Touring Southeastern Ireland

Today I'll be heading to the southeastern reaches of Ireland, deeper this time, all the way to Hook Lighthouse at Hook Head, one of the oldest lighthouses in existence today. Along the way I'll pass through Wicklow Mountain National Park then make a quick stop at Waterford Crystal in Waterford to check out their factory tour.

Back on the road again and God only knows what I'll encounter road-wise today, it doesn't take long for me to discover something disturbing, case in point, here's a road that can barely fit one car and it's a two-way road! Fortunately, on this road, no one was coming the other way! Notice the little green placard in the lower reaches of the windshield, it's a warning to drive on the left side of the road. Ha, on this road you can only drive in the center.





Anyway, into Wicklow National Park I eventual venture, the mountains here in Ireland are not very high, here in these parts they are something like 800 meters tall (2,500 feet). Stepping out of the car once I'm deep in the park for a little look around, I get this curious feeling that this place is ancient. The weather worn mountains speak to me in a language I understand but cannot translate to you. You have to actually be here to understand it. It's a feeling of wonderful calm, of peace, of serenity. I can't say I've ever been to a place where I've had this strong a feeling. I can see why people love this place, my love of it is growing by the hour.


After a bit of driving I finally arrive at Waterford Crystal, only to be rebuffed by the news that the manufacturing plant has closed less than a year ago, relocating to Eastern Europe (I think she said Hungary), so there's no tour, not today, not ever. Bummer. I have to settle with what items they have on display in the Visitor Center. I guess that's my punishment for wanting to save a few bucks by buying a used guidebook of Ireland, it's for 2006.

After the disappointing visit to Waterford Crystal, I head to Hook Lighthouse. On the way I pass by a few ruins, the most interesting are two churches, St Dubhan's Church and a smaller church that posted no placard, so the name is a mystery to me. The churches are both peaceful and a little creepy at the same time. Good fodder for a horror movie setting, especially the larger one.

I eventually reach Hook Lighthouse. Upon arrival I'm rebuffed a second time today, it's 7pm and the tour ends at 6pm. The place is closed. I can't blame the guide book for this one, I was just lazy with my trip planning and saw there was a lighthouse close to Waterford so I decided to include it in my day's activities. Not to worry, the tour is replaced with a chance meeting with Myles. At the lighthouse I see an older gentleman scrambling over a chest high stone wall. He's trying to take a shortcut to avoid a lengthy return trip back to the car on the path he's found himself on. He scrambles over the first of two walls when I arrive on the scene. We both greet each other, after which Myles complains about his bad knee, and how he's gotten too old to scramble over stone walls. Feeling a bit sorry for the chap, I offer him a leg up, so up and over the second wall he goes.

Nice guy this Myles, so I chat him up a bit, he's the first Irish person I've had a lengthy conversation with. After a while his cell phone rings and his wife is on the other end, she's waiting in the car, and she desperately has to go to the bathroom. Myles says he's on his way (would take him less than a minute to reach the car), ends the call, then proceeds to talk with me for 10 more minutes or so. Phone rings, it's the wife again, he tells her he's been looking for a toilet for her, hangs up, says goodbye, then makes a quick exit back to the bladder swollen wife. Ha, I just had to laugh at that. Good stuff...

Anyhoo, back to the lighthouse. Dating waaaay back to the 13th century, Hook Lighthouse was a marvel of its time. For the past 800 years it has been dutifully protecting sailors from peril and disaster. That's pretty amazing when you think about it, 800 years of service. They kicked to the curb the lighthouse's last keeper in 1996 when they fully automated its operation, at which time they opened up the lighthouse to the public.

I finish poking around the lighthouse and head back to Michele's, my couch surfing host. It's 8pm and I call Michele to tell her I'll be back in 2 hours. I then tell the GPS to draw me a route back home. Little did I know that the route back is primarily on secondary roads, yep, the really narrow ones. Anyway, the drive back turns out longer than anticipated, I'm tired from the jet lag, it's getting dark, my high beams apparently don't work, and I'm staring narrow roads with crazy people. I'm surprised I made it back in one piece.

I finally arrive at Michele's at 11:15, 1 hour, 15 minutes late. She admits to me she was getting a bit worried about me (how sweet of her) then cooks me up a feast of fried lamb chops accompanied my a potato/veggie side dish. Wow, I'm in heaven, Michele is a good cook, but, I need not be surprised, she's French, after all.

Off to Ireland

After a very long travel day I finally arrive in Dublin, Ireland. However, my day has just begun, seeing it's only 9:30 in the morning! When the finally dust settles I will have been awake for almost 40 hours before my head hits the pillow. One of the main barriers to sleeping on the plane is I'm just too tall, my legs don't fit/fold comfortably under the seat in front of me, so the best I can do is periodically enter into a state of mild semi-consciousness, which doesn't even count as a cat nap. It's more like a gnat nap, utterly useless.




From the airport I drive a rented car southward to areas unknown. Not unknown to my Garmin GPS though, my electronic training wheels that will prevent me from tipping over into the realms of lostness. Having never driven on the left side of the road and never shifting the transmission with my left hand, one tends to think driving in such an alien environment would be a challenge. Regardless, I enter the stream of traffic with a little trepidation. Fortunately, I decide quickly to just play "follow the leader". I don't have to be anywhere at any particular time, so I just wonder around following the car in front of me for a while. This proves to be the ingredient for success! Soon enough I'm able to ween myself from the mental teat of the car I've been following, I'm ready to venture out on my own, I'm a big boy now!

So southward I trek with my new found courage. I have to admit, I was lazy before leaving home, not really taking the time to learn how to use my GPS unit, so in addition to getting used to driving on the left and on the narrow roadways, I'm fiddling around (and cursing a bit) with the GPS. In the end I get things figured out and I can concentrate 100% on staying in my incredibly narrow lane. It's rather insane how little clearance I have. Not wanting to get too close to the oncoming traffic, I tend to edge the car over to the left too far, only to be reminded just how close I am by brushing up aside a curb or sometimes actually going over it a bit. Poor, poor rental car. I feel for ya ya little blue guy...





I mill around a bit, not really having an agenda. I have lunch in some little pub, then head back north to Dublin to wander around in the city for a while. Here's a picture of St Patrick's Cathedral. Built way back in 1191, the present structure dates from 1220 onward. I have a 6:00pm appointment near city center with Jodie, a gal who's advertising a room for rent. I've already placed a deposit on the room, I just need to see it in person before actually sealing the deal. All goes well and I decide to take the rental, it's for two months, for July and August.




On the road again, I head southwest to Rathcoole to meet Michele, a fellow couch surfer who has generously offered me a couch for two evenings. Actually it's a bed, but saying it's a couch sounds more cool maybe? Anyway, upon arrival, I meet two surfers who've already arrived. We all decide to walk to a nearby pub for food and spirits. Rathcoole is a small village, however, it has 4 pubs. Michele takes us to the best of the lot. Interesting place, I order a BLT and Guinness!

When we get back from dinner 5 more couch surfers show up, OMG, we have a full house. Good thing Michele has 5 bedrooms.