Homeward Bound

We awoke to a strange sound this morning..... an alarm clock! Up at 05:45 to prep for our flights home today. Planning Dublin to Vancouver then on to Victoria. Our Air Canada app chimed in and advised us of a departure delay due to the late arrival of the inbound flight.

Kelly made her usual coffee and we relaxed a bit as the rush was off. We grabbed the hotel shuttle at 07:25 anyway and had the bags checked in at 07:45. Security cleared and we headed for some breakfast at one of the many restaurants in Terminal 1.

Inbound flight is late so our departure time is rescheduled for 10:45 local. This will probably put our connecting flight to Victoria in jeopardy but you just roll with the punches as they say.

We finally loaded up and departed Dublin at 11:12 local We took the time to swap out our iPhone SIM cards and replaced them with our Rogers ones so that everything will work on arrival in Vancouver.

Watched some movies... ate some airline food (the chicken was actually really good!) Arrive YVR at 12:10 local

We quickly cleared customs with our Nexus cards and headed to the C gates for our 12:50 Victoria flight. We managed to once again bypass huge lines and made it to the departure gate as they called the last few passengers. Unfortunately the flight was full and we couldn't get on.  After checking the loads and seeing everything oversold we met up with another pilot that was going to the ferry.  A cab is approximately $75 so we split a nice black limo ($72) three ways and rode in style.

Limo to the BC Ferry terminal.

 We arrived at the ferry terminal and purchased some passenger tickets. We arranged to have Kris pick us up and transport us to the airport to get the car. He was Johnny on the spot when we disembarked. Once at the airport we also checked to see if our bags arrived but that had not. We arranged to have them dropped off at the house later tonight. A stop for some groceries at Thriftys and home at 17:05 local.

Once again this blog will serve as a permanent reminder of our three week adventure to England, Scotland and then Ireland. It was a great trip.

Back to work to rest up for the next one......

Update: The bags where dropped off the next day at approx11am. All good!

"an deireadh"

Up at our usual 8 am time as Kelly made some in-room coffees for us. Cloudy day but no rain to speak of…yet.

Checked loads on our return flight tomorrow and it is looking good. As we travel on passes this can be a concern when flights are limited. We were able to select our seats and download the boarding passes to our phones so we are in effect set. Unless of course there is an "issue" like late flights, cancelled flights, overbooked flights etc etc... 

We showered up and prepped for our last full day in Ireland. We have our bags pretty much ready to go with travel clothes organized and carry on bags stuffed full (Kelly uses any and all available space)

We grabbed a cab outside the hotel and we were on our way immediately at 10:45. Dropped Across from our flat that we rented a week ago for €13.80 at 11:00. In the mall at 11:04😄

We went over to Marks & Spencer's and Starbucks for a few last minute items that Kelly will now pack around for the rest of the day.

Our late breakfast was actually at Mark's & Spencer's as well and we paid 21 euro for three bacon rolls and two coffees.... $31CDN & change... not cheap here!

We walked down to the Aran Wool Shop and Kelly picked up a couple items to take home for our family.   With time pressing on we grabbed a cab and headed to the Kilmainham Goal (Jail) for our tour. Simply amazing to see where many people were locked up as well as executed during civil uprisings, civil wars and the famous quest for Independence. (Kilmainham Jail tour 12:45 -14:10)

Chapel in the prison.

Prison Cell entrance.

 Guard's view looking through the cell peep hole

Our guide Kim kept us in suspense as she wove a tail of stories together to tell the history of the jail.

Main cell block. This design afforded the guards the best view of all cells.

Stairway to...

Main cell block.

Kelly enters her cell!

Plaque dedicated to those executed during the uprising.

This is the spot that is walled off from all other areas of the prison and where the firing squad did their work. See cross.

We ended our tour with a visit to the museum that also housed many artifacts from the various periods.  Thank heavens we never had to endure what these prisoners experienced.   

After we exited the jail we walked through the Museum of Modern Art that was once a hospital. Amazing architecture for all to see.

The old hospital than now houses the Art Museum

Stunning views.

Art at it's finest.

As we had lots of time, we walked the 25 minutes over to the Jameson Building for a tour of the history and production of this fine whiskey.  And once again we passed by the sprawling Guinness property.

