We cannot believe that our last week in Ireland is upon us. Saturday dawned bright, fresh and freezing and we had one more drive we wanted to do in the Wicklow Mountains National Park. We took ourselves off with our hot lunch and coffee and started our exploration with another visit to the Monastic City of Glendalough. There is so much to see at this site that we actually missed a couple of the major monuments last time - so this time made sure we saw the Arch, St Kevin's Cross and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. The drive was so incredibly different from just 2 weeks ago - Winter has sprinkled icing sugar snow over several of the mountains and the temperature outside the car didn't go beyond 3 degrees all day. After Glendalough we took a right and headed to Sally Gap via the stunning mountain road and Tinnehinch (the lake pictured). This is such a scenic spot and just a tiny walk from the road that a mobile coffee van had set up and was doing a roaring trade. We enjoyed our hot lunch while gazing upon the snow dusted mountains (and even driving past some snow at the highest point). Then a long drive home and a good night's sleep. It's been a week for long drives. We managed a rest day on Sunday, but Monday we were off again. We like to think we learn something every day and our current area of intellectual pursuit is Irish Whiskey. Our travels took us to Co. Offaly and Tullamore D.E.W's Old Bonded Warehouse. It's now a whiz-bang state-of-the-art Visitor Centre - complete with low beams and rustic floorboards. We learned for instance that the DEW stands for the founder's name - Daniel E. Williams who started out as a stable boy and ended up being the distiller and owning the business. We are getting astounding value out of our touring map - usually a tour and 3 tastings with an expert is €12 each (crazy money) - so two for one brought it back to only €6 each. Great value. We could probably now explain the making, blending and science of whiskey making to aliens - so got our money's worth. We also popped in to Charleville Castle - closed but a glorious facade and a great spot to snuffle lunch before the long drive home via a brilliant, burning sunset. The chickens and cats make for excellent timekeepers and the chickens had already jumped into their coop and were simply awaiting lockdown. The cats on the other hand were awaiting plates-down - their five o'clock feeding. As if we'd not done enough big drives, Tuesday we hit the road at 9.30 am. Nicest driving weather so far and it actually got warmer as we headed back to Co. Wexford for a visit to our Enniscorthy friends. We had said don't go to any trouble, but ended up sitting down to the most luscious roast beef and veges we've ever eaten and apple pie & custard for dessert. It's only been a bit over 3 weeks but was grand to see all the dogs and they were thoroughly over-excited to see us - we felt very welcome indeed. Wednesday brought forth a new weather warning on our all important weather app - far from being a rain warning or a fog warning or even a high winds warning (we've seen all of those), it was actually warning of extreme cold. Seriously? It's already been 0 or below with hard frosts for the last few days. Could it really get colder? Of course it could - Minus 4 when we woke up on Wednesday. Perfect day for staying indoors and packing. Sigh... packing day. Almost worth heading outdoors for a spot of hypothermia.