Trip 2012

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