Woman in front of gate

The area surrounding the Jameson Show Room

Bar area of Jameson Distillery

A fantastic bar awaited us on entry and we were given a complete rundown on the history of the company, the process of production and of course a sample of several different varieties of Whiskey in the tasting room. All very well presented and very informative.

Sampleing the various whiskies.

Yep it's big!!

We walked over to the Merchant’s Arch Pub and enjoyed some great live music and a nice dinner. We then walked the Temple Bar area and then grabbed a cab back to our hotel.

Merchant's Arch

Merchant's Arch entertainment.

Great bar and overall atmosphere!

Temple Bar area on Friday Night.

Prepping (weighing bags etc :-) for our departure from Dublin direct to Vancouver then on to Victoria tomorrow.

Back to Dublin

Up at 8 again and got ready for breakfast and our departure. We head into Dublin today and spend a final few nights before heading home.

Planned route is R346 to R344 to Headford N84, N6, M6, M50, and then R139 to Clayton Airport Hotel.

I took a stroll in the rain while Kelly finished getting ready to depart. I walked over across the bridge and found St. Mary's Church in the mist.

St Mary's Anglican Church

We departed at 10:45 in the pouring rain and arrived at the Clayton Airport Hotel at 1335. It was a very straight forward trip across on the motorway. We even saw the sun a few times! . Kelly quickly checked us in and we brought our bags up to the room. It looked nice for about a hundred seconds and we were gone.

Back onto the M1 for a twenty five minute drive north to the Ardgillan Castle. I spotted this place on google maps and low and behold they offered free tours! Well this week anyway! We hiked down to the castle and checked in for the 3 o'clock tour... the last one of the day.  We grabbed a coffee and treat to hold us over till dinner.

Ardgillan Castle

 The tour was very interesting and covered the original owners of the building, the Taylor Family. It was a time stamp of life back in the day with lovely ornate furniture of the period. It also has great wood work within. As this started as a summer home, it eventually grew larger with additional rooms added along with the Castle like appearance, which was popular at the time. Some say it is haunted by the ghost but we didn't see it :-)
 
After the tour we hiked the grounds and found a geocache up towards the parking area. This took us to a great view of Balbriggan.

Fire place.

Dinning Room

Amazing woodwork.

Incredible detail preserved for future generations.

Kitchen in the basement... no sign of Mrs Patmoore!!!

Original Taylor dinnerware.

Only three of these piano's remain... or so we were told.

Balbriggan in the distance

On the way back to the airport we topped up the rental BMW with some diesel and returned the car earlier than planned. (We will bus/cab it in to simplify our plans.)

The rental car was pretty scratched up when we got it but the guy pointed out a scratch on the front right bumper that he felt was not there before. Well now....  I have video!... I showed him the iPhone video we took when we picked up the car and the suspected new scratch was plainly visible. We were released from rental car jail and grabbed the shuttle to the main terminal. From there we jumped on the Clayton shuttle bus and we arrived at 6PM. Some organizing of clothes and a Facetime call to Lauren back home led up to a quick dinner downstairs in the hotel restaurant.

Back in our nice room, Kelly started the arduous task of rearranging her suitcase to fit all the stuff she acquired over the past three weeks! She will need some of "my" suitcase space I am thinking.

We have a couple tours planned for tomorrow based on some recommendations from fellow band members.

Walk About Wednesday

A very nice sleep in today as we enjoyed the views from our window. Kelly is feeling much better and is set for the day we hope.
 

Life can be tough.... but not right now!

I took a little stroll about as she got ready. Upon my return we headed down for our breakfast. It was delicious. This is the first solid food for Kelly in a while.
 

Amazing!

Town Center

Kelly is happy!

Our B&B Breakfast area.

We decided to stroll the Ashford Castle grounds which allows access (with restrictions) and was stunning to see. We had some expert guidance from Martha our B&B host, on how to gain access via the walking loop. We walked by the skeet shooting range and equestrian center and onto the famous grounds. The various gardens were very nice and went on and on. I became a de-facto guide when people asked how to locate certain places:-)
 

Ashford Castle

Guard Duty!

Our chopper at Ashford Castle

More Ashford Castle

Just some of the Walled Gardens

Amazing views

Stunning!

