We need to go to Dublin for some administrative activities, so we located an Airbnb in nearby Swords. We are driving from the west coast of Ireland to the east coast!
Our Airbnb, located in a suburb of Dublin called Swords, is conveniently located, but is very small. A two storey house that is only one room wide! One room downstairs and one room upstairs. The house is only about 15′ wide. The ground floor room doesn’t have a dining table, so we eat at the coffee table.
Work all done in Dublin, so we are now headed to our next stop, a cottage in County Galway. We stopped in the town of Kildare for lunch and managed to find a restaurant with outdoor seating where the dogs are allowed. After lunch we wander around town until it starts to rain, so we take shelter in the side entrance of St. Brigid’s Cathedral. We are wet. The dogs are wet, so we don’t even try to go inside. We are out of the rain in the covered side entrance, so all is good… until the door opens. A very nice lady urges us, wet dogs and all, inside the cathedral. Had a nice chat with this lady and her two friends, and then she urges us to wander, with the dogs, around the interior of the cathedral. Nice.
The very nice church ladies mentioned two places we must see: Emo Court and Rock of Dunamase, so we will go and check them out tomorrow!
We had booked one night in an Airbnb in Portarlington, County Laoise. It was the end unit of a row house located on a farm. The unit was not well kept or cleaned, so we were glad it was just for one night. There was a big field right behind the house, so dogs had a nice place to play. There was some weird kind of squishy red organic matter on the ground at the entrance to the field, and it got in the treads of our boots and in-between the dogs toes. Gross!
Next stop Emo Court. Supposed to be a nice castle with great gardens, and best of all, the castle is supposed to have the largest collection of old photos of Ireland.
As we arrive at Emo Court, the rain starts to dump. We leave the dogs in the van and head to the castle to look at the photos (we thought two large wet dogs may not be best appreciated inside the castle). Not to worry though. The castle is closed, so no castle for us or the dogs. Seeing as how it is raining cats and dogs, we decide to give the garden tour a miss. We will have to visit on a future trip.
It is raining even harder when we get to the Rock of Dunamase, but we decide to explore anyways. The rock was the site of a hill fort in the 9th century, and a castle was constructed on it during the 12th century.
The ruins are quite extensive. Portions of the barbican gate, main gatehouse, curtain wall and great keep are still visible.
It’s too early to check in to our next place, so we stop in Portumna to check out the Friary ruins.
Initially a Cistercian monastery from 1254, it was handed over to the Dominicans for a Friary in 1426. The friars came and left (not always of their own volition) until the 19th century.
Finally time to check into our next place, the “Old Village Barn” near Gorteen, County Galway. It is a good thing that we have photos of the exterior (from the Sykes Holiday Cottages website) because there are often no street addresses, and you just have to find the house by looking at the photos and comparing it to what you see through the van window!
I the nearby town of Portumna there is a castle…
(no dogs)
… a marina…
(RV’s can stay here. There are washrooms, showers and electricity)
… and a forest.
Lot’s of old trees. Lot’s of walking paths (even got lost once and had to come back a second time to find the lake (Lough Derg).
We took a day trip to County Tipperary to see Nenagh Castle located in the centre of the town of Nenagh. The castle complex was built in the 12th century and originally had a curtain wall with four towers and a central round Keep. Only the Keep remains and has been recently restored.
The Keep, now referred to as Nenagh Castle has 16′ thick walls at the base. After falling into disuse an enterprising farmer tried to topple the farmer by blowing up a barrel of gunpowder at the base of the tower. The farmer only succeeded in blowing a small hole in the tower base.
The original entrance to the tower was on the second floor. The wooden draw bridge has long since rotted away. The current entrance on the ground floor was installed during the tower restoration that was completed in 2012. The entrance no stands in the location of the hole created by the aforementioned farmer.
Did you notice the bump sticking out of the right side of the tower about 3/4 of the way up?
We missed the entrance for Ballycuggaran Forest Park while driving south from Gorteeny (where the Old Village barn is located) and ended up in Killaloe. A nice old town with a single lane bridge that crosses the River Shannon. We drove across the bridge, just for fun, turned around and drove back again. Heading back north we saw the sign for Ballycuggaran Forest Park. The sign is only visible from one direction, so I guess they don’t get a lot of visitors driving north to south.
On the way back from Ballycuggaran we stopped in at the village of Mountshannon. We had read that there was a maze that we could explore. Mountshannon is a small village, so we didn’t expect much more than a few hedges, but thought it would be a good place to take the dogs for a walk,
September 28 – October 6, 2023