Europe 2019 : Day 3 Heading South

Sunday 11^th August

The hotel we were staying in overnight had undergone some fairly extensive renovations and extensions over the past twenty years, though I think little thought was given to how guests would actually get to their rooms.

Ours was up a flight of stairs (or one level in the lift) from Reception, 50 metres down a long corridor, round two corners to another lift, down two levels and then another 30 metres down another long corridor. It was a real warren of a place. Luckily enough as we were heading back to our car on the previous night we had noticed the sign to the “Leisure Centre and Day Spa”. A quick check out the door indicated a car park we hadn't previously seen. A wander around the side of the hotel and we found the car about 40 metres away. A quick change of car location and the bags came in the back door, thereby saving me much effort and a lot of swearing.

Sleep the first night came in fits and starts as we knew it would. So the morning found us feeling okay but still not quite fully there. My eyes still seemed rather dry, though better than the night before, and the muscular aches and pains were more pronounced, as expected. We just needed to get up and get moving, have a good breakfast and drink a lot of coffee.

I indulged in the full Irish breakfast and a jug of the black non-alcoholic stuff while we plotted the day's drive to various spots. Then it was down to business as I set up the European SIM card for the phone, and got onto the internet to pay the road toll from the previous day. Just boring household stuff you have to do while on holiday.

The main reason we had decided to drive around the south of Ireland was to allow Robyn to indulge in a little family history research. Not the paper kind, but that other one, the one where I drive and she looks out the window.

Now I have to admit that I'm not paying really close attention to who is who in Rob's family tree. All I know is that all these ancestors left Ireland around the time of the Potato Famine in the 1840s. They travelled to Australia, probably Melbourne as a first port of call, and then moved up to Bendigo when the gold rush of the 1850s started. They didn't make much of that and decided to stay on as carters and hansom cab drivers. Some of the descendants moved back to Melbourne but a lot have stayed on.

The weather on day 3 in Ireland was cool, a bit rainy at times but generally bearable. And the countryside was green. I mean really green. All shades of green. You forget how green green can be until you get to Ireland. To an old bloke for Australia this colour comes as quite a surprise.

First stop of the day was Carlow just north of Kilkenny. Not much to see here. It was a decent sized Irish town and while Robyn had a relative from here she didn't know where or how or what. We drove around a bit and didn't get out of the car.

Mural in Kilkenny

Robyn takes pictures

Next was Kilkenny, the county seat, and a busy place. There was some sporting event happening in or near the place so the town centre was very busy and a lot of houses were decked out in the various teams' colours. We parked and wandered around the centre of town. All very pleasant but not very memorable.

Lunch venue

We had a great lunch in Thomastown, wandered around the streets and then headed off to Ballylooby – a place Robyn had been fascinated with for some months. I suspect this was mainly as a result of the name. There sure wasn't a lot in the town.

And then it was off to our accommodation for the night, a restored country house outside Macroom in County Cork. The drive between Ballylooby and Macroom was, well, interesting. Small, narrow, one-lane back-roads bordered by hedges where you were lucky to drive at 60 kph, not because you couldn't go any faster but because you were worried someone would come around the corner and hem you in, or force you to back up a few hundred metres or just run you over.

In the end it was probably too much driving for our second day. Dinner in a nearby town and early to bed, which was already becoming something of a routine.