Glendalough with no lough (lake)

 Glendalough as seen from up the Wicklow Gap - no water in the lake

A bit of catching up to do

Friday was chilly and cloudy making us wonder if booking a game at Mount Wolsely had been a great idea. However, we went to the course and decided to play after all. The pro gave us the key to a buggy (a power cart) and didn't charge us. 

This course suited me better than any others we've played so far. There were, however, a few oopsies here and there. Standing on the first tee, looking down the fairway the first thing we saw was the high fence - just the wrong distance for my drive. This was the view.

And yes, I managed to hit the top of the fence and the ball came to rest on the tee side. However, you get a free lift to the other side and I ended up with a bogey which at this point in the year is good enough. 

The fairways and greens were in the best shape of any courses we've played and we had no complaints about any of them. Much to our delight, the fairways were pretty wide, allowing us to stay on the fairway almost all the time. Here are a couple of other views, including a couple of the foxy variety - on a tee box. They were not taken with a long-range lens - he was right there and not at all afraid. This poor fox had a bad leg and it was almost painful to watch him "run" off to the trees when he got bored with watching us.

the fairways were wide, there was plenty of water, and some of those slopes forced you to consider your target

Teeing off on #18 - there is a pond in the upper right, just by those trees. There is a ball marker now resting in that water with the name "Faye" on it. I had on 5 layers of shirts and jackets. My best guess of the temperature was in the high single digits. Of course, some of the locals wore shorts and short-sleeved shirts. Brrrrrrr

Mount Wolsely is a resort and I'd love to spend a golf holiday there. They do have a special of games at their course, Bunclody (which we loved although it's very long, but that elevator ..., ) and Carlow, which we didn't play. Next time. I'd be happy just playing those courses, with maybe a game or two at Coollattin.

After the game, we went into Tullow to the Tara Arms Pub and enjoyed a great dinner. Later we made a short visit to Coolruss, with a peek at Bob's tree in the dark, and caught up on the news with Jim, Mary and Aoife. We'll see them again at Egan's this evening.

Today was Saturday and we had to keep asking ourselves if it has really been almost two weeks since our arrival. It was bright and sunny but cold and windy. We've played golf 4 of the last 5 days and even if cajoled we would not have taken out the clubs.

Instead, we met friends for a late Irish breakfast at Rathwood and although we wandered through the shops there, bought nothing. Then it was off on a drive to Glendalough and to our surprise I think the entire population of Ireland decided it was THE place to go today. Cars were parked all along the road.

So, we changed course and drove over the Wicklow Gap. From the first vantage point, as well as glimpses along the way, we saw that there is little or no water in the lakes. It was shocking to see all that bare ground where the lakes should be. There is a considerable drop from the road down the mountainside. I watched the road ahead as I drove and Pat dared not look down. She did remind me to watch the road. On we went to Hollywood but didn't see the sign. Yes, they have a Hollywood sign on the hill.

A picture of this sign can be seen at: https://www.rareirishstuff.com/blog/the-original-hollywood-hollywood-co-wicklow.6431.html

From there we got back "home" without help from Mr. Google. I'd passed that way before, more than once. We took the highway back having enjoyed the byways in more than enough locations. Mr. Google has a penchant for saving you 100 yds of distance via a road barely wide enough for a car.

After a nice dinner at Park View House in Shillelagh, we're relaxing for a bit before joining the Byrnes at Egan's pub, just down the road. We will undoubtedly be the first to leave, being of the 'early to bed' persuasion, unlike the locals.

Tomorrow we'll do our final packing up, play our last round of golf at Coollattin and head to the Carleton Hotel in Blanchardstown so Pat can be at the airport for 7 am for her flight home. And later in the day I'll meet Judi at the airport for Part 2 of Ireland 2022.

There may not be another post for a couple of days.

Slan

Thursday and more sun

 It doesn't get much better than today weather-wise. The sun was out all day and it was warm enough to sit outdoors without a jacket. But that was later..

We had set as our mission, to check out the offerings of Dunne's store in Gorey. We are trying to support the Irish economy after all.

What we hadn't yet found was a garage to repair the headlights. Mr Google came through and we found a garage, also in Gorey. The appointment is booked for Friday morning at 8:30. Getting up early has not been a priority until now but we'll manage.

The shopping excursion was a success with a few items bought at more than acceptably low prices. My new t-shirts will give me a non-golf look in the coming weeks. 

It wasn't an exciting day and we really didn't have an adventure nor did we take many photos. After a delicious Caesar salad with chicken, we headed for a drive part way up Mt Leinster. The view was spectacular but despite the sun, the view was hazy. I decided against the nerve-jangling drive all the way to the Nine Stones. Instead we chose to follow the back roads in order not to travel back the way we had come. Eventually we came to the N80 and I was once again oriented. 

