To Ireland!

Up and out by 6.40 am Tuesday morning to catch the ferry from Fishguard. What a luxury to have the car and be able to take what we like. The journey was a bit tedious on the A roads in Wales due to lots of roadworks but we made it in good time. We were randomly selected for the full security check: mirror under the car, inspection of the boot and engine, wands waved over both of us. The boat left 30 minutes late (due to it arriving late from Ireland) even though there were hardly any cars or lorries to load.

Leaving Fishguard

There was plenty of choice of where to sit as there were so few passengers. On board we settled into the pleasant coffee lounge to eat our packed lunch.... ... that is until they started showing a noisy film, Fast & Furious 8 which caused us to vacate to another area.

Planning our route;

Although according to the Captain we should have caught up some time due to the tide we didn't dock in Rosslare until 17.30, an hour late. It was a 45 minute journey to our first overnight stop in a very rural Airbnb near New Ross. We found it without getting lost, just as it was getting dark.

On the way we saw huge piles of snow cleared from the roads. Lucky we weren't here last week especially as our first hosts were snowed in.

We discovered that we were Richard and Eileen's very first Airbnb guests.  We immediately felt at home and chatted with them in the lounge warmed by the woodburner. The house is superb - they designed it themselves and our en suite bedroom was lovely with great views. Richard is English and they used to run a care home in Sheffield. I wished we could have stayed longer. After a tasty cooked breakfast we set off for our first full day.

View from our bedroom;

Richard told us about how drivers all acknowledge each other with a raised finger or wave. We found many drivers who did just that even though we have a UK number plate.

We made a brief stop at Tintern Abbey which was run by monks from Tintern Abbey in Wales. Next we stopped at Hook Head Lighthouse, the second oldest operating lighthouse in the world. It was quite blowy and we didn't stop for long.  We saw 3 dead birds within a short distance and a chap picking up litter said that made a total of 23 he had found in the last few days due to the severe weather. Dungarvan, a pleasant coastal town was the location for our lunch and a cuppa in a cafe.

We then walked on the Ardmore cliffs - a short walk with muddy paths and snow but the views were great.

We had this weather to our left;

And this to our right;

View from the N25;

After a 50km drive we managed to locate our next Airbnb in Cork despite the sat nav not recognising the address, Martin's phone not finding a GPS signal and my phone running out of battery. We met the owner and her housemate, made dinner then walked into town to have a drink in a pub with live Irish music.

Airbnb for 3 nights;

Tomorrow we plan to walk in to see the sights of Cork city.