Off to meet another Byrne connection

Mostly genealogy-related. You have been warned.

This afternoon Jim and I drove to Ashdown Park Hotel in Gorey, Co. Wexford, to meet with Brendan Byrne. He is a close Y-DNA match to Jim and to my brother Tom. The connection is too distant to discover with autosomal DNA.

It was a great meeting, with Jim and Brendan sharing stories that they had heard, about where their Byrne ancestors were from. Nothing really seemed to match. The problem with Y-DNA is that it doesn't change much down the generations. So it's hard to pinpoint the relationships. We're going to have a look at each other's trees and continue to dig to see what might be uncovered. Finding records before 1800 requires a great deal of luck.

The photo of the three of us just won't load, so just picture three incredibly good-looking humans in this space.

En route to Gorey, we encountered literally hundreds of cars, some even vintage, heading from Enniscorthy to unknown parts. It was a rally of some sort for fundraising. That's all I managed to retain from the explanation. 

Coming back, we were on the final bit of road near Coolruss. This is a VERY narrow road with barely room to pass. Happily, we were at one of the few places where it was wide enough for one car to pull to the side. Jim did so quickly as a large black sedan came roaring at us at a speed much too fast for the conditions. He sped by and didn't even stop. We paused for a bit before finishing the journey. There was no time to get the registration or even notice what make of car it was. I usually drive that area in second gear because it's twisty and did I mention VERY NARROW? It ended happily with not even a scratch and we won't dwell on what might have been.

Once again I was invited to dinner and enjoyed every mouthful - as usual. The apple crumble made for a very tasty ending. 

Back at my cottage I put a load of laundry in the washer and tried to get on the internet. Nothing worked, so I went back to Coolruss to get a signal and answer some emails.

I'm staying here at the Lodge at Raheengraney House, until Oct 12 and then will head directly to Dublin airport, drop the car and hope against hope that I'm able to get a seat on the flight home. I've let my WestJet fairy godmother look after bookings. All fingers and toes crossed.