We ended up taking a stroll around Altamont Gardens - always lovely. And as refreshment after our stroll we each had a delicious little tub (125 ml) of Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream. Yummy.

A visit to Kathleen Doyle for a cuppa and a cookie completed the day's adventures. We're having another quiet evening. I just have to clean my golf clubs to prepare for tomorrow's round at Mount Wolsely

No pictures today - Internet service is too slow for photos to be transferred and there weren't many to choose from anyway.

Is it really Wednesday already? Is it really sunny all day long?

The answers to the two questions in the heading are both a resounding YES! This has been the most spectacular day of weather. It was a bit coolish offset by such glorious sunshine. But let me back up.

The view this morning - full of promise which was fulfilled.

Today was the day to swap cars. We met Oliver at the Gorey train station as planned. He used his senior citizen's free travel pass. It was certainly easy for us not to have to drive to Ashford to return the car and then find a bus or train back, ask someone to pick us up in Gorey, etc. 

En route to the train station, we found ourselves a bit early so made a stop at Dunne's. My baseball cap was too tight and gave me a headache so I thought I'd try to find one there. Well, yes indeed, really nice, well-fitting, soft light fabric baseball caps for €5. I bought two. Good thing I did because Pat had forgotten to put hers in the car when we left the cottage. 

And, we noticed some lovely clothes, suitable for golf and travel, of course, so tomorrow we are heading back to Dunne's to see what might fall into our shopping carts. The weather is not to be so nice, and there's a lovely cafe for lunch so why not.

Once Oliver was on board we drove to Kathy's for the car swap. Her brother Jim was visiting and we had a brief catch-up. All was in order until we tried to start the car - the one I'll be using for the next 4 weeks. It had sat idle for too long. Turning the key produced a little bit of noise but it wouldn't turn over. Oliver got out the jumper cables but his car is a Prius hybrid and we never did find his battery. A very helpful guy working around Kathy's place provided his car and we got it going. This is the short version.

I took it for a very short drive and when back at Kathy's to load up our golf clubs, we left it idling. The drive to Bunclody for today's golf game was sufficient to make it a very happy car. After the game it started up with no problem. Can you see my big smile from here? It's an older car but very peppy and we love it. I should be shifting a wee bit more smoothly very soon. We felt badly driving off from Kathy's so quickly but we couldn't let the car stop running. We're going back for a visit tomorrow afternoon.

Our golf shots today were not quite as awesome as those of the past couple of days, but we were distracted by the gorgeous scenery. Photos at the end of the narrative.

It was my turn to ride the elevator from #17 green to #18 tee and Pat's turn to drive the cart up that steep winding hill. Neither of us was disappointed by the experience. 

We picked up some prepared salads at SuperValu to put with the rest of our rotisserie chicken and had a very tasty dinner chez nous. 

This evening will be another quiet one "at home". I'll add the pictures for your viewing enjoyment. They are out of sequence. I'm sure there's somewhere for you to complain so please feel free to do so.

just off the elevator arriving at #18 tee

17th green with the elevator waiting to transport me up

somewhere on the back 9 - it was severely downhill to the green but looks rather flat here

the stream needed a snack so it ate my golf ball

ho hum, just another nice view

The bridge from the top of the elevator to the next tee

And now it's time to clean the golf clubs. They have a day off tomorrow but we want them to feel refreshed and ready to go on Friday. I should not have looked at the weather but ... you never really know how the day will play out in any case.

Today's weather - well first, what time are you talking about?

 It has never been more true than today - if you don't like the weather, just wait and it will change. Sorry for the late posting - I hope you didn't turn blue holding your breath.

For the most part, it was sunny and cool, well for a couple of the morning hours. The day dawned sunny and about 5C, or that was my guess. The predicted high was to reach 12C. Superb. In the sun it's always warmer. There wasn't much wind and at least that condition persisted all day long.

We were ready early and headed to Coollattin in case an earlier tee time was available. It was We extracted our clubs from the car, and put valuables and other essentials into the golf bags and put them on the trolley. That is a pushcart – smallish and had no frills - not even a cup holder. Our travel bags aren't large but they do have built-in wheels, making it just a bit iffy for balancing. Once settled we were good to go.

The sun was bright and as we walked along the first couple of fairways started shedding layers of jackets. Once we had the right number of layers for the temperature, the sun went in. Time to put on another layer. Oops - sunny again, and so it went.

The front nine at Coollattin is a wee bit hilly but quite a nice walk with no real sweat and very few long uphill slogs. Neither of us encountered any terrible issues with the Par 3 inside the walled garden. [Check out hole number 5 on the Coollattin golf club website.] If you watch the flyover video, inside that walled area the large sand trap has been filled in making it a much friendlier hole. We both struggled with the speed of putts. I had a bogey, on that hole and was very happy.

