Wicklow Gap-Laragh-Glenmalure-Aughrim-Avoca-Rathdrum-Laragh and Home! 'Driving while the sun shines' is our current motto. We drove through the Wicklow gap again today. The gap links East and West Wicklow and is a stunning drive that starts from Hollywood, about 6 kms away and meanders across the mountains to Glendalough - via a whole lot of scenic views. As we found out from listening to the locals that's actually pronounced Glendalock. So we're all over it now. From Glendalough it's a mere hop and a skip (not even) to the small town of Laragh - from then we took a circle drive through the most astonishing autumn colours we've ever ever seen. I actually was reading a novel the other day and it referred to trees weeping leaves of gold... that's just what it's like. We started our drive with a car boot sale in Laragh where we bought some bargain homemade fairy cakes (€1 for 3!) and resisted a lot of other things - aside from consumables, such as fairy cakes or bubble bath, the bags just can't take any more 'stuff'. From Laragh we went to Glenmalure, Aughrim and Avoca (home of the show Ballykissangel and the oldest working woollen mill in Ireland - the Avoca Mill which started in 1723).  'Twas at the Avoca Mill riverside that we ate our egg and sausage sandwiches before moving on to the Meeting of the Waters, where two rivers collide, for coffee and fairy cakes. The two rivers are called the Avonmore and the Avonbeg (the big river and the small river respectively). The drive continued and we took a stroll through the parklands of Avondale House (unfortunately the house was closed to visitors - a phenomenon that occurs in September/October every year - FOTM - 'f**k off til March'). After our stroll we drove through Rathdrum and made it back to Laragh in good time. Squillions of Sunday drivers out and about so took a while to get through the Gap on the way home - walkers, coaches and a bloke with only 2nd gear in his car... stuck at 30km/hour with 30+ cars in convoy behind him on long, narrow and winding roads. Lovely day out and once more our flask and lunch came in handy. We've known for a long while that access to a kitchen is the key to thrift in Ireland. Great food is available in the supermarkets for not very much... but the second you enter a cafe/pub/restaurant or coffee shop - cash and credit cards will quiver in fear - for instance... a coffee and a cookie each at the very pleasant and warm cafe at the Avoca Mill... say €9/A$13.50 - OR almost free with the thermos and fairy cakes at the picnic table near the river. As another for instance... in Lisbon we've found a spot to have a 2 course lunch and a glass of wine... for €5 each/€10 between two. So while we have a kitchen - that's where we will be found prior to every scenic drive!