The time has come (as the walrus says very frequently in our case). After a couple of months exploring the lower south-east coast and even fitting in a road trip to the west coast - we're off! Before we hit the road to Co. Wicklow we had one final local beauty spot to check out - The Cunnigar. This is a longer finger of sand stretching across Dungarvan harbour. The beach itself was massive when we first arrived, but as the tide encroached we ended up on the hig...

A long while back (January 2015) we visited the Hook Peninsula and drove the Ring of Hook when Joan was here for James's 50th birthday. It seems hard to believe that was only two and a half years ago - so much water under so many foreign bridges since then. When we last visited, it was so wild and woolly that massive waves and piles of sea foam were crashing over the walls - and freezing cold. The thought of traipsing up 115 spiral steps to the top of a draughty...

Today we visited a little-known local beauty spot with our friends Judy and Elizabeth (and of course - all the dogs). Everyone was excited and must admit Lough Morah, a small mountain lake, is very picturesque on a sunny day. We had salad rolls and coffee and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine while the dogs took the opportunity to go for a swim and run about joyously sniffing everything and anything. Definitely not on the beaten track - so we were surprised whe...

Day 2 (Monday) - Union Hall to Killarney via Mizen Head (and a great many other places) After an average sleep in Union Hall we had a good breakfast (scrambled eggs & smoked salmon amongst other things) then hit the road for the big push through to Killarney via a gazillion coastal places on the Wild Atlantic Way. The names are to conjure with but the roads were blocked with trees, stone walls in bits having stood 100s of years and evidence of the storm sur...

At some point, a long, long time ago... someone famous (and oft quoted) said "Let there be Light" and there was. Saturday evening saw an amazing crew of blokes come out and work in pitch darkness for 3 hours, seemingly with a very long set of jumper cables - and 'lo, at 8 pm, the mains power was on again after six days. In celebration we immediately ran about turning lights on and off and had a very long, hot shower. Life was and is good. It (almost) seemed a ...