My streak of good hits seems to be continuing and I'm hoping that lasts. Overall things went well on the first 10 holes - we weren't too fussed about the bad putting. It takes a long time to adjust to really slow greens and there were a lot of very close calls.

When we were about to tee off on #11, not having come close to the clubhouse we hadn't seen any "comfort stations" along the course. And at that point, I needed one – soon. We were only a couple of hundred yards from the clubhouse so I made the round trip. It was about the same distance as walking 2 Par 4's. Then I sat for about 2 minutes before I was ready to attack #11, and off we went. Still on foot. Dumb! I had the chance to get a buggy (power cart) during the comfort stop but I figured the walk would be good. 

Now it's not Mount Everest, but uphill and down dale and not a par 3 until the very last hole, which was flat. I had skipped #12 and #13 to make up for the trot to and from the clubhouse. They were very long and very up and down and the view was lovely from the bench at 1#4 where I waited for Pat. 

The weather was lovely but the bar was closed when we finished so we returned to the cottage for the post-game refreshments. 

An evening at Ann and Tom's was planned so we got ready and as we were about to leave and suddenly thought we had been spirited back home. It wasn't snow - but it was a mighty pounding of hail. Fortunately, it was not big enough to damage Oliver's car.  

We set out for Craanford when we thought the hail had stopped and were only briefly treated to another round of the pellets. Roads around here were absolutely running with streams of water but by the time we passed through Carnew they'd had not a single drop of precip.

A lovely evening was spent with Ann and Tom, Catherine, Laura and Mairead. Little Kate shared her Easter chocolate with us. I'm sure when I was five I would not have shared a single bite. 

And here are some photos from the day.

even when a bit overcast it's gorgeous at Coollattin

and when the sun is shining it's even better

As I waited at #14 tee the downhill hole awaited

Pat trudging up from #13 green to 14 tee

And if you thought I was kidding about the hail, here's my proof

A potpourri of wonderfulness

Today is Easter Monday. It's a bank holiday. Most stores are closed but the fun was allowed to carry on. And it did.

We had booked a 1:40 pm tee time at Borris Golf Club. It came highly recommended by the barman at Bunclody. Rather than just sitting around all morning we decided to go by way of Leighlinbridge and the Arboretum garden centre. No - we didn't want to buy any plants, but the location is good, they have a great café and a pretty garden walk with fantastical versions of common animals.

Google is our new best friend, getting us everywhere, usually on very scenic (read narrow and twisting) routes. Today we chose to use the main roads. It took longer but was a nice change.

Arriving at the Arboretum we selected our lunch - bowls of yummy Leek and Potato Soup, and we shared a small portion of quiche made with bacon and brie and accompanied by a green salad and a green bean and squash salad. Like you care what we ate. Sorry. But at least I didn't take a photo of our lunch. After a brief wander along the garden walk, we hustled back inside to get warm. The threat of some sunshine had not yet materialized. That would come later.

From there it was off to Borris golf club for our game. There is no pro shop, you sign in at the bar. Green fee plus electric cart was €35 each. No, we are not too lazy to walk. The course that had looked flat in the preview pictures we saw, turned out to have lots of hills and nary a single flat lie. So we got the buggy as the carts are called and were very grateful to have done so.

I'm pointing to the aqueduct - can you see it? Click on the picture to make it bigger.

This is a 9-hole course that you go around twice, using different tee blocks on each nine. Sounds simple enough. Well, believe me, the cart was useful for reconnaissance missions to find the next tee block after putting on every green. Holes cross over each other. Sometimes the red tees were ahead of the whites and blues and sometimes they were farther back, or off to the side, or hiding between bushes. At one point it was very frustrating trying to find our next tee. 

However, I was hitting pretty well, more or less in the direction we had decided was the right one, the views were spectacular, the course was in pretty good shape and on each hole we eventually found each subsequent tee that we sought. The greens were really slow and it was hard to whack the ball hard enough with the putter, but it's a good problem to have. The back nine was accomplished more easily with all holes played in order.throughout

It was chilly throughout the round. We had sunshine, we had a bit of moisture from above, but mercifully little wind. Some black clouds looked very threatening but donning the rain pants I'd just taken off, had them scuttling away again.

After our round, we were able to use the high-pressure air hoses to clean our golf shoes and that saved a lot of messy digging out around the soft spikes. Now they're good to go for our game at Coollattin tomorrow.

We went into the bar to return the buggy key and there was a group of ladies, probably the ladies' committee, who chatted with us. The barman, Mick, was great. He poured Pat a nice Guinness and made me a cappucino. I bought a bottle of local organic honey for Ann Byrne the next time we see her.