 

Ashford Panoramic

 We retraced our steps off the property and found the local Pigeon Hole walking loop. This took us by several interesting sights including the Guinness Tower which I climbed to the top of and the Pigeon Hole cave which I actually went into hunting a geocache! DNF!

 

Guinness Tower.... I've been to the top!

Built 100 years before Kelly was born!

We worked our way past the Abbey and grabbed a geocache at the Quiet Man Monument. We watched another geocacher trying to get it and joined up to find it. 10km of walking today according to Kelly's health app...which equates to 3.7543 Guinness on my beer app!
 
We walked around and settled on the Puddle Duck Cafe for lunch. It was good once again.... "No bad food here" should be the motto!
 
We finally stopped for a cold pint at the Pat Cohen Bar and also settled on a time for dinner. 6:45 was chosen and we retired back to our B&B to relax and get ready. 

Kris was on a London overnight so we called him and got caught up on his latest guitar purchase. He seems totally stoked about it... and he should be!
 
Dinner was great then it was off to Lyndon's Lodge for some Irish entertainment! A trio put on a variety of music with several different instrument played. Also a little Irish step dancing thrown in.

Off to the rack once again!

The Quiet Woman

Up at 8am again as we prep for the next leg of our journey. We just thought a nice quiet retreat near a lake was in order so Kelly booked us an AirB&B in Cong which is just north of Galway about 50 km or so.

GPS Routing will be... R337  to R338, N84 to Headford, R334 & R346 to Cong

I showered up and started packing. Kelly is not feeling 100% as she has some dizziness from her inner ear. I went off and grabbed a couple coffees and brought them back.  We also enjoyed some croissants that we purchased the previous day. Well I did anyway!

We are moving slowly as Kelly got ready while I loaded bags into the car. I took a last stroll of the area and enjoyed the views that it provided.

Salthill buidings

Many colors made for a great picture.

Great gardens as well.

There is a certain "right of way rule" that applies here!

On our way at 13:15 and quickly out of the city after a short stop to sort out some "vertigo issues".  We had planned to stop at the local RC field but the gate was locked and traffic was a bit crazy due to some road work. If you do go... just past Curraghline, cross a small river on a bridge and take the first right turn to the gate

We continued on to our B&B in Cong and arrived at 14:00.  I went and met with our host Martha and she kindly gave me the choice of two rooms overlooking the river. I picked the one with the biggest bathroom of course:-) This is the nicest B&B we have ever been in... the band should have come here!!

Our B&B in Cong... top right window with the shades drawn:-)

I managed to get Kelly sorted and then brought up our luggage. Kelly continues to have some vertigo issues and is taking life very gingerly right now. With her comfortably settled,  I went out and explored the area on my own while she rested.

There is a fish hatchery right next door with river access via a nice pathway. I headed off looking for some lucky fisherman with a catch. No luck but I did see fish jumping at one point.

River flows across the road.

Very tranquil. 

 For those that are unaware, Cong is the location of some filming of the 1952 Classic "The Quiet Man" staring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Wikipedia here

Ode to the filming of The Quiet Man

Bronze Statue of John Wayne & Maureen O'Hara

 There is a museum dedicated to this film along with several locations in Cong that served as movie sets for the filming... like the pub etc! This is one of the main tourist draws for the area.

The famous Pat Cohan Pub in Cong.

I stopped in at the famed Pat Cohen Pub and had a pint after the loooong drive. I was parched I tell you! The Cong Abbey made for some nice photos as I strolled around the grounds and checked out some of the pathways that adjoin the Abbey and river area. We will do these tomorrow when Kelly is feeling better.

Cong Abbey

Cong Abbey

More Abbey shots

Cong Abbey

Cong Abbey

The river... so peaceful!

 The monk's fishing house was built in and around the mid 15th century and was used to make the task of catching fish easier. It is built on a platform of stones over a small arch that allows water to pass underneath it making it easy to net fish

The Monk' s Fishing House

Amazing view.

I checked back with Kelly and as she was feeling better, we took a short stroll around the town and some of it's pathways. A few supplies (banana, crackers and sprite was my dinner) at the local Spar store and back to the room for the evening.

In a fitting tribute, we looked up "The Quiet Man" on the net and streamed the movie to our iPads. A nice finish to the evening!