Callan and Kilkenny

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Today is a short day. Long day, short day. The short day was to be Callan, Kells and Kilkenny Castle. We started with Callan since it is the nearest town. I made an appointment to get my hair cut which was marvellous after nearly two months of growth. We tried to follow the signs to various historic sites in Callan but they weren’t obvious and when we did find them they were poorly looked after. Also, there was rubbish everywhere. Again. Not a lot, but just there – drink bottles and cans, dumped. Not a good look. The Augustine Priory was worth a look though, but the old Motte (Moat) was not worth the walk. Parts of Callan are fine but other parts look very neglected and uncared for.

So onto Kells which is only 10kms from here but many kms later we found our way! It’s difficult to find roads when they are small and many roads point to many things. There are historic sites everywhere. But, on arrival there was a large area below us with surrounding walls and keeps. This looked definitely worth a visit despite the rain which was now falling. We walked down to the old Augustine Priory which had been established in 1183. All the remains of the buildings were centred around a courtyard and in the 1500s a walled fortified paddock area was added to protect stock because of lawlessness. Some effort is being made to restore this site which would look fantastic if a good job is done. I got talking to an Irish guy working for the Public Works Dept and he wanted to say everything he was not happy with rather than the site. He reckoned that the country was thoroughly f**** because of all the Poles going there and bludging off them. Sounds familiar from other countries too – Switzerland.... France.... etc. Maybe the EU wasn’t such a good idea?

We went back to the cottage for lunch then headed to Kilkenny where our priority was to find another windscreen wiper. The car has a rip in the main one right where the driver looks which is useless for the driver in wet weather. After a few hiccups we found the VW dealer and very quickly had a new one.

On into Kilkenny to visit the castle. By now the time of day was getting late and we needed more than half and hour to view it so we put it off for another day. We instead headed into town for a drink and dinner followed by some Irish music. The meal was okay, not great, but it was good to listen to some music. Must do it again.

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Photos

Molassy Cottage
The cottage at Callan that we have for our stay in Ireland

The Priory at Kells
The ruins of the priory at Kells