Mick told us about the area and said we really must go to St Mullins. I'd heard of it but there are so many pretty spots that I'd never visited before. Off we went with Ms. Google's voice telling us where to go. 

It was more than worth the visit. Such a pretty little cafe down by the Barrow river next to an old flour mill. I think that the other side of the river was Co Kilkenny. We shared a pizza for our supper, Pat quaffed an O'Hara's IPA and I had more water. That's my drink du jour, chaque jour. The picture is not especially flattering and the ale is not mine, but here I am chowing down on a slice of Hawaiian Pizza - what other kind would you order in Ireland? It was Irish ham. 

Yummy Irish Hawaiian pizza at St Mullin's

From the sign you'll know exactly where we are

Along the Barrow River at St Mullin's

There was a group of canoeists who ended their journey on the Barrow about 50 ft from our picnic table. I'm not sure if it was a tour or a regular club activity. 

Ms. Google was once again called upon to lead us home and she didn't disappoint. She brought us right by Aldi where we updated our supply of chocolate and picked up more milk for our morning coffee. I suppose she would have led us on the same route anyway, but a little part of me wonders if she's listening as we chat in the car, and when we talked about chocolate she made sure our happiness quotient would be topped up. Either way, we're content.

Now we're home and settled in for the evening. Not much nightlife which suits me just fine. The local pubs are only open on weekends due to reduced numbers of patrons, at least for now. I do sympathize with the publicans for the loss of business caused by the pandemic.

That's it for now. Weather is somewhat promising for tomorrow. We'll be golfing anyway.

Easter Sunday and instead of chocolate eggs we got fog!

The weather forecasts have never been more correct than for today. All week Easter Sunday was predicted to have the worst weather of the weekend. As promised, the day started out "cloudy" and raining. The clouds were very low as pictured below.

And when we opened the front door our view was gone

The plan for the day had been made and was followed very closely. We'd booked a tour at the Wicklow Brewery which makes craft beer. It's in a village called Redcross, in Co Wicklow. Google maps found it easily and our trip was without diversions or detours. Quite astonishing really. Actually, the weather had cleared a bit although long-distance vistas had to be imagined rather than viewed. 

Fortunately, there was a parking lot around the back of the brewery and the attached and very popular Mickey Finn's Pub. We found an end parking space easily, into which I backed up. It was fortuitous as leaving the parking lot could have been very tricky as there was a car parked pretty close in front. Backing up would have been a nightmare. Of course, it was raining, but even walking around to the front entrance wasn't too far. Inside we couldn't get over the crowds. Why weren't these people at home for Easter dinner with their families? Do they really allow young children in pubs that serve food? Obviously, the answer is yes.

We arrived about 20 minutes early and as scheduled our guide showed up at 2 pm. The tour was private - we're the only ones who've booked a tour in a very long time. Bonus for us. The introductory video was very good as the two brewers shared the description of the various phases. I learned a lot about brewing and have already forgotten most of it.  They make several different brews from the Coola Boola light-coloured and light-tasting beer to a very nice stout which to my taste buds, really does give Guinness a run for its money. As I am the driver, I sampled only a few and only very little. My favourite was still the lager. 

one of the beautiful natural bars

Pat and Martin our guide with a view of the taps for the sampling

Look closely at the top to see why it can be called IPA, even though it's just barely less than 5% alcohol to be truly called an IPA

Following the tour, Pat enjoyed a pint of the Stout and I enjoyed a Club Soda. There are some drawbacks to being the designated driver. We shared a bag of Mature Cheese and Red Onion Crisps (chips to Canadians). Note to self - look for those in the grocery store.

A look at google maps showed that we were only 15 minutes from Ashford and it was our plan to pick up keys to where I'll be staying in Rosslare next week courtesy of Margaret and Eugene Stephens. Not only did we get the keys, but enjoyed a very tasty slice of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee. Of course, there was also great conversation and we had a lovely visit. 

We did make a slight diversion en route to see the Wicklow Golf Course. Wowser - arguably the most scenic course I've ever seen. We wanted to play there this week but they are all booked up for almost every day except maybe Friday. It's unlikely we'll make it but hope springs eternal.  

And these were taken on a cloudy wet day. 

Rather than taking the scenic route back, provided by google maps, we took the M11 back to Gorey and from there I know the route "home". Google Maps has sent us on many scenic routes, which were probably shorter by about 200 yards, with roads narrower by a few yards. The chosen routes were not marred by a centre line painted on the roadway but there's incredible scenery when it's not overcast and raining. No point in driving there when you can't see those vistas.

Once back at the cottage we did a little golf planning for the week and now it's time to call it a very good day and drift off to sleep.