Read, Write, Ramble

Today, the sun was shining for the second consecutive day and we were up bright and early. Our plan was to go to Cobh (pronounced COVE!) via Parkrun at Midleton. The taxi was booked for 7:30am.  The travel plans went like this: Firstly, a taxi to Cork Railway Station, or the Iron Road (Iarnrod) as the Irish prefer to call it, in time to procure coffee and catch the 8:15 Cork Commuter to Midleton.  Secondly, participate in the Midleton Parkrun, a first for Mark and Julie who had their barcodes at the ready in anticipation of just such an event.  Then another short train trip back to Glounthaune where we would disembark and change trains for the seaside village of Cobh.  I’m happy to say all went according to plan and the sun shone on us all day.  Apart from the fact that we first jumped into the taxi that arrived just before 07:30 but quickly realised that we weren’t the customers he had been assigned, all was well, we jumped out and he sped off, while we waited ...

The day began with rain, so we donned our coats and walked down to catch the Hop on Hop off bus into town before our 24 hour ticket expired at 11. This time, the bus was on time and stopped at the correct stop when we hailed it.  We began by wandering up the famous Oliver Plunkett street and exploring this pretty shopping and foodie precinct.  Back down near the river, we found a restaurant called Luigi Malones and couldn’t quite decide whether we were in Italy or Ireland, however we ventured in and found some pretty good food to suit all our tastes, across both cultures (Wallsy and I had pizza/Julie and Mark had soup). We emerged from lunch to find the sun out and some warmth in the air. Shedding our raincoats, we crossed the river and walked up a steep hill to St Anne’s Church and the Shandon Bells and Tower, which incongruously has a gold fish on top as the weather vane.  Inside, we donned ear defenders to protect our hearing against the sound of the bells and then cli...

  Lulled into a false sense of security by yesterday’s sunshine and mild temperatures, we were shocked (slight exaggeration!) to wake up to rain and muted views of the buildings across the River Lee, so we pondered what to do for the day.  We have to admit we were struggling to work out the idiosyncrasies of the heating and hot water systems, so much so, that Mark and Julie had been treated to cold showers last night. Stephen and I had declined cold showers this morning.  However, an angel called Maggie, who lives in the flat below, called in to see us, and competently answered all of our many questions. The upside of this was, Wallsy and I were able to have warm showers after breakfast.  We then decided to brave the weather and walk down to Wellington Bridge where we could hail the Hop on Hop off bus. Thinking we had plenty of time, we were surprised to see the bus arriving at the stop 14 minutes early. We flagged him down anyway, and he obligingly stopped on the br...

 Today we farewelled both our wonderful friends from Yorkshire, and the vibrant city of Dublin.  While Mark and Julie went off to the fantastic Irish Emigration Museum we had visited yesterday, the rest of us took another walk in Phoenix Park, this time visiting the Tea Rooms for a coffee and cake before our midday checkout from the Ashling Hotel.  Back at the hotel we met up with Mark and Julie and said our fond farewells to David and Carolyn. We then walked the short distance across the Liffey to Heuston Station, where we grabbed some food for the train trip and waited expectantly to learn which platform our train to Cork would depart from.  We enjoyed a smooth 2.5 hour journey, watching the green countryside pass by and arrived into Cork at about 15:30. Unfortunately we had an unpleasant encounter with the taxi driver from the station. Not only did he spray the car with air freshener while we were in it, on arriving at the very expansive complex of buildings that ...