It's not that we're in the market for fleas... or for that matter, car boots, but the sun was shining, the birds were singing and the sky was blue - so we had to go somewhere! We started out locally, just 20 minutes away in Blessington. We figure it's rude and thoughtless not to buy anything when people have gone to the trouble to get up at the crack of dawn in freezing temperatures and cart their stuff to a freezing car park - so ended up with a sparkly pair of earrings (me) and 6 bottles of spicy churrasco/BBQ sauce (James). Both a euro each - bargain! It's lucky the sun was shining or there would have been little encouragement for anyone to turn out for the car boot sale at all. Back into the car and we meandered through the Wicklow mountains national park and eventually made it to the other side for an unexpected market in Roundwood. No treasures to be found unfortunately, but not for want of trying and we did pick up a piece of chocolate cake to add to our lunch supplies. From there it was a short nip to the tower on the Vartry Reservoir. We really did wonder how good a reservoir and tower could be - but this place was built in 1863 and public buildings and structures were just plain fancier back then - maybe they figured it was going to have to last for hundreds of years and it costs around the same to build ugly as it does beautiful. Anyway - it was pretty gorgeous (the water tower is pictured today). From Vartry we hit the road to our official destination - Wicklow's Black Castle (ruins thereof). There are all sorts of castles to visit in Ireland - from the stunning, warm, furnished sort in Kilkenny, to the ruined yet roofed sort you can still walk around, all the way down to Wicklow's Black Castle - couple of walls with a stunning sea view. It was built in the 1100s and totally destroyed by warring chieftains in 1301 - so not much longevity there. Brrrr-iiiiii-skkk verging on freezing was the order of the day and wild winds were slamming waves into the cliffs below us. We scuttled back to the car quick smart for lunch - mushroom pasta with sausages in our thermos... with the addition of our bargain churrasco sauce and our chocolate cake for dessert with coffee, a veritable feast with an ocean view. Not sure when the next sunny day is forecast, but we've certainly had our money's worth out of this one.