Kilkenny

---

We left Dublin on a train from Heuston Station which took us through to Waterford which was the end of the line. Although we would have preferred to stay at Kilkenny we couldn't find anything there that was within our price range. The Waterford train was very crowded and we boarded the train in a similar manner as the train from Glasgow where everyone waited in the main concourse area until only a short time before the train was ready to depart.

When we arrived at Waterford we had quite a long walk up a big hill before we could get to the hotle where we were staying which was on the edge of the town near the famous crystal factory. We also had quite a challenge finding anything decent to eat that night as there did not seem to be many places around.

The next morning we left our large bags in Waterford and boarded a train back to Kilkenny. Kilkenny had a much nicer appearance than Waterford and we had a good time walking through the town and visiting the Kilkenny Castle and looking at a number of the churches before we boarded another train back to Waterford.

In order to get to Rosslare where we would be catching the ferry the next day, there was only 1 train each day that left from Waterford. This did not connect very well with our train from Kilkenny so we used up 3 hours eating lunch and using the internet. Unlike all the other trains we had been on in Ireland, this train hardly had anyone in it. The train had only two carriages and as we went past the intermediate stations along the line we noticed that there really wasn't much around. Each of the intermediate stations resembled stations on the Stony Point Line in Melbourne (i.e. bus shelters on bare platforms). Eventually we arrived at one intermediate station called Wellington Bridge where we were told that due to works on the line we would have to board a rail replacement bus. Unlike other times when we had to do this, they had not ordered a full size bus, this time all we had was a little mini-bus and it turned out that we were the only ones travelling on it. So basically it was like we had our own private taxi to Rosslare!

We found our B&B at Rosslare which has only a fairly small town attached to the ferry terminal and spent the evening in a pub watching England beat France in the Rugby World Cup semi final. We had started the game being fairly neutral not supprting either side except that by the end we were wholeheartedly behind England as there was a woman in front of us that was loudly cheering for France throughout the whole game who we found really annoying.

---