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Ireland


In this one second exposure, the stars form little trails pointing down and to the right because of ... Dawn beginning to break in the East. I think the light is probably another boat. It's too far in fro... When I was locking my bike on the car deck, a member of staff came over specifically to show me the ... There's rain and sunshine over there. A plane going in the opposite direction. I think that island is Great Saltee. Ireland! Wind turbines on the coast. Another view of the coast. Tuskar Rock. The top deck. The top deck. The view forwards. Just another view. I think Curracloe Holiday Villas may have done something unconventional with their WiFi. I'm consist... The captain has just announced that we will be mooring in about 40 minutes. I can already see the ve... From here, you get to see the inside of the lifeboats. Approaching Rosslare. The road out of the port. Rosslare harbour. Rosslare harbour. Wexford, with what I think might be Brandon Hill behind it. The birds look more corporeal in daylight. Somebody coming to attach the ship's mooring lines. Passengers watching the docking. Back on land. The beginning of route N-25. This scenery isn't at all how I expected Ireland to be. Ireland and ... The first pub in Ireland is the Kilrane Inn, which is where the arrow points but which is not actual... I would see several of these signs today. Sheep. Some scenery. I have seen cows lined up like this several times on this trip. Wexford. Wexford. Wexford has a remarkably wide promenade. Wexford. The mouth of the River Slaney at Wexford. Wexford. Castlebridge. The park in Castlebridge is empty apart from a couple of benches and a lonely fountain. A flower shop which is also a greengrocer's. This is the route than I'm taking, although I would later find out that it's not the route that I ha... Looking back towards Wexford. Because of my mistake, I'm going to have to spend the next hour on the main road. It's actually real... Green scenery. In the village of Oylgate, which seems to go be several different spellings. This statue marks the c... There are also little gates stuck to the trees. A house with an impressive driveway. The house on the opposite side of the road. Enniscorthy. Ireland feels so much like Britain that I'm sometimes getting confused by the distances on signs not... The Post Office. I don't unserstand what the dresses are for. Vinegar Hill, which according to signs all over the town was the site of a rebellion in 1798. I don't know what the purple and yellow flags are but I've seen quite a lot of them today. An earlie... Enniscorthy. Roadside plants. Part of the 27 km long Enniscorthy bypass, currently under construction. A view. I hope that's not knotweed. Dangerous place to be using a chainsaw. A hill with strangely sparse tree cover. This sewage lorry overtook me, then stopped in the road ahead and started to reverse. I stayed well ... The lump in the middle of this picture is Black Rock Mountain. The peak behind it, with the mast on ... For some reason, on some of my previous trips, I developed a habit of taking pictures of fire statio... More fakery. The bank. Bunclody. I got a brief glimpse of the stone next to the flag and it bears what looks like a replica of some k... A wedding van. The place where I'm staying tonight doesn't do food. One of the reviews that I read praised the fact... Bunclody. This is where I'm staying. It's presenting a rather blank face, rather like that place in Ličge. The Redmond pub, in the background, is also a betting shop. It looks like the entrance to the hotel is round the back. While I was taking the photograph, this m... The hotel seems brand new. That sign hasn't been hung yet. The combination lock on the door must be ... The lift is unbelievably slow, and seems to have two ways that I could make it stop completely. Smart place. There's mood lighting in the bathroom. It seems that the owner of this place has other businesses too. The Kilrane Inn was the first pub in County Wexford. I'm going for dinner in the last. The library, ... I haven't seen anything like this in a pub before. You can help yourself to jugs of water and ice an... Some artists at work, seen through a window. I booked this quirky hotel for Saturday night. Unfortunately, just as I was about to go to bed, I re... As I was standing next to the bed about to get in, I felt something wet splashing on the back of my ... Near the village of Kildavin. A milestone and another stone showing the name of the crossroads. A little restaurant. Some signs. Drizzly scenery. The sign says "FR JOHN MURPHY'S LAST JOURNEY" The rain has stopped. There's still cloud around the hills. The flag of Galway GAA, who came second in the top division of last season's