Day 208, 6 Jan '15, Waterford Crystal Visit and a meander around the Viking Triangle of Waterford. A couple of years ago on our first trip to Ireland, we flew from Paris to Cork and headed immediately to Blarney Castle. With limited time, we weren't able to backtrack to Waterford. Finally we made it there today and were super lucky to be the only people on our factory tour - which went almost twice as long as scheduled due to us all being so interested. It was ...

Days 206-207, 4-5 Jan '15, Rest Day... then Day trip to Kilkenny self-guided walking tour, lunch at infamous Kyteler's Inn & Cross Country Drive home. Incredible day out in lively Kilkenny. Super town about an hour from home on rural(ish) roads. We had fun heading the main way there via quaint Gowran and St Mary's Church. Possibly the only town in Ireland without a cafe. Also an abundant amount of clearly vacant new-build housing. We think the Celtic Tiger'...

Day 205, 3 Jan '15, Enniscorthy Opshops & Pub Investigations. We drove into town this morning for groceries and a general jaunt. Purpose of the visit was checking out a couple of possible dinner venues for James's 50th. Ventured to Treacy's Hotel on the far side of the river. Brilliant stuff. Ended up in the Temple Bar supping an ale and a cider and perusing 3 separate menus for their various restaurants. Definitely the right spot. We are both against pa...

Day 204, 2 Jan '15, Wexford Waterfront, Shops, St Selskar's Abbey. We finally made it to Wexford today and can confirm that we have some sort of reverse Midas touch when it comes to parking in Ireland. Aside from anything else, the majority of the country's GDP appears to come from parking fees. We however are repeatedly demonstrating the ability to drive into the most expensive car park in town. Had rather hoped we'd dodged a bullet today, since the payment ma...

Days 202-203, 31 Dec-1 Jan '15, Hook Lighthouse, Wellingtonbridge, Templetown. What better way to spend New Year's Eve than beginning our explorations of South-East Ireland together with Joan. We decided to visit Hook Head and the historic lighthouse (pictured). It is in fact the oldest intact operational lighthouse in the world and the current structure dates from the 13th century - 800 odd years ago. From a beacon fire when built by Strongbow's son-in-law in ...