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Published: October 7th 2017
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Crowes Hermitage
#homeawayfromhome #iloveireland Well Ireland you didn't disappoint. We had one day less to explore this beautiful Country so crammed lots in while we could. Crowes Hermitage our little Cottage in Ardcath didn't disappoint. Colm was an excellent host and showed us everything when we arrived. There was a fire waiting for us so the cottage was lovely and cosy. Just love those Irish Accents. We settled in quickly and headed off to find some lunch and a parking fine 😞 Oh well! Husband didn't waste time and got a Guinness. Drogheda was our first taste of Ireland after our Cottage. We didn't explore much because it was wet, windy and cold. So went back and went across the road to our local Pub. Met a couple of nice people.
The next day (our first real day of exploring), we headed to Wicklow and the Wicklow Mountains. Magical is one word to describe it. So much to see and so many photos. Husband explored while I stayed in a stable area to photograph. Mind wants to explore, unfortunately body won't let me walk through ruins and up steps. Headed to Glendalough for a cosy lunch. Loved, loved, loved Glendalough. So beautiful. After lunch,
Crowes Hermitage
#roconcoco #arentwecute a wander around Glendalough and more photos we headed off to Tullamore for our first Whiskey Experience. Got to Tullamore in time to do a tour (last one of the day). Very interesting and love that everything is governed by the number 3. 3 is a great number. At the end we got to taste test some Tullamore Whiskeys. I even had a taste but passed them on to Husband. Responsible Driver of course. After Tullamore we ended back to Crowes, 2 plus hours drive. Decided to stop on the way for dinner at a little Village. Good old Bangers and Mash, Winning!. By the time we got home we were stuffed.
Second day of exploring saw us travel to Kilkenny, which was a big drive from Crowes. Let's just say we are glad we followed the GPS which led us down little lanes and to a farm, where we found the gem Ballykeefe Distillery. Ballykeefe is on a working farm and everything they do is from the land, the barley, the cows, their own water. Suffice to say Husband was very excited. So we had a one on one tour with Linda who was very good at her
Crowes Hermitage
#beautifulhistory job and very informative, we also met with Jamie their award winning Distiller, who was really interesting. Ballykeefe is BRAND NEW (July 2017), which means they haven't actually got any whiskey as yet. Whiskey takes 3 years + 1 day before you can bottle and sell it. So this distillery was still in wind up stage. Everything was very very new equipment wise but the buildings and farm were steeped with history. After our intensive tour, we went back for tasting, much to Husbands delight. Yes Tasting! So while Ballykeefe can't bottle whiskey just yet, they can make VODKA, GIN and POITIN. So tasting was great and we even had Jamie the Distiller with us. Husband was in heaven. There weren't little glasses for tasting, they were big, generous and full of alcohol. Tasting included various types of vodka, gin and a poItin. Of course me driving I could have a tiny sip, but passed the remainder on to Husband. As the tasting went on he became chattier, happier and I could see he was ready to settle in. I ended up having to give him the wifely HURRY UP and finally after 3 hours we were off. Off for
a long lunch and then a leisurely drive home. Husband was very chatty and said 'you know I could have stayed longer'....REALLY! I didn't notice 😊 😊 Husband loved his Distillery experience and was very very impressed. We went home for a couple of hours, then out again to meet up with an Aussie from Sarina and Dysart we both knew.. Kevin Faye. Kevin met his Irish wife and has been living here for years. We had a great catch up in Ashbourne which was great of Kevin to come and meet up with us. After another long day, back to Crowes for our last night. Time flew in Ardcath and the next day we were off to Galway.
After packing up and loading up the car, we headed off to Galway. Beautiful drive as expected across the Irish countryside. WOW! Galway is one busy busy City. Very touristy and very very busy. It was also very miserable. We had two nights in Galway and when we pulled into our Hotel we were not disappointed. It was beautiful and right on the water. This Hotel proved to be a good rest stop for us esp. due to the weather.
Bennetts Bar
#thelocalpub #justacrosstheroad We made the most of our stay there eating, drinking and relaxing was all done at the Hotel. On our second day we ventured out in the 65klm+ winds and rain for a bit of touring (mainly from the car). After two nights in Galway we headed backs to Dublin.
Dublin was all about GUINNESS... we went to the Guinness site at St James which I have to say was fantastic. It was a self tour and the place was MASSIVE. Husbands theory was you can't go to Ireland and not do Guinness. Of course he was right. We were at the Guinness site for hours and husband learned to pour his own Guinness in the Academy. Of course his chest pumped out a bit when the guy said it was the best Guinness he had seen poured all day and I got it on video. After Guinness we headed to our Hotel. HMMM this was definitely 3 star. Awesome location, but getting to the room was like a confusing maze of underground corridors. Room cleanliness wasn't the best with my pet hate and the BIG NO NO of 'wee' under the toilet seat.... Coco was not impressed. The
view was also horrible and of an alley. There were other cleanliness challenges. The room itself was nice, just the cleanliness. SOOO after Dinner I went to Reception and nicely advised the receptionist bout our 'wee' situation etc (showed her the photos). Working in this industry there is nothing worse than guests advising when they checkout of issues, its too late to help then. The lady was lovely. Back through our maze to our room and a few minutes later the manager is there (spray and wipe and a cloth in hand). He was very helpful, which was nice.
The next morning after breakfast we headed off to Dublin Airport. BLOODY HELL! first time my stress levels were risen. There was no clear signage or directions to the rental car drop off at Dublin Airport. After much frustration and circles, we parked the car in the public carpark and took the keys back to the desk in the terminal, explained where the car was and told them access to the drop off was Sh*te. They agreed ?? Apparently it is legal to drive in the Bus Lane ONLY sections to get to the drop off? By the time we
got on the plane I was sufficiently drained (mentally and physically). Our plane took a while to take off, but finally it was SWEDEN HERE WE COME!
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