Friday 18th March

10C - 5C

Sunny but cold wind

Woke up before 8 this morning and went to the dining room for a buffet breaky. We couldn't eat all our bacon and eggs so we made a sandwich from what was left to eat for lunch. We left Cork at arond 10am and headed to Waterford. It was about 98k's from Cork but it took around 2 hours to get there as there were roadworks along the way and a lot of little villages we went through that you have to slow down to 30 and 50k's. We saw our first thatch roofed cottage today...they are so cute. I have to keep reminding myself that we're in Ireland as the countryside reminds me so much of England. We veered of the road somewhere or other to see a waterfall. The road leading in was very narrow, a typical country road with tractors along it and having to stop to one side to let oncoming cars pass, even sheep on the road. We eventually got to the waterfall and it was quite a hike to actually get close so we just viewed it from afar, turned around and went back to the motorway. We arrived in Waterford at 12 and went straight to the Waterford factory. We didn't take the tour but instead wandered around the shop. Mum bought a few things. Had lunch then went to the tourist info place to ask them to book a room for us tonight at Kilrane which is about 2 mins from Roslare where we have to catch the ferry back over to England in the morning. So it was about 3.30 by the time we left Waterford and about 5pm when we arrived at Kilrane. We booked into our B&B which is called Old Orchard Lodge. The lady who operates it, Kaye, is lovely and she suggested we go to Our Lady's Island to see the sunset. After we had a cuppa we went to see where the wharf was then we made our way to Our Lady's Island. Once again it was along a narrow road although this time we didn't have to stop to let oncoming cars pass. Our Lady's Island is an ancient place of pilgrimage in the south east corner of Ireland in the diocese of Ferns. We stopped at an old church called Church of Assumption which l've just looked up on the net 'cause l was interested to find out more info. It has a lovely little graveyard and a strong pilgrimage following. The sunset was lovely. It started to get really cold so we made our way back to the Kilrane Inn for dinner. It holds the unique distinction of being the first and last pub in Ireland for people travelling to and from Britain and the continent. So not too much happening today. The ferry leaves at 8.45 in the morning and we have to be there an hour before so it's another early start.