(L) We were both awake by just after 5.30 as we have to get organised for our trip to the airport to pick up the car. The original plan was to head out for breakfast at 7 so as to be ready to leave by 8-8.30 ish but unfortunately when we googled places to eat we couldn't find anything open this early (being as it doesn't get light until 7.30 ish I guess there's not too many people meeting for breakfast in the dark on a Saturday!). Deb rang down to the desk to ask if they knew somewhere but both the staff said they couldn't think of a place...... change of plan.

Only thing we could do now is to get to the airport and eat there at airport prices! Oh well! We strapped ourselves in to our hefty backpacks and get ourselves checked out of The Arlington Hotel. This is perfectly located for a stay in Dublin, close to everything including bus stops. We had #22 stop on the Green Bus route right outside our door. Which reminds me of a story I forgot to tell yesterday. By the time we left the Guinness Storehouse it was dark and we got the last bus of the night home sitting ourselves right up the back, the driver was really chatty and was telling lots of jokes, one of which was slightly risqué and he must have seen Deb and I smiling at it (they have cameras on board so the driver knows if anyone is getting up to get off) he made some comment about dirty minds "for those up the back". As we got close to town the driver asked (over his microphone) if anybody wanted stops 20 or 21 as they are the last on the route so there'd be no pick ups and everyone would be getting out at 22. I called out "we're at the Arlington - is that 21 or 22?". What followed was hilarious as the driver made joke after joke about "knowing us" and suggesting everyone get off and come party in Room 406 at the Arlington. We found all the drivers were so friendly, helpful and epitome of good 'ol Irish Craic!

Anyway I digress ... we set off to the bus stop we'd sussed out yesterday, round the first corner onto O'Connell street and what should we see but at least 5 places open .... well OK there was Maccas and Burger King in amongst them but there was no mention of any open places by the reception staff!

The Airlink bus came along about 4 minutes after we got to the stop so we were at the airport nice and early - I think around 8. First stop was breakfast so we headed for the first place we saw which was to the left as you enter the Arrivals hall, it was pretty ordinary really, only scrambled eggs which were sitting in a pot of water - but it did hit the spot. Unfortunately then we both wanted to use the restrooms before heading out in the car for hours and as we walked down the other end of the Arrivals hall we passed another place serving breakfast way cheaper and a choice of eggs!! Typical!

Next stop is the car hire. Now on the paperwork it clearly states the desks are located in Terminals 1 & 2 in the Arrivals Hall, well we were there but no car hire desks in sight! As we walked past the entry we saw the signs pointing out of the building for Car Rentals... both Deb and I kept saying "in the Arrivals Hall?? Really?". Anyway out the door, across a walk bridge and into another (Arrivals?) Hall and there are the car hire desks. This is a sign of things to come re Irish sign posting!

The girl managed to talk us into an upgrade for only €80 to a Ford Mondeo so paperwork signed we headed down the lift to the waiting shuttle bus which took as promptly to the parking lot, which seemed like miles away. He handed us the keys and Deb asked if there was anything we needed to know about the car, any controls that aren't standard. "No" he says, "it's just a normal car" he says.

OK now, I'm a pretty confident driver and don't usually have any problem jumping in any car but first thing was, this is a manual, which I have driven for years and years but not FOR years and years. I couldn't start the car but after a few attempts realised I didn't have my foot on the clutch, hmm that may help. Thank goodness these days the car just won't start not like in the old days where you'd be kangaroo hopping. Ok so car started, seat adjusted, demister working etc I put the car in 1st, move 2 inches and stall... OMG did the same thing 3 more times until I finally managed to work out I was in 3rd. Problem was the R was top left so I was thinking the 2nd notch was 1st... anyway we finally limped out of the car park into traffic where I proceeded to stall once again on a busy roundabout. No stress, keep calm... Deb was fantastic talking to me in a calm voice, giving directions, she sounded just like a driving instructor coaxing some adolescent learner but certainly did the trick... maybe she missed her calling?!

No more stalling and we found our way without any more problems onto the M50 ring road taking the #12 exit. I had done this drive on google maps & street view and had written directions with every intersection clearly marked, I had deliberately chosen an off the path route as we do prefer back roads to highways. This helped us for about 3 or 4 turns off the highway when we got to a blocked road with a sign that said "follow the Diversion" ummm what? where? diversion? We went around the roundabout a couple times trying to spot the said "diversion" and finally picked an exit... from here, followed a comedy of errors where we'd come to an intersection and make a hasty decision on direction! Deb managed to get her google maps working (coverage is a bit patchy and really random - we have the same sim in our phones and one of us will have No Service whilst the other has perfect service, same iPhone too) and declared we were half way back to Dublin, which elicited long and loud laughing! Ok well I'll just turn around - which in itself proved a journey as each side road I chose had nowhere suitable and we moved further and further from our destination .... I did manage to find a suitable place eventually and then spent 5 minutes sitting across the end of a small street trying to figure out how to get the car in reverse. I have never ever seen a car that you have to pull the base of the gear stick up whilst pushing the whole stick over to the left and up - quite peculiar!

Anyway...... we did eventually get on the right road and found our way to Glendalough by just before 11 so all our sightseeing scenic route really only added 20 to 30 minutes. We stopped for coffee and a scone before heading up to see the beautiful Round Tower and St Kevin's Church. We took far too many photos so be prepared for masses of them but it was all so gorgeous we couldn't help ourselves.

We left Glendalough at around 12 with the knowledge that the trip should take an hour and a half so plenty of time and we'll be there by 1.30 ish. Yes well, once again my written instructions may as well have been thrown out the window as even though I'd google street viewed a lot of the drive the roads just weren't signed or signed with something completely different than we were expecting. We were on the L roads though which are the small back roads, or lanes really, that crisscross the countryside - and apparently all roads (well at least in that area) lead to Dunlavin! 

