Over the last couple days we have had some stormed with some amazing clouds before and after. Here is a shot yesterday afternoon from our patio.
The storm passed through overnight with some heavy rain and thunder but was gone by the morning. Today swim classes started back up again for the kids so we were down at Atlantic College and got some nice shots by the castle and water.
Our last day in Ireland. Today our plan was to drive from the south coast up to Cork, visit Blarney castle, explore Cork city a little and then make our way back to Rosslare for the night to catch our 8:45 ferry in the morning!
Blarney Castle is one of the things you have to do if you are anywhere near cork, and if you go to Blarney Castle you of course want to kiss the legendary Blarney Stone which according to legend will endow the kisser with gift of eloquence. Yes its touristy, yes there is a line to wait in, but still a good experience. All of us of legal height kissed the stone - Kevin, Kelly, Hunter and Noah, although I am not sure the eloquence has kicked in yet...
After Blarney Castle, we decided to stop in for a short walk around downtown Cork. Here are a few nice shots but in general Kelly and I were pretty underwhelmed with Cork city. Funny enough in Cork we ran across the 'Idaho Cafe'.
After a scenic but somewhat long drive back early evening to Rosslare, we enjoyed our last dinner together on the emerald isle with the sun setting....
Our day started early with a 9 am pre-booked Jarvey Ride in Killarney Park to Ross Castle with Killarney Jaunting Cars.
The Jarvey ride took us to Ross Castle on the edge of the lake inside the park.
After our jarvey ride we went and picked up some food for a picnic and headed south into the park in search of a good picnic spot. We first drove down to a place called 'Lady's view' which of course had a nice view but little picnic spots. We then drove back north and stopped at Muckross House and Gardens again still inside the park. Muckross house is a manor house on the lake that is now a public garden. We picked a nice spot on the lawn between the house and the lake.
After lunch we headed back to our hotel for Preston's afternoon nap. After waking we drop up to a high point near Aghadoe church ruins and gives great views of the lake and park:
This evening was our second date night of the trip. I had pre-booked a babysitter and the plan was to do dinner and go to a show called Celtic steps. We had a nice dinner at a restaurant called the Smoke House. From there we proceeded to the Celtic Steps show arriving just as it started. It was Irish singing, music and dancing at its finest. Highly recommended!
On Sunday after packing up our campsite, the plan was to head further west on the peninsula and do some exploring. A few miles from the campsite we decided to take a detour to check out Oxwich Castle. Not much different than other castle ruins we have been too, but the boys love to climb around (as long as no-one is looking:) Bit disappointed that they charged £3 per person to get in to this one...
This past weekend I took Hunter and Noah camping on the Gower Peninsula of South Wales. The Gower is a beautiful are with amazing beaches. People come from all over to stay there. The site I booked was a place I tried to get to last year but was full. It is called Three Cliffs Bay Campground. In 2006 the Independent ranked it the best campsite view in the world. Its definitely must be up there for sure.
View from the Campsite and our setup
Hiking and playing at the beach and nearby Pennard Castle
Beach Day and climbing up to the highest of the 3 cliffs
This weekend, we wanted to get out and enjoy the summer sun. It was a little cool for the beach so I packed a picnic lunch and we headed over to another one of the castles in our home area - Coity Castle near the village of Bridgend. We first ran across Coity Castle last year when we were going to a baptism at the church next to it, and took a mental note to visit it again when the kids were in proper play clothes.
More pictures of climbing on the walls
Trip over this morning to see Caerphilly Castle with Erin. As you may be able to tell from the first photo, their was a cool wind blowing :)
After rain all week, we were blessed with a beautiful clear and crisp fall weekend. Saturday was spent working around the house. On Sunday we decided to take the kids to Margam Park for a picnic lunch and some exploring. It has been recommended to us a few times and since its only about 25 minutes from our house we thought it would be a fun Sunday outing.
Margam Park is an 850 acre country estate that is one of the oldest human settlement areas in Glamorgan. The current Tudor Style Castle was built in the early 19th century. The park is covered with open grasslands, forests, animal park, kids play area, a train, a castle, ruines of an ancient abbey etc. Here are some pictures from the outing. Note the picture of the billy goat. The kids called him the big billy goat from 'The Billy Goats Gruff'.
There was an apple festival being held this weekend at a place called Tretower castle up in the Brecon Beacon so we decided to take Saturday afternoon and check it out. The festival was ok - it could have been a lot better with more vendors but the kids still had fun trying some unique types of apples, watching the entertainment, making apple bird feeders and exploring the grounds.
Probably the highlight of the day was the medival garden and what we found out to be a mulberry tree growing with mulberries ripe for the picking. Kelly and I had only ever heard of a mulberry bush in the nursery ryme. Why these trees are not more popular is supprising. The sweet juicy berries are spectacular. The darker the berry the more ripe it is, and the sweeter it is.
We are big fans of the British drama - Downton Abbey. Visiting the location where the show is filmed - Highclere Castle, was on our 'must do' list when relocating to the UK!
The castle has somewhat limited opening times. A few days in May, a few days in June, and then open July, August and part of September with special openings at chrismas and Easter. In addition to the limited days, it also has limits on tickets offered per day, and is not open Friday's or Saturdays. So with the Olympics on this summer and it being a very easy trip out from London, it became a challenge to pick a day that would work and that wasn't sold out. A few weeks ago, we then realized that it would soon be closed again for the Winter with the last opening day being September 13. Then checking online we found out that there were only two days remaining that had tickets available (Sept 11, and 12) so we picked the 11th and pre-booked our tickets hoping for good weather.
Well this time, we lucked out on weather and had a beautiful fall day at Highclere castle. We decided to not pull the boys out of school being that it was only their second week, so went with only Preston and Abbie. It was a little over 2 hours from our house, mostly on motorways which made for good driving.
It is a very impressive site to behold as you begin walking up to the structure and see all the open laws around.
We decided to tour the inside of the castle first. Unfortunately they do not allow photography of any kind inside the house but it was amazing to see the rooms that we are now so familiar with. The house was packed, causing the tour to move very slow. They should limit the number of people moving through more. We figured about half the people visiting were there because of the TV show and the other half were just visiting it as a tourist destination, and didn't know anything about Downton Abbey, (and were probably trying to figure out who this 'Earl of Grantham' guy was.)
After the tour Abbey and Preston were starving so we had lunch on the green, before walking around the grounds.
Kelly and I realized that we were hungry now as well so stopped for lunch and tea at the tea room on the property. How very English! Overall, a great day, with perfect weather. The Season premier is this Sunday (Sept 16) so we are now excited to watch with a new perspective.
On the way home, I thought it might be fun to stop by Stonehenge since it is in the general vicinity.
Yes, its one of those 'must sees' if in England, but what a complete tourist trap....and very underwhelming. First off, they charge you a fee to walk on a cordoned off pathway that doesn't even let you anywhere near the stones. I don't mind paying if it helps preserve the site, but we are talking about a set of rocks here.... Plus the crowds ... today you would have been standing admiring the site with about 500 others (remember this was only a Tuesday after school was back in session). I satisfied my curiosity and took a few pictures from outside the fence for free like many others were doing. (The crowds of people from the bus tours are just slightly to the right of my photo, standing behind the ropes of course:)