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| Tully Cross |
We had a great trip. The QM2 was
fun. We did not get bored. The food was not fantastic, that was my only
complaint.
We arrived in Southampton on a
Friday and the next day picked up a car and drove to Hay-on-Wye. This was a very
exiting trip, not only was Chandra getting used to driving on the left, but the
road we chose to get to Hay is both very scenic and extremely narrow. Not to
mention the fact that the people in Wales like to bike and hike. And being a
weekend there were plenty of both.
Hay is a lovely town, full of used bookstores
and nice shops. Our hotel was pleasant and we had an excellent dinner at the
restaurant. Wales is very beautiful; we enjoyed climbing up the hill outside of
town and admiring the many sheep.
After Hay we drove to Pembroke to catch
the ferry to Rosslaire Ireland. The ferry ride was rough on all of us. Luckily
we had booked a hotel in Rosslaire, so when we got off we could just relax. The
next day we drove to Connemara. We had rented a cottage in the little town of
Tully Cross. The cottage was cute and cozy, a bit small but very comfortable. It
was very nice having two pubs and a hotel across the street. We had originally
planed to use the cottage as a base to explore the rest of Ireland but once
their we found we had plenty to do, this combined with the fact that
Chandran was doing all the driving, and the roads were rather narrow made us explore
just the local places. We hiked up the Croagh Patrick, this is the mountain
from whence St Patrick banished the snakes. It was a rough climb, Chandran,
Chiara, and Laura managed to make it all the way to the top. Nicky stopped half
way up and refused to go any further. Susi and I where more than happy to stay
behind with him. The Next day we went to the local beach and then to visit Kylemore
Abbey. Impressive and the Victorian walled gardens are quite beautiful. The day
after that we went to Omey Island, this is a tidal Island. We arrived at low
tide and walked across. It is a lovely place with wild flowers cows and horses.
The next day we drove to Dublin. I
must admit I was a bit disappointed with Dublin. We stayed there a full day and
then took the ferry to Holyhead and then Chadran drove us almost to Heathrow.
This had not been the plan but it was not easy finding hotels along the road
and when we did they were booked.
Susi was a lot of fun to have
along. She fell in so easily with us that I felt I had 4 children instead of
3. So did everyone we met, and I was
often congratulated on my large family.
Photos on Flickr
