Gloucester to Quedgeley

A nicer day today, so we walked into Gloucester via Hempstead and met our friends with the Dutch Barge.

After lunch, complete a few pints of Cascade (my current favourite Gloucester Brewery beer), we set off down the canal.

Again, nice to have the bridges opened for us. I then took the boat through the next few bridges – even though the boat was wider than I’m used to, the gaps are wider still, so my slight meandering wasn’t a problem!

We got dropped off at Sellars Bridge, conveniently by the next pub downstream…

Time for a few more beers and the walk back home.

Haresfield Beacon

Rather windy this morning (thanks to Storm Brian), and flood warnings were in place for the River Severn, so we headed up the hill for a walk (mostly) in the woods.

A lovely spot for a walk, and as a bonus, we got back in the dry.

Gloucester and Sharpness Canal

We met up with friends who had moored their Dutch Barge near Quedgeley, and had a boat trip up the canal to Gloucester Docks.

It was nice having the swing bridges opened for us as we approached them.

All too soon, we were approaching Gloucester Docks.

Nice to see a familiar area from the water.

Then time for a few beers and lunch in the pub!

A visit to Lucy 

Having driven to York yesterday to bring Lucy her belongings, we are spending today doing some shopping while the car is here, and a spot of gardening.

She now has a compost bin.  We have agreed to encourage each other over the next few months…

Dublin to Orpington

We had an interesting evening in Dublin last night. We hadn’t realised that Ireland were playing football in the Stadium not far from our hotel, and every pub was packed with supporters…

This was the stadium as viewed from our balcony:

But we found an Italian restaurant and had a good pizza!

We’re now on our ferry just about to sail.

Hopefully it will be a smooth journey back.

Dublin

We’re suffering in style in Dublin… We’re in a fairly posh hotel near the port, and seem to have ended up with a suite.

Complete with two televisions, fridge, coffee maker etc.

Plus a balcony on three sides, with about 10 outdoor chairs.

We can even see some mountains in the distance.

East Coast

We’re heading south towards Dublin today, and rather than taking the motorway, we’re exploring the coast.

Despite being October, there was virtually no wind (or people) on the beach – lovely!


Further south was Clogherhead, a small fishing port where the fish for an earlier evening meal had been landed.

We watched some seals on the rocks just by the harbour entrance.

Next stop was Ardgillan Castle and Gardens, overlooking the sea.

Then Skerries Mills, which has a water mill, two different windmills and a bakery on one site.

Skerries also has a harbour, with various small islands offshore. And a couple of Martello towers.

Then on to Dublin…

Mountains of Mourne

It was predicted to be a nice day today, so we headed across the border into Northern Ireland to visit the Mountains of Mourne.

First stop was Greenore, where we caught a ferry across Carlingford Lough (and the border!).

Then to Silent Valley Mountain Park, based around a large reservoir built to serve Belfast.

Nice trails through the forest!

We then followed the coast road to Bloody Bridge, an interesting area where a river flowed into the sea.

After some housekeeping in Castlewellan, we climbed back up the mountains to Spelga Reservoir.

Then back down through the Spelga Pass to Killowen.

All too soon, it was time to head back to the ferry.

We were at the front, so pretended the car was sailing across the Lough… The SatNav was a bit confused though, not finding any roads nearby!

Then back to a pub in Ireland for supper.

Newgrange

Back to Neolithic times today, we visited the ancient passage tombs at Newgrange.

Access to the sites are restricted, and start from a newish, purpose built visitor center nearby.

From here, we took a minibus to the first site at Knowth. The tombs were largely excavated in the 1960’s, and partially reconstructed to almost show them as they may have been…

(Thoughts of Teletubbies come to mind!)

We had a good guided tour of the site.

Including a partial mock up of a tomb.

Steps had been carved to the top of the largest mound, with good views of the surrounding area.

Then back in the minibus to Newgrange itself.

This is primarily one large tomb.

We had a tour inside this one, but no photos allowed…

Then back to the visitor center for a cup of tea and some lunch.

There was a diorama there with a very realistic fake fire: