Day 8

Wednesday June 1

No alarm clock this morning. We were all well rested. The sky was blue and the sun was shining. Breakfast outside. 

Decision. Decision. What to do? Because the weather was so nice we decide to go for a walk first. James is ready.

The info on the house website said that there is a nice walkway along the river starting about 150 m from the house. Driving on that very curvy road is one thing but walking along is plain scary. But 150 m is doable. And there was the trail.

It was really very nice. An old (?) stone bridge brought us to the other side of the canal between it and the river Boyne. It was very quiet and peaceful. Only loud singing of the birds. 

We saw a swan on the river and deer grazing. 

We walked all the way to Newgrange and could see the cafe of the visitor center above us and the bridge to walk to the ancient tomb but there was now way to go up. A cup of tea would have been nice. The way back though was equally nice.

After the cup of tea back at the house we set out to the town of Drogheda. On the way in we took note of passing an Aldi and a Lidl. In the town center we were looking for parking and found something in a parkhouse. I took a photo of were we had walked out  so we would find the car again.

Drogheda was very nice with the river running through and a lot of history.

Couldn't resist taking a photo of this sign. So true!

We had seen a sign to a tourist information and people were so friendly helping us to find it. We finally did and the lady could not have been more informative and helpful. We all had a great chat. We came back with lot of information and maps. 

With all this info we went into the next cafe. It was passed lunchtime. We had grilled sandwiches with a bit of salad on the sides and hot tea. Very nice. I admit that I was not very good taking photos today. Lovely street scapes and churches etc. too.

Over lunch we looked at the info we had received. One could do several different versions of a self-guided city tour. The weather was so lovely that we decided to walk to the Millmount Tower to have a view over the city.

We had to buy tickets at the little museum office and the guy there decided to be the one to give us the tour. The city had been surrounded with one of the longest city walls at one time in history. He started with showing us a piece of it. Not much has been left. Lots had been distroyed by invadors.  

He was so excited to tell us all he ever had learned about the history of this place and land. OMG, we could not stop him. The funny part is that it was interesting at the moment but we will not remember a thing. The lower level of the tower had a gigantic diorama of the battle of Waterloo in it.

One of the holes for the defence had a nest with a pidgeon it it. As it flew away we could see 2 eggs.

The view from the tower was great. If we had been an hour earlier we even could have seen the mountains of mourn. Kate kept looking for it. I think we were very lucky to have this beautiful weather.

On the way home we stopped at that Aldi. We bought pizza to bake at the house, apples, salad etc. Interesting: every supermarket has a section like this. 

We wanted to visit the historical site of the ancient tomb but who would have thought that it would be so difficult to get tickets. The tourist office had told us that we had to get tickets in advance from the website. Not easy from the phones especially if you don't have a roaming connection. We decided to pass the house and go one mile further and to the ticket office. No luck. They were not so helpful. All sold out all days we were here. Try tomorrow morning at 9:30 in case there are cancellations. (?? except online it says once you buy you can't cancel ??)

Anyway, on the way to the parked car we walked right above where we had walked in the morning. We could see the mound of the tomb from here far in the distance.

Back at the house we settled. It was after 5pm. We had wine/beer and played "our" card game ourside in the sun. Lovely.

Pizza and a nice evening inside. In the evening, when the sun is gone, it gets cold quickly. Paula, the house owner, had communicated with us how to turn the heating on and it was comfortable. Hard to believe for us that it is June.