April 23d

We woke up to cloudy skies and a very light breeze. I was happy that the weather had calmed down overnight.

The crossing to Ireland couldn’t have been better. The seas were relatively easy and the ship was beautiful, almost cruise ship grade. Wow, B.C.Ferries, you’ve got competition.

We met a woman on the ferry who does the return trip 2 times a month for the very important task of getting duty free cigarettes and alcohol. Wow. 3/12 hours return times 2 and the wait in between trips. That’s a long day!

Once off the boat, we had a 40 minute drive to our campsite at Portrane north of Dublin.

The route off the ferry was an experience, being on the highway with all the transport trucks, zipping in and out of lanes, and off and on the motorway, Guy had to keep his wits about him, especially through the 2.8 km tunnel. But ultimately we arrived on a two lane road through the countryside to our campsite near the ocean.

After we settled in, I went scouting around to see where the beach access was. I met a woman who had a holiday house there. She told me how after she bought the place, she found out that her grandparents had worked on the island off Portrane called Lambay Island. Then she told me about how her grandfather had died by gunshot in Dublin during the 1916 Easter Rising which lasted 6 days during Easter week. Her grandfathers name was James McCormack. There is lots of info about him online. Citizens were fighting for Irish Independence from the British. 485 people were killed that week including citizens, British military and Irish Rebels, 16 leaders of the rebels being executed. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Rising)

We had a long walk that first afternoon on the beach. The sun had come out and there was a nice breeze to blow out the cobwebs.

Major erosion is happening to the shoreline in this area. It looks as though many houses could be at risk of slipping in the years to come so measures are being taken to protect properties from the tides. I wonder if storm Darragh that hit Ireland and the UK in December 2024 pushed things ahead.

April 24th

We got up reasonably earlier to get ready for a day in Dublin. We had a 10 minute walk to the bus stop, a 10 minute bus ride to the nearby village Donabate, a 10 minute walk to the train station, then a 30 minute train to Dublin-Connelly station in downtown Dublin. On the way home, it was the reverse route. It was worth it not to have to negotiate the vehicle through Dublin and try and find parking.

Once in Dublin, we just walked.

Trinity College was founded by Queen Elizabeth the 1st in 1592. It is one of seven ancient universities in Great Britain. “During the following centuries, Trinity contributed to the flourishing of Irish literature during the Georgian and Victorian eras, in addition to areas of the natural sciences, medicine, and law”. Samuel Beckett (Waiting for Godot), Jonathon Swift ( Gulliver’s Travels), and Oscar Wilde (The Importance of Being Earnest) were all educated there. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_College_Dublin)

April 25th

We set off in the morning to visit The National Stud and Gardens in Kildare, southwest of Dublin. We were going to see the gardens but it ended up that the equestrian aspect of the visit was the most interesting.

Years ago, when Guy was in his 20’s, he and his friend Karen visited a garden in Wales near Kildare that portrayed and symbolized the stages of a man’s life. Guy couldn’t remember the name of the garden but he wanted to see it again. With a little internet research, I found these gardens as part of the Irish National Stud lands.

The Irish National Stud is a thoroughbred breeding centre for racehorses. Although I have mixed feelings about the horse race industry, the experience there was amazing. Firstly, we went into the interpretive centre and learned all about horse racing and the breeding of horses. Then, hypothetically of course, we got a chance to buy a horse, raise it, train it, dress it, dress ourselves (the jockey) and then race our horse(on a mechanical horse). Guy, I and two others raced each other and it was a total blast. Guy got the nag who actually was moving backyards. The video of the race is absolutely gut wrenchingly funny. We can’t watch it without going into hysterics. You had to be there!!

After an hour or more horsing around😂🫏, we headed out to the gardens Guy wanted to see. They were beautiful Japanese Gardens that had overgrown. They were cared for but the zen like Japanese garden quality that Guy remembers from 45 years ago was gone. He was disappointed. Guess things grew while he was away living his life. 🙂

Below is a life size sculpture of a beloved horse, “Invincible Spirit” who had a brief career as a racer and a longer one as a stallion, producing many heirs that went on to do well in racing. Apparently “Invincible Spirit” is living out his later years at Irish National Stud and is being well cared for. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invincible_Spirit). The Irish sculptor who did this large project is Simon Karman.

Afterwards, we drove the one hour and a half to Kilkenny to our campsite Tree Grove, just outside the town. The trip turned out to be much longer as I made the mistake of putting our campsite into google maps instead of Kilkenny. Google girl took us on a country tour. It was lovely but……we are learning.

April 26th

A wonderful thing about our campsite was that it was near a canal walk that went to Kilkenney so we left the van and walked into town. On the way in, we had a phone chat with Guy’s sister Diana in Australia and we were still chatting when we arrived at Kilkenny. What a delight to walk into such a sweet town full of life and color.

We planned to begin our visit to Kilkenny by having a look around the 13th century Norman Castle above the canal. To be truthful though, we were all “castled” out so we walked around the outside and through the gardens then Guy had a coffee at the cafe outside the Castle. I had already drank a pot of coffee at the campsite.

We spent time in the late afternoon at the St. Mary’s Church and the Medieval Mile Museum where we learned of the history of the town and its interconnection with St. Mary’s church. Through the ages, this church from the 13th century was a place of worship and burial but also of great upheaval, both religious and political. The church is now a museum. It houses artifacts from the last 800 years. It is flanked by the old graveyard and you can see tall crosses in and outside the church and limestone grave slabs sculpted beautifully by master sculptors. 50,000 people have been buried here through the years. Most of the graves have been left although a few have been opened and you can see the remains and learn about the presumed lives of the people as part of the exhibition.

After the museum, we went to find our first Guinness. I chose a pub with a witchy history.

Later, we wandered back to our campsite along the canal on what was a perfectly beautiful spring evening.