First off let's deal with the blindingly obvious. Just recently it was Melbourne Cup Day in, not surprisingly, Melbourne, Australia. Now we do like a flutter... lotto, house raffles and of course an annual and very small contribution to the horsey upkeep fund. Also known as a bet on the Melbourne Cup - the race that stops a nation. Despite it being run at about 5 am Irish time, we did have a dollar each on respectively Marmelo (James) and Wicklow Brave (me - obviously because we are here in County Wicklow). We were surprised (as we usually are) when we saw the results when we got up. Seriously? First 3 horses were from Ireland? Just not ours. Must have been the only Irish horse not to place. Probably still running. But there you have it.

Moving right along we had a sunny day on Thursday (16th). The hibernation had gone on long enough and we hit the road for an astoundingly important drive to Naas - a town 30 minutes away. We had tried getting flu vaccinations at the local pharmacy in Blessington, but the local GPs have a stranglehold (probably something to do with the pharmacy being owned by the same crowd who own the primary care centre). There was no way we were going to sit in a germy waiting room to see a GP for a horrendous fee just for an injection to protect ourselves from the very germy-jims coughing and spluttering in the waiting room. Anyway - due to a bit of industrial espionage the nice lady on the pharmacy phone line said we should visit the Boots in Naas... so off we went. We spent up large at Boots who had specials on everything we needed and got stabbed (should be semi-flu-proof in 2-3 weeks time). Fairly sure Boots made enough out of us to close for the day - but €20 each for a vaccination is a much better deal than €60 to go to the doctor... then pay for the vax. We had plans (and cake & coffee) of heading on to the Castletown estate, but taking a wander about Tesco's for some insulation tape led us to buy a roast chicken, baguette, small potato salad and a coleslaw. What can we say - €10 for a pack of 5 rolls of insulation tape isn't that unreasonable.

We left Naas with the credit cards just barely intact and motored on to the University town of Maynooth. We don't see a huge amount of people, even when we nip into Blessington to visit Aldi - so this bustling university town seemed like Times Square, NY. Parking was at a premium so we scooted past the Castles (Maynooth and Geraldine - both closed... sigh... the off season you know), then continued on to Castletown. The grand house built in the 1720s was closed (as of 31 October... FOTM - or 'feck off til March or May'). The grounds however were stunning - we were amazed to see the carpark half full - absolute mecca in these parts for dog walkers as the longest route around the grounds only takes an hour and is paved and glorious the whole way - golden trees, river and cascades and assorted follies, gate lodges and swans.

The day seemed to be disappearing fast by the time we left - only 3 pm but the sun sets at 4.30 pm at the moment. Just enough light to visit a place that's been on our list for a few years - The Wonderful Barn (pictured). This magical corkscrew shaped building was constructed on the edge of the Castletown estate in 1743. It's about a 20 minute drive these days, but it was built to be viewed from the eastern windows of the big house - which demonstrates what a cracking piece of land this once was - even now the whole estate covers 120 acres! The stairs climb around the exterior of the building and there are a few theories about its purpose - perhaps a very posh dovecote (certainly a possibility since there are 2 other smaller dovecote towers right near it). But the accepted view is that it was a granary. It was erected immediately after the 1740-41 famine in order to keep more grain on hand for any future famines and quite likely was also a project to keep the local poor folk employed. We didn't end up getting home til 5 pm - the chickens had put them selves away and were patiently waiting for their door to be locked and the cats were tapping their imaginary watches. The weather forecast reckons minus 2 tonight and grey days ahead for the foreseeable future - lucky we had such astounding weather today.