We've had a quiet week with lots of chilling out in the warmth of the central heating. Lots of gray days, bit of drizzle, very relaxed. It's about 1 km from the end of our track out to the road, so I've been doing a couple of 'there and backs' most days, keeping up our walking habit from the beach in Langkawi (and getting fitter for Lisbon larking about). Currently at 4 km - aiming to get to 6 km at a fair clip this coming week. The highlight of the week was o...

We are a short drive down the road from Blessington - 14 kms, our local town. We are truly in the garden of Ireland here in County Wicklow and today decided on the Blessington Lakes Drive. Officially it's called the Pollaphuca Reservoir (from the Irish "Puca's Hole" - a Puca is a ghostly spirit from Celtic folklore that can bring either good or bad fortune to rural and marine communities. So pretty much got all the options covered). The reservoir is active for...

Blessington is a get ahead little town with a growing population and lots of lovely new shops (including a Dunnes and Aldi). It still has a quaint main street, even with the N81 running straight through town. Pubs, cafes, real estate agents and hairdressers seem to be in the majority. There are 3 signs pointing to the Tourist Information centre (all at different angles) and on Saturday we found it after a bit of a hunt. And found that it's only open Monday to...