Surely that's unhygeinic!

Day 24 - Waterford to Cobh

We had to drive straight to Waterford yesterday so we had missed some of our planned itinerary, so today we started by backtracking slightly to visit the Rock of Cashel, an ancient castle and building complex built up on a large rock by the town of Cashel.

We arrived in time for the 11:30am free tour. There was occasional sunshine but it was quite cool up by the exposed ruins, the guide was very knowledgeable and a gave a lot of good (if a little dry) information on the history of the ruins. We visited all of the main buildings, finishing in the chapel.

We stopped for a quick lunch in Cashel (note, sausage rolls seem to be quite popular in Ireland), then drove for an hour or so to Blarney Castle and Gardens, site of the famous Blarney Stone.

It wasn't as busy as we'd expected, visiting major sites during mid to late afternoon seems to be a good way to avoid crowds. We wandered around the gardens and joined the queue to climb the narrow spiral staircase to the top, passing rooms and features marked with explanatory plaques. It took us about 15 minutes to get up there, but the queue can get very long when it's busy. We also didn't realise that you need to lie down to kiss the Blarney Stone, which is why the queue was moving so slow, as each kisser had to be helped into a specific position (and it also looked like they cleaned the stone between kisses). We skipped the kissing bit ourselves, opting to watch a few people as they kissed the stone while commemorative photo was taken, which they could buy later for 10 euros.

After wandering around the gardens for a bit longer we left and drove to our overnight stop of Cobh, which happens to be a major cruise port, and also just happened to have a massive 4000+ passenger cruise ship moored just outside our hotel. Just our luck ......

We checked in and went for a walk into town, the massive ship looming large over everything else, wth hordes of passengers wandering the streets and crowding the bars. We went into one bar hoping for a quiet drink, unfortunately it was full of boomers singing along to the 80's songs played by the band. We legged it out of there and found a quieter hotel, where we had an Irish coffee and tried a local stout, while we watched the misty rain come and go over the ocean.

Outside our price range!

Day 23 - Dublin to Waterford

It took a while for us to get on the road today, we started by catching the 8.30am bus to Dublin airport to pick up our rental car for our loop of Ireland, and between the bus trip and car collection process it was 10:30 before we were finally heading out of Dublin.

We'd booked a tour of the Waterford Crystal factory for 1:20pm, so we unfortunately had to skip our planned stop at Kilkenny. The tour of the factory was very interesting as we were able to watch craftsmen blow, cut and engrave crystal in front of us. 

As beautiful as it all was it was also well out of our budget.

It was a short walk from there to see the Viking Triangle, site of the old city walls still with old Viking buildings such as Reginald's Tower, the oldest urban civic building in Ireland. 

We'd read that parking at our hotel in Waterford could be difficult so we headed there early to snag a parking spot, before walking through town and settling in to a pub next to the tower for our first authentic Irish Coffee of the trip.

Is this the perfect fast food meal?

Day 22 - Dublin

We started the day with a visit to the Irish Immigration Museum which had a very interactive experience tracing the history and geographical spread of the Irish people throughout the world. 

The Jeanie Johnston Famine Ship replica is moored opposite the museum and it's sobering to imagine 2500 people boarding such a small ship to travel vast distances in to the unknown.

We visited the National Museum and there was an interesting exhibition of the Bog Bodies, preserved remains of people found in bogs around the country.

On our walking tour yesterday we were told about a local fast food called a "spice bag", which is chips and chicken with some chilli salt, onion, peppers and spices. That sounded like a pretty good combination to M so he had to try one, and he was not disappointed. It was hot, it was spicy, it was crunchy, it was tasty. Hmm, I'm salivating writing this .....   

Yesterday we learnt that you should always carry an umbrella in Ireland - today we put our lesson to good use as it started raining around 4pm while we were out and about, and the cheap umbrellas we bought in the UK were put to good use.  

Lesson learnt

Day 21 - Dublin

Our hotel is in a great area, easy walking distance to all the tourist spots in Dublin. We started our day off with a free walking tour, usually a great way to learn some local history and get a feel for the area, and this one was no exception. The guide was excellent, engaging, informative and interesting. 

