We slept in today, then got ourselves organised. We went to Monmouth and saw their bridge - it has a Norman portcullis and fortifications. We then drove on to Raglan Castle - one of the newest castles. It was really interesting. It's so devastating that so many of these castles were destroyed by men of power. The water in the moat was iced over - the rocks and stones bounced across the ice. After that we drove through the scenic route (via Tintern Abbey) to ...

This morning we were up at 3am and out of the house at 3.50am, out of Killarney at 4am. We arrived at Rosslare Harbour just after 7am and boarded the ferry just before 8.30am. Then we had breakfast, did some duty free shopping and rested/read/slept/did crosswords. After arriving in Wales we took the road to Lawrenny where we stopped and had a drink in the Lawrenny Arms Hotel. On the way we drove past Carew Castle - the sun was just above it, so we couldn't take ...

This morning we made it to the Bishop's mass at 10am in Killarney's St Mary's Cathedral. It's a really huge cathedral. The we went back to the cottage and did the washing so we could pack. After lunch we returned to town and went to the pictures and saw "The Santa Claus" for 11 punt. Brian, the cottage owner came and read our electricity meter and added 25 punt to our bill - 5 for towel hire. Like we're going to pack towels to take across the world.

Today we drove around the Dingle Peninsula, which was much more picturesque than the Ring of Kerry - we really liked it. On the way we drove through Castlemaine - birthplace of Jack Doolan, the Wild colonial Boy. On the way TO Dingle we went past signs pointing to Dingle: 28, 32.5, 34 kms - in THAT order!! We didn't see Fungi the dolphin at Fingal Harbour, but we walked along the pier, around the village and had lunch at a pub. Dingle Peninsula was really beaut...

Today was JESSIE'S BIRTHDAY!!! After the birthday breakfast (with gifts) we drove off to Blarney Castle (1 1/2 - 2 hours). It was a really good castle - small in area but intricately planned - really interesting. We had lunch on the way back (sandwiches), and went to a 2nd hand bookshop in Killarney - they had an Allan Baillie book!!! (Australian children's fiction). They also had several Colleen McCulloughs but no Maeve Binchey!! I bought a few easy to read fic...