stone There was still a considerable distance to travel from Dublin from Cork but we couln’t come all this way and not visit Blarney Castle. Although we didn’t bring the microwave in from the car last night we did bring the toaster in so breakfast was still a pretty hearty affair with all the toast we wanted to eat. Gretchens cold has now almost gone although I have said she will need to visit a doctor if the cough is not cleared up by Monday when we will be in Settle.As for me,there is a hint that I might develop something but am still trying desparately trying to keep it at bay with large intakes of vitamin C. The village of ... read more

Wednesday 10th June “Its a long way to Tipperary,its a long way to go............” Well that was the tour directors plan for today but first we had some administration to do like catching up on email and booking ahead for the next couple of nights after a second night at Limerick.Gretchens cold does appear to be improving except for the COUGH!! We thought the Information Centre would be a good start as they would know where an internet cafe was.The Travelodge we are staying in at Limerick has only been open 3 days and they haven’t yet sorted out their internet connections. Whoever heard of an Information Centre not having parking for people visiting it in a car??!!Well her in Limerick that is exactly what you get.We knew where the centre was and drove past it ... read more

Monday 8th June Sligo to Galway Time to move on from Sligo and the destination by the end of the day was planned to be Galway.It had been a comfortable stay in the apartment used during the term by students and we had booked a similar apartment in Galway run by the same company and offered through Hostelbookers. We had travelled south yesterday for part of the journey and we wanted to vary the trip today so we didn’t cover the same roads as yesterday.So it was another road out of Sligo with the town of Boyle the first stop for the day. The road again travelled through rolling farmland which was fairly sparsely populated with small villages popping up every so often in the hour it took to reach Boyle. Over the past couple of ... read more

Saturday 6th June Belfast to Sligo via the coast road Well it wasn’t a bad nights sleep in the backpackers in Belfast,at least for one of us.Gretchen has succumbed to a cold which she reckoned she got from the London tube.So her nights sleep was disturbed.She also reckons that bunks aren’t a bad way to go with sleeping arrangements if you are married to someone who snores!!All you have to do to get the snorer to turn over is give them a kick in the bum from the bottom bunk!!She says it works a treat....not that I would know anything about that. We were like the Little Pigs and were up before the Wolf(aka other backpackers!!)and down to the communal showers.We thought it best to go and shower together(separate shower cubicles!!)as the lock on the door ... read more

Thursday June 4th Today is car pickup day!!and we become truly free agents to go where we want,when we want and at our pace!!Although to be fair the travel up until now has all fallen into place and despite the trollying of suitcases with backpacks on it hasn’t been that difficult.We are pleased that we have done this trip now not just for the sake that we free and financially able to do it but also we had always realised that as we aged we would probably be less inclined to take an adventure of what we had achieved so far and was still ahead of us. We had mulled over the choices of going to Heathrow without luggage on the tube to pick up the car and then drive it back to Barking via what ... read more