Ireland day 14 - Saturday 18th June

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Susan’s birthday! Of course, that means she gets to choose what we do today.

We headed to Birr about 15 minutes north, and visited Birr Castle Demesne. This is a castle, still lived in by the Parson family who have lived there for over 400 years. The current incumbent is the Seventh Earl of Rosse (Brendan Parsons), Lady Rosse (Alison Cook-Hurle) and their family.

The castle is situated in around 120 acres of beautiful gardens and parkland. We wandered along stone-lined paths, following the start of the Solar Trail, where information boards spaced to the scale of the solar system give interesting facts on the sun and planets; each step was the equivalent of 1.6million km in space. Once we got to Mars we turned onto the trail taking us towards the castle, finding our way to the moat, and walking along the front of the castle. It’s a very imposing, beautiful building, and I can only imagine how amazing it must be inside! We turned onto grassy paths mown through waist-high wild-meadow grasses and flowers, arriving at the Great Telescope. Wow! It was built in the 1840’s by the Third Earl of Rosse, and he used it to discover the spiral nature of some of the galaxies. Other family members are also renowned for scientific work. Mary, the wife of the Seventh Earl, was an avid photographer, pioneering the printing of photographs from waxed-paper negatives; their son, Charles, invented the steam turbine. Pretty amazing for one family!

We found a beautiful oak tree, over 500 years old, then visited the formal garden area, then found a forest area. I stopped to ID a plant (colletia paradox) while Susan looked a Monkey Puzzle tree on the other side of the path. By the time I turned round, Susan had disappeared into the trees. I wandered along one of the paths for a few minutes, then heard a waterfall. That would be where I’d find her! I retraced my steps, found the waterfall, and sure enough, Susan was there.

We continued our walk through the trees, discovering a forest bathing area. We sat for a few minutes, then realised we only had about 30 minutes left on our parking. It was time to go. We headed back towards the main track, past the Shell Well. This was a structure inspired by the architect Samuel Chearnley, and built in memory Mariga Guiness, and is decorated inside by shells from her collection. Cute!

We arrived back at the entrance / exit area, and had about 15 minutes to check out the historical science centre, focusing on the achievements of the Parsons around early astronomy, photography and engineering. Overall, a great couple of hours spent, and I would recommend a visit if you’re ever in the area.

We got back into Sherri and drove north to our next stop – Athlone on the banks of the River Shannon. Susan had chosen a visit here because there is another castle, but also Sean’s Bar, purportedly the oldest bar in Ireland.

At the castle entrance we were behind a family of 5 – 2 adults and 3 children aged 4, 6 and about 10. They were greeted by a woman who spent the next several minutes explaining what they would see if they chose to pay the entrance fee, and how scared the youngsters might be at some of the noisy, dark parts of the exhibition. The 4-year-old girl reassured her that she would look after her brothers. The conversation went on for rather longer than it needed to, and we were both itching to get moving. When she finally let them through the barrier, she asked if we were with them. We replied simultaneously, ‘No, but we heard it all!’ Thankfully she allowed us through without further delay.

The visitor centre is certainly interesting, with exhibitions about the history of the crucial role the castle has played in the historical events that have shaped not just Athlone, but the whole of Ireland. On looking over the upper battlements, we agreed that from what we could see, Athlone isn’t a particularly pretty city. We did spot some people arriving for a wedding at the church over the road, though. A couple of the women appeared to be wearing ‘runners’ on their feet; very sensible we thought!

Susan had a birthday beer at Sean’s Bar, literally a sawdust on the floor pub! Inside was pretty dark and crowded, so we took our drinks out to the beer garden at the back, and spent some time listening to various non-Irish accents, including Australian (or maybe South African), German, and Manchester (North of England). Susan has commented a few times on this trip about how few Irish accents she’s heard. Well, there are certainly a lot of tourists in the country, with a myriad of accents, but I think she just hasn’t been listening hard enough.

We headed back to the Lodge, stopping on the way to feed Sherri and pick up a couple of beers for Susan and ciders for me. We arrived back in the early evening sunshine and sat outside on the bench with our drinks, talking to the dogs and wondering how we could get back into the Lodge now Susan had closed the door without putting it on the latch and with the keys inside. Susan’s phone was inside too, so we couldn’t message our host – I didn’t have her contact details. Thankfully the neighbours in the cottage next door did, so once we’d waited for him to finish his seemingly never-ending phone call, we asked him to message Collette and not 5 minutes later we were back in the Lodge using the spare keys hidden nearby, and just in time to refill our glasses.

The dogs were quite persistent in wanting to join us inside every time the door was opened! They were also very keen to get hold of the crisps we had in a bowl while sitting outside, and I caught one of them carefully carrying the whole bowl onto the grass after we’d turned our backs for a few seconds.

I cooked Susan a birthday supper of whatever we had left to cook, and we settled down for a couple of hours in front of the TV before turning in for the night.

Today was around 14000 steps and 8.5km.

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