Dublin to Castleisland

Sunday is the day all the Sunday drivers come out, and I have to admit we were sometimes guilty of driving too slowly while watching the beautiful green scenery.

Our plan was to drive from Dublin down to Kilkenny, and catch a little of the arts festival there. From Kilkenny we would cut west to Castleisland, a small town near Killarny

Kilkenny

Kilkenny is a medieval town which has retained its narrow winding streets, castle and cathedral. On a quiet day it would be a beautiful place to spend some time. Sadly, this was not a quiet day - the streets were choked with people and cars. After a brief look at the castle, and a visit to the worst public toilets I have seen in some time, we headed west.

The drive

Ireland's roads are not designed for high speed inter-city travel. Apart from a few excellent motorways, most of the roads are single carriageway. They twist and curve, and are choked with that scourge of Ireland's traffic - the Nissan Micra. On the plus side, some of the back roads we travelled today were very beautiful - fringed by emerald green fields, and sometimes having a complete canopy of overhanging trees. We made one or two wrong turns along the way, but were in no great hurry and thoroughly enjoyed the drive.

Castleisland

This is a small town 17km north of Killarney. Quite a picturesque place, with an unusually wide (for Ireland) main street. We had a look in the shop windows, and estimated there were 1.3 bars for every man, woman and child in the town. We had a rather nasty and over-priced hamburger before heading back to our B&B.

We're staying at The Gables, a really lovely place just out of town on the Limerick Road. In complete contrast to our Dublin B&B, this is a new building with ground floor accommodation, decent size rooms and (luxury of luxuries) en suite "facilities". The landlady is Lillian Dillon - a most obliging person who couldn't do enough for us.