After some lunch we took in more of the city and the river, and in the afternoon M wandered through the National Gallery, Trinity College and St. Stephen's Green.

On our way back from our exploration we also learnt an important Irish lesson, which is to always carry an umbrella, as we were caught out at one point and had to change out of our wet clothes before heading out again!

Hello Ireland

Day 20 - London to Dublin (Ireland)

We checked out around 9am to get the train to Heathrow for our 1:30pm flight to Dublin. The streets around the hotel were very different to the the quietness of the long weekend, everyone was heading back to work after the summer holidays and streams of people emerged from the underground entrance as we tried to get our luggage down the steps. The train trip was straightforward and by around 10:30am we had dropped off our luggage and were enjoying the lounge to wait for our flight.

The flight to Dublin was short and only an hour or so after landing we checked into our hotel for the next three nights. 

We had a bit of a wander around town, a quick walk down to the river and through the Temple Bar district and we then found a nice pub for a traditional dinner of fish and chips.

Bank Holiday

Day 19 - London

Today is a bank holiday and the last day of the summer and school holidays (kind of like Australia Day), and it's also our last full day in England.

We walked to Covent Garden, we didn't find anything remotely green but there were lots of shops and people (apparently there was once a convent and a garden in the area, hence the name). We then caught the train to Camden Market to find lots of people and lots of tacky, Chinese made souvenirs.

We then visited the British Museum. It's free entry, but there were two queues, for people with and without tickets. We joined the "no ticket" line, only to find that the lines merged in just a few metres and we all entered together.

We visited a few of the museum highlights, like the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles, as well as the African section. It was very busy, much busier than we remember from out first visit in 2011. 

We finished off the day by visiting Somerset House (which is not a house but more like a grand palace) where K managed to talk our way into the gift shop of the M. C. Escher exhibition where M bought a small souvenir, while K snuck in to see a little bit of the exhibition.

We went for a drink in a nice quiet pub close to our hotel, the area where we've been staying has been very quiet because of the holiday weekend (which we like), but nothing like what the area would normally be like.

Some final observations for our last full day in the country:

• UK would be the the easiest country for Aussies to travel in, except maybe NZ.
• People in general seem much politer than at home.
• There is no "walk on the left" rule, just walk where there's a gap - unless if you're on an escalator, where you stand to the right.
• There appear to be a lot more smokers and vapers.
• Instead of  "Hi" or "How are you", the say "You all right"? That took some getting used to.
• There are still lots of bookshops and greeting card shops, at home they seem to be dying out.

Forever stained

Day 18 - London

We seem to have a knack of turning up to major cities to find out there's a major event on, this time we discover at the last minute that's it the famous Notting Hill Carnival. They were expecting between one and two million people to attend so we decided we should at least check it out.

We started with a walk down to nearby Fleet St and on to the Thames. The streets near the hotel were almost empty but at the river it became quite busy. There were lot of people around, the weather was mild and it was a bank holiday weekend.  

We crossed the Millennium Bridge then returned via Blackfriars Bridge. We hopped on the train at Blackfriars station, hoping to get off at Notting Hill Gate, only to find that the station was closed (too many people, we presume). The next stop was Bayswater so we jumped off there and followed the crowd to the festival. The carnival is Caribbean based and the crowd, especially the women, were dressed with that theme, many being very scantily clothed. 

There were a surprising number of police around, though many of them seemed to be in the back streets and well away from the crowds, though we did see two people pulled out of the crowd and taken aside. There were also a lot of event staff, arrayed in lines across the road. They were still letting people through, and many were taking photos and videos as if they were part of the crowd.

We watched a group of Mas band members and followers swarming the streets, they were heavily dyed in black and purple paint that was literally thrown around. K ran to try and escape the paint but it still managed to splatter her clothes with purple, effectively ruining them. It was only later that we read that it is recommended to wear old clothes to the festival ... too late for us!

After watching for a while we decided to move on as the crowds were getting quite dense. We stopped for a drink at a surprisingly quiet pub, though by the time we moved it was almost full as there was a heavy rain shower while we were there. 

