We managed a 12 hour sleep and a lazy start to the day today but still covered a lot of territory and some touring.
Starting off at 11 am, after a couple of shots of caffeine with our breakfast, we headed first to Clonegal and view of the River Derry near the historic stone bridge. Walked up the long lane to Huntington Castle whose tea room and tours are no longer operating as the tourist season is over. We took pictures through the very decorative gate.
From there, we were off to Bunclody for a tour of my Irish 'home' with a brief visit to salute Moss Cottage. The gardens are spectacular. I've only seem them in the winter and despite a few blooms at that time of year, there's lot of colour now.
From there it was up and down the narrow road to Mount Leinster. The fog/clouds shrouded the peak so a drive up to the Nine Stones near the top was not possible. The view even from where we parked was pretty spectacular.
The day had started out pretty grey but when we got underway the sun came out and aside from a bit of cloud here and there it was lovely and mild.
Heading for Enniscorthy I think there was great rejoicing that we were at last on a nice wide road where you could safely drive at the speed limit of 100 kph. Of course we took a diversion on a road where 15 kph was sometimes pushing one's luck. I had to show O & B my favourite thatched house and then farther along the road we came to Ferns. The castle, or what remains of it, beckoned, mostly to Braden. Unfortunately we were two weeks too late for the tour but wandered around. One tower remains intact and that's where we would have visited. It held a secret that we found out about only later.
Leaving Ferns for Enniscorthy we were once again on a highway and it wasn't long before we'd joined the traffic in that town. To say that the streets are narrow, winding and hilly is an understatement and we had brief unscheduled and rather 'hairy' city tour before finally parking in the lot at Dunne's department store. We'd passed that lot on the way into town.
Then again we would have missed the historic plaques on the sidewalk, the right turn that was almost a U turn, and getting stopped behind a car disgorging wedding guests heading to the Cathedral.
Once the car was safely stowed, we walked to Enniscorthy Castle and enjoyed that self-guided tour. Braden was in his element. His knowledge of history is quite impressive. From the roof we could see Vinegar Hill but we didn't opt to go there and climb to the old windmill.
While on that castle roof the guide was chatting and told us about Ferns castle. When I said we'd been he asked about the view from the tower. Then we realized what we had missed by being here out of season. Apparently the view is amazing. I thought that tower only offered a tour of a couple of rooms. Sigh! Maybe one day I'll be here in tourist season.
We got to Coolross about 5 and stopped first to see Bob's tree which has beautiful red leaves at the moment. Then we were greeted by Jim and his excellent sheep dog, Floss. Later we climbed one of the pastures to watch Floss move the large herd of sheep around. The view from that land was wonderful but it was getting dark. We barely made it back to the car, parked to the side of the road, before it was really dark. Floss took her place on the floor by the front passenger seat and was perfectly quiet.
When we got back to the house, Floss's pup showed a strong preference for Olivia as she provided the most attention. The pup's energy seemed boundless until he finally curled up in the corner for a nap.
We headed to Egan's pub where we all enjoyed a Guinness. Well, Braden enjoyed it twice as much if one goes on quantity. Having decided to call it an early night we dropped Jim back at Coolross and drove back to Minmore. Actually we passed the entrance but about a kilometre down the road found a place to turn and it was easily found on the return.
So much for an early night. It's after midnight and we plan an early morning. That remains to be seen. The wifi is very slow and it's a bit laborious to upload photos so you'll just have to wait for another day. I didn't take many pictures but my travel buddies kept the cameras on their smartphones clicking pretty much all day long.
We used the dash cam but have no idea whether it successfully recorded. Maybe tomorrow. We could be assuming it's functioning and maybe it's not, but there's no way I'll find out tonight.
Slan
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