It's been a while since we've had a castle jaunt and today, being the first Wednesday of the month, it was the day to finally visit Cahir Castle (that's "Keer" as we found out last time. We visited this part of Co. Tipperary way back near Christmas 2014 and the castle was shut for repairs so it's been on the "to do" list for a while. It was almost a 2 hour drive down to the castle and we were pleased to see there were hardly any thrifty types there at all - '1st Wednesday' being the free day for the Office of Public Works/Heritage Ireland properties. It was good to have a look around but the stairs were horrendous... bungalows aren't particularly fortified or secure, but they are so much more comfortable for living purposed. This wasn't a furnished castle like the extravaganza in Kilkenny, but still an interesting place - particuarly given the siege of 1599 by the English - you can even see a cannonball lodged in one of the keep walls. There's no point being thrifty if we then buy lunch out, so tucked into our bacon and egg toasted sandwiches and water whilst sitting next to the Suir River (that would be pronounced "Sure" - every day is a learning day in Ireland). With a fine and sunny day, we left Cahir around 2 pm for the longer drive back via Fethard. Last time we were down this way it was the middle of winter and pitch black by 5 pm - so we only saw the sun setting spectacularly over the medieval walls of Fethard - so it's always been on the 'go for a look in daylight' list. So glad we did. Fethard boasts the honour of having the most complete medieval walls in all of Ireland - around 90%. It even has some of it's original gates. A medieval church dating from the 1200s is nestled within the walls and we walked the exterior walls before heading in to the church yard for a look. Also a couple of old castles... but no easy way to explore them. We had a thermos of coffee on hand for the drive home and a hankering for scones and jam. Luckily the little deli we stopped out had run out of scones... so we bought a couple of yesterday's scones which the owner jammed and warmed up for us. Then it was into the car and down the laneways for the drive home - thank heavens for google maps on the iPad - it means we can just drive and will always be able to find our way home (especially since we bought a cheapie-car-charger cable for the iPad). So that was our big outing of the week. Thursday was inevitably rest day and we spent a lot of time with the doggies et al. Friday saw our first day trip jaunt down to the mobile home at the beach and James found a chunk of Baltic Amber washed up by a storm - that's one each on the treasures of the ocean scorecard so far. Saturday we went to Wexford Town for a look around the shops and a walk. Just us and the entire population of Co. Wexford. Won't do that again - much more relaxing on a weekday. On the social front, we popped in to visit our neighbours and had a bottle of bubbles, nuts and a natter - Can't believe we're half way through this housesit already - only 2.5 weeks to go!