Eventually, after much laughter and bemusement, we got ourselves pointed in the right direction and arrived at the Bridgeview B & B around 2pm - only 30 to 40 minutes later than we had expected. We were met by the lovely Aisling & Marcella who were incredibly friendly and helpful and full of information. We basically just dumped our stuff in the room and headed out for a little walk around the town then followed Marcella's suggestion and popped into KyteIer's Inn for a drink. They serve food all day and the menu is quite vegetarian friendly so we decided to have a late lunch, early dinner. On the way back to the B & B we popped into the supermarket and bought cheese, biscuits, olives, grapes and wine for a light dinner and had an early night.

(D) Our original plans for in the morning was that either we’d have breakfast downstairs at the Arlington or we’d leave our bags at the hotel and make our way out for something to eat in the vicinity before coming back to collect our backpacks and continuing on.

As it was we once again woke up way too early for breakfast at the hotel, which began at 7.30am, and on ringing downstairs to reception I was told nothing in the immediate area would be open until around 8am. After muttering about the “feckless Irish” (joking definitely – I LOVE the Irish, in general their good natured warmth and their humour are second to none!) we decided rather than waste time walking around looking on the off chance we’d load on our backpacks and head off to the airport and find something to eat there.

As, laden down with our weight, we made our way to the bus stop I reckon we counted at lease 5 or 6 places we could have eaten. Admittedly at least 2 or 3 were of the McDonald style so unlikely contenders but I still think the reception guys at the Arlington need to walk in their own neighbourhood occasionally?

It was an easy trip into the airport and a delightful idea of Liane’s meant we were smart enough to grab a trolley – yay, no lugging luggage on one’s back! We had a surprisingly nice breakfast, as in it tasted better than it looked, which Liane shouted me for my birthday, thanks Larn! – before beginning our mission….. locating the car hire place which I’m sure she has described so I won’t go into it again except to say again that I’m super glad we had a trolley!

I know Liane also would have described the pick up of the car, the assurance from the guy in answer to the direct question “are there any special instructions/unusual elements we need to know about” that no, it was totally standard. We asked because of the hire car in Oxford in 2013 which automatically stopped at lights creating confusion and a freaky experience in a strange city, strange car, not long off the plane and still travel fugged.

It turned out that his “totally standard” wasn’t necessarily ours and hence followed ten minutes or so that I’m sure Liane will have described. It only lasted about that long as after that she was totally fine and all over the foibles of the car, well except for the reversing as we hadn’t yet encountered a situation in which we had to do it at that stage – that comes later with all our turnarounds…..

As it was with our early driving “adventures” I have complete faith in Liane’s driving capabilities so wasn’t even the least bit stressed out but those first ten minutes couldn’t have been much fun for her. It got me to thinking car hire places should maybe have a small section of their lot where you can test drive and get familiar with the car a bit before they send you out to major intersections where you may stall in the middle of a roundabout….. and that’s all I’m saying – except to add that Liane is a superstar!

As for the turnarounds mentioned above, after minimal discussion, a relative first for us, we had decided that we really wouldn’t need a GPS in Ireland as between forward planning by Liane and my phone for directions in a pinch, we should be covered. Today’s run from Dublin to Kilkenny which had seemed like a pretty straight forward drive, turned out to be rather a perfect example of the plans of mice and men etc. 

Liane, Gwendoline and I, on our 2013 holiday, had a trip policy that there wouldn’t be any backtracks and turnarounds, rather we would find another way and discover something new we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. It worked really well there but in this case as Liane so eloquently put it “if we hadn’t done them all today we’d be in Northern Ireland by now!’

Partly is was technological, as in no reception at critical moments of decision, a situation we arrived at because of a road closure with a “use deviation” sign but sadly NO information as to where this deviation might be located! The Irish – as thoroughly lovely as they are – do not appear to bother with minor details.

This sign of course completely threw out the written directions as we couldn’t turn where we knew we wanted to and with the hills and roundabouts and subdivision type areas this was not a clear “ok well we’ll just loop around and turn at the next available” situation. Which is when I also realized there was no service on my phone and though Liane had an offline Map Me program on her phone I was unfamiliar with it and really couldn’t figure out what was up let alone where we were.

Not to worry, Liane had me read her the instructions she’d written down again and figured out where maybe we should head, so off we toodle. We’d drive along a bit and I’d glance down at my phone and notice we were back in reception so I could see the roads in more detail again and the little blue dot appeared to be yes on the right road perhaps but whoops, going in the wrong direction! I’m sad to report that this didn’t happen just once, or even just twice. It seemed to go on and on and on and hopefully Liane will remember more of the detail as it’s all jumbled up in my head as a huge maze of seemingly going round and round in circles.

We did find Glendalough though and thoroughly enjoyed wandering around the grounds, oohing and aahing over the beauty of it all. One had to be patient and wait out the (other!) tourists who seemed to be equally determined to outlast us and remain in our photo lines but otherwise all was peace and joy. St Kevin's Church, usually known as St Kevin's Kitchen was apparently built in the 12th Century and it blows ones mind that it is there at all - let alone just how gorgeous it is.

All in all a fabulous way to spend my 55th birthday and thinking of our getting lost adventures today it occurs to me that neither of us were fazed really at any of it. I think we were both in a state of bemusement rather than any form of stress or panic and after all we did, in the end, get to Kilkenny which is where we needed to go….. and we also learnt that all roads lead to Dunlavin which who knows, may be helpful knowledge at some stage or other!