Leaving Moss Cottage in the rear view mirror I headed out the lane and down Hospital Hill, waving good-bye to Bunclody. My bags were packed and I was heading to my intermediate stop for lunch with the girls at the Chester Beatty Inn, Ashford.
I've made the trip many times and quite confidently left the bossy little talking machine uplugged and sitting on the passenger seat. The only diversion was to not take the narrow road from Ballycarney to Ferns, and take the N80 to the roundabout instead. It really doesn't take any longer and while not as scenic perhaps, it was fully cleared of snow. I didn't know if the same could be said for the route past my favourite thatched roof. There were excellent views of the hills and later the Wicklow mountains. There's still lots of snow on them thar hills. There were no opportunities to pull over and take pictures.
I made excellent time and arrived early at the destination so after checking that the Stephens were home, drove to Rossanna Farm where I deposited a bag of foodstuffs I'd not consumed, along with a small shopping bag of items I'll retrieve on my next visit.
The subject of "the tree" came up and I was treated to a ride in Eugene's jeep, wearing a pair of available wellies (my size!!!), over to see the spreading chestnut tree. It is featured in a book of the best trees in Ireland by Aubrey Fennell. Sadly he's not one of my Fennells.
This beast of a tree has the largest circumference of any tree in the Emerald Isle. It's arguably also the most gnarled as well. Guarded by attack geese, it sits in solitary splendour in a field often used for equestrian events. Indeed it lives up to its reputation as being worthy of viewing - if not very accessible except to those who know how to get there. Thank you Eugene.
Subsequently, Margaret and I headed to the Inn where Anne O was waiting and Lynne L soon happened along. We dined well and caught up on our news for almost 3 hours.
At 4:30 it was time to head to the airport and my hotel for the night. I had not updated my GPS with new maps and it didn't recognize the hotel name. My Irish smart phone was playing dumb and refused to admit I had data available. Now what? Lynne to the rescue. Google maps showed that one had merely to take the M11 (nearby) which turned into the M50 and follow it to the large roundabout at the airport. Instead of taking the airport exit (first one) I was to take the third exit to R139 and that would take me to the hotel.
What a brilliant plan that turned out to be. Almost too good to be true, it was so easy. The last time I was part of an attempt to reach the Clayton Airport Hotel, following a very bossy app, we ended up driving in circles, always returning to the M50 and not reaching the hotel for quite some time. This time it came up so fast on the next roundabout that I almost missed the hotel sign. What I did miss was the first exit to the hotel at the roundabout, so I merely drove all the way around and exited as if that had been the plan all along. Almost shades of the Grisewalds' European Vacation but I did get off the roundabout at the correct exit, after the exploratory trip all the way around.
Checking in was quick and easy, directions to the airport to return the car were easy, and returning the vehicle was easy. I got the Hertz shuttle to the terminal, walked to Area 16 and within a few minutes the hotel shuttle showed up and ferried me back to the Clayton.
I'm now happily relaxing with my tiny perfect bottle of wine and will shortly call it a night. After a few weeks in a single bed, I'm looking forward to enjoying this queen size beauty tonight. I've redistributed the contents of the two small suitcases, making one quite heavy - to be checked baggage, and the other quite light - to be heaved into the overhead bin.
That dear reader, ends my 2018 Winter journey to Ireland. Barring the unforeseen, I shall wing my way home tomorrow TO FRESH SNOW. NOOOOOOOOO.
There seems to be a problem with the wifi being incredibly slow to upload pictures from the phone so I'll add a final post in a day or two with a link to a selection of pictures.
Farewell until next time ...
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