Ireland Tour
15 Sep. - 2 Oct. 2007

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Dublin – Glendalough
Saturday, Sep. 15, 19 °C, sunny, 82 km

At 10:50 a.m. our Aer Lingus flight left from Düsseldorf to Dublin where we arrived at 11:40 a.m. local time. Picked up our car from Alamo and drove south. We travelled through the Wicklow mountains, stopped at a waterfall with a beautiful view and reached Glendalough at 4:30 p.m. We checked into our prebooked B&B „Bracken Inn“ in Laragh and went to see the Monastic City.

Glendalough – Wicklow – Glendalough
Sunday, Sep. 16, 16 °C, a.m. cloudy, some rain, p.m. sunny, 108 km

It was a grey morning but nevertheless we went hiking up the Spinc and around the two lakes of Glendalough. It was a beautiful hike of 12 km and 380 m elevation. On our way down we had some rain, but with the rain gear it was not a problem. We were back after 4 hours. In the afternoon the sun came out again and we drove to Wicklow at the coast, visited the ruins of Black Castle and enjoyed the sun on Brittas Beach. The night sky with millions of stars was fantastic.

Glendalough – Kilkenny
Monday, Sep. 17, 14 °C, sunny, 145 km

Via Wicklow Gap and Hollywood we drove to Moone to see the famous High Cross, then we went to see the High Crosses of Castledermot and Brownshill Dolmen near Carlow. At 1:30 p.m. we arrived in the pretty town of Kilkenny where we got the last of three rooms at Carriglea B&B which was lovely. We visited the castle and climbed up the round tower at the cathedral. In the late evening we listened to a session of traditional live music (Irish folk and ballads) at Kyteler’s Inn.

Kilkenny – Rock of Cashel – Lismore – Ardmore – Youghal
Tuesday, Sep. 18, 14 °C, a.m. sunny, p.m. partly cloudy, 184 km

The monastic site of Rock of Cashel which we reached after a 1,5 hours drive from Kilkenny was very impressive. We stopped at Lismore castle and the round tower of Ardmore, a little fishing village. In Youghal we stayed at Roseville B&B.

Youghal – Cobh – Kinsale – Bantry
Wednesday, Sep. 19, 16 °C, a.m. mostly cloudy, p.m. rainy, 253 km

We left shortly after 9 a.m. and stopped at Cloyne to see the round tower. Then we went to Cobh, the port of Cork and the last port of call of the Titanic before her fatal Atlantic crossing. We had a lunch break at the fishing village of Kinsale and because it started to rain we only made short stops at several places, such as the Drombeg Stone Circle. We reached Bantry shortly after 5 p.m. and found a room at Brú Na Pairce B&B. Dinner at „The Quays“ pub was great.