Blogs from County Wexford, Ireland, Europe - page 4

1. From Cherbourg to Rosslare To start with, I had to drive from my place in the middle of France to Cherbourg where I was going to take the ferry to Rosslare in the south east of Ireland. Leaving Chateauroux at 9am I arrived at the car ferry terminal in Cherbourg at 5:30pm and took my place in the queue for embarkment as the 5th car there. There was plenty of time before embarkment. My ticket one way for myself and my car cost €159. A cabin would have been an extra €60 so I declined. Waiting for embarkment at 9pm, either inside the terminal or in my car, was not much fun. At this time of the year there are no crowds of tourists and the café in the terminal building was closed. I could ... read more

On the way to our next farm we made a stop at Blarney, well known for Blarney Castle and the Blarney Stone, which when kissed, gives the kisser the gift of eloquence. The story goes that when Queen Elizabeth I was requesting an oath of loyalty to occupy the lands she sent Sir George Carew to have talks with Lord Blarney. When he arrived in Blarney he was entertained, sweet talked but never given a commitment to the Queen. When he reported this to Queen Elizabeth all she could do was explode with frustration with “This is all blarney...what he says he never means!”. Hence the word “blarney”. The next farm we were working on belonged to Lyndsey, Paul and their son Josh (who was turning 5 soon and got on quite very well with Phoebe). ... read more

We got a later start today, having had a comfortable sleep in our this great place. After breakfast, Evy and I head up to the club house where we are able to get a internet access as they have wifi throughout the clubhouse. Unfortunately no one has responded to our inquiries for accommodation later in the week. When we get back, we have some lunch before getting in the car and heading off to the town of New Ross. The great grandfather of JFK came from New Ross, and there are signs indicating the connection as we got closer. The road took us along to the harbour and we quickly found the Dunbrody Famine Ship and parked across the street. The Dunbrody Famine Ship is a recreation of the type of ship that would have taken ... read more

With the wifi in our room still not working, I went down to the hotel business centre to use the computer this morning. One person with a unit to rent near Wexford had contacted me. The unit would be available and the price was good so I emailed back to say we would take it and to please send further details. We had breakfast at the hotel restaurant and afterwards, checked our email again. I hadn't heard back from the property owner yet, so I copied down the contact details and we packed and took the shuttle bus back to the airport. At the airport, we quickly found our car rental company. Despite booking the car online and getting a final price, it turns out the insurance is not included in the online quote. Not only ... read more

DAYS 29-31 Friday I spoke to my Uncle Alan who asked if I wanted to go to Wexford with them for the weekend which I did. Amy (my little cousin) didn't know I was coming so you should have heard the shrieks at the school gate when we picked her up. That night we played on the near by play equipment and realised that maybe I was a little too big to be playing on it! After a lovely dinner cooked by Uncle Alan it was movie time in Amy’s room we watched Cadet Kellie. This was done in semi darkness as the power had diminished leaving us with very dim lighting and only the little TV we were using working. After the movie was finished all the power went out and we were left with ... read more