We planned to visit Mayfair so we needed to get to Bond Street station, we walked to Queensway Station only to be told it was also closed, so we walked on to Lancaster Gate. We wandered the upmarket streets of Mayfair, then continued to Regent St and Soho, then Piccadilly Circus, before getting the train back to Chancery Lane and home. 

After that we popped in for a drink at the grand Old Bank Hotel on Fleet Street before heading back home to cook the Indian meals we'd bought from M&S, taking advantage of the cooking facilities in our studio apartment while we can.

Be careful out there!

Day 17 - Hope to London 

We were on the road by 9:30am for the four hour drive to Heathrow to drop off our rental car before our London stint.

There was a bit of rain and there were also disruptions on the M1, but other than that the drive into London wasn't too bad. We had to fill up car and have a quick toilet stop just before we reached the airport we stopped in a place called West Drayton. The place looked impoverished and the locals were surprised we had chosen there to stop there and told us to be very careful with our belongings.

The car return went smoothly, we made our way to the airport railway station and travelled to Chancery Lane, with just a three minute walk to our studio apartment where we were staying for the next three  nights. The streets were very quiet as we were staying in a mostly commercial area, it was a Saturday and also the last weekend of the school holidays.

Hoping for better weather

Day 16 - Hope

It had rained more overnight but the morning was clear so we drove to nearby Castleton for a coffee, with the ruins of Peveril Castle overlooking the town. While checking out the local shops with stones and jewellery made from something called Blue John stone, the miniature bowls for sale were exquisite but unfortunately so were the prices. 

We decided we should explore one of the many local caves, we liked the sound of the self guided Treak Cliff Cavern so we hiked up the side of the hill (with some great views of the area on the way) to enter the 330 million year old caves, where the Blue John stone had been mined for over 300 years.

The Cavern was interesting with beautiful colours and formations, though the tacky plastic dinosaurs placed in some of the most beautiful spots did cheapen the attraction somewhat. From there it was a short drive and walk to visit the Odin Mine crushing wheel which was used to break up the mined lead ore. 

For lunch we drove to the historic village of Eyam, which is famous for voluntarily quarantining itself during the bubonic plague in 1665. We had just ordered lunch when the rain started again, luckily it had started slowing down by the time we finished.

We headed south to visit the sites we missed due to yesterday's rain, including Heights of Abraham where we chose not to take the cable car. We walked along the promenade of Matlock Bath by the Derwent River. It was like an inland version of an English seaside town, with lots of fish and chip, ice cream, confectionery and tacky souvenir shops. 

On our way back to Hope we detoured via Chatsworth House and were blown away by the sheer size and scale of this so called "house" and the numerous grand buildings surrounding it. The farm shop down the road was also an eye opener as the range and quality of food was a big step up from our options at home.

For dinner we went to a local pub up the road in the village, which was much quieter than the one where we were staying. What's surprising is that they had a food menu for dogs, with what appeared to be very reasonable prices.

Losers!

Day 15 - Stoke on Trent to Hope

We woke to rain that kept getting heavier, so we delayed leaving Stoke in the hope that the weather would clear. By 11am we had to get going so we hit the road to drive to the Peak District. We had planned stops at Dovedale and the Stepping Stones but as the rain wasn't letting up we continued to Ashbourne where we grabbed some lunch.

The rain wasn't stopping any time soon so we decided to skip the places we had planned to visit and instead went via the cute villages of Bakewell and Buxton before checking in to our pub accommodation at Hope, just as the weather started to improve.

We walked into village and surveyed the dinner options, we could see a huge tent that was being set up by the Old Hall Hotel for the upcoming Hope Beer and Cider Festival, so we crossed that off our list, opting instead to book a late dinner at the local Indian restaurant that had been recommended to us by our accommodation.

Thursday night was quiz night at the pub we were staying at so we decided to try our hand and joined in with the locals for a change at the prize pool (which we figured was about £13 in total). Unfortunately for us the questions were very UK-centric so we struggled, eventually coming equal last with just 16 points. Defeated and dejected, we walked back into the village for our tasty Indian meal.

We noticed along the way that the old red public telephone boxes have now been converted to house defibrillators, a  clever use, though we do wonder whether the victim needs to be transported all the way to the phone box first.