gaelic football league.... Most of today's roads are very quiet. Here, I thought of being rebellious and going straight on acro... ... until I saw what the same junction looks like from the other side. This is Russelstown crossroad... The map made it look like I would be spending the day on isolated country lanes but in fact, I've be... I didn't take this road. Scenery. An old barn. More scenery. Er... Another very pleasant road. This one goes over a little bridge. A few minutes before taking this picture, my phone rang and reported that the call was coming from B... Just a house. "L8083" on the sign is the number of the little road. The hierarchy of road ... A graveyard with room for expansion. I will use the N78 just to get from here to where the red lorry is. It's a shame because it looks li... The gates must be used occasionally because there is an intercom on them. I didn't mind waiting here for a while to let a lorry go past. It looks like it might rain again. Birds. This country pub is also a convenience store and a petrol station. This is labelled as the Business Entrance of the Irish National Stud. I guess these animals are nothing to do with it. The road into Kildare. Kildare. Kildare. Tonight, my bike will be staying here... ... and I will be staying here. The room looks good. The ceiling is remarkably high. There's a dado rail which is high enough that y... The bathroom doesn't seem to live up to the standard of the bedroom. The place where I'm staying tonight has two restaurants and two bars, one of which apparently has li... Dinner. Dinner was slightly smaller than I was hoping for, although the service was remarkably quick. I'm al... A hardware shop. I came to see if I could find out what the tower is. It seems to be in the Cathedral grounds, which ... I'm not going to stay out much longer. I didn't put a fleece on and it turns out that Kildare isn't ... This plaque is on the outside of the building where I slept last night. The Pub is called Silken Tho... A wasp flew past me yesterday, which surprised me because I hadn't seen one for a few weeks so I tho... The road heading out of Kildare and onto a common. Three horses crossing the road. There's a track for horses on the common. From about 80 metres away, I can hear the horses breathing. The third one. These turkeys are free range... ... but they don't seem to be taking advantage of it. Today's route is meant to be pretty flat. It was the climb leading to this view that made me realise... A distant tower... ... and a gaelic football pitch. Roadside plants, not typical of today. Ballyteague Castle. A view along the canal towards some locks. Another view of Ballyteague Castle. This sign was next to the canal nearly a mile away from the Castle. As I understand it, the tower sh... A bridge over the canal. Hedges and trees being trained. One end of a gaelic football pitch. What? Pretty much every road in the countryside is lined with big houses like this. It makes sense I suppo... A mural on the way into Trim, where Jonathan Swift once lived. Trim. Trim. I didn't actually notice who this statue was meant to be... ... but it could be the Duke of Wellington, whose family owned a lot of the town. Another of the several murals in Trim. Trim. The river in Trim. Ruins. Trim Castle, the largest Norman castle in Ireland. Trim. The pumps at this petrol station are a long way from the shop. The church in Dunderry. Two dogs guarding the road to try to stop me getting past, which is helpful of them because it turns... A bridge. Apparently, the road that I've just come along is good for riding bikes and cows. Part of today's route. An old railway line. Another mural. Judging by the flag, I guess this must be the Pope's house. Castletown. Castletown. Scenery. At the end of the day, the landscape is getting a little lumpy. Hills. Hills and cows. I think those might be the Mourne Mountains. They've got their Christmas lights up. In Ardee, there's this church... ... across the road from this furniture shop. The original Ardee Castle was built in 1207. This one was built on the same site in the 15th Century... A statue depicting the mythical four-day battle between Cúchulainn and Ferdia, which is said to have... A note wedged into a doorframe. Ardee. The orange building which says "B&B" is where I'll be staying but, of course, i... Ardee Castle. Ardee. That will do. I couldn't decide whether to have a nice long bath or hurry to wash myself and my clothes in the sho... A lounge area. This isn't the ... The same place. Right, this is what you've been waiting for: The quirky hotel, known as Hatch's Castle. It's another... Ardee, with its two castles. This church also looks old but the stone above the doorway bears the date 1812. Ardee. I had to have one while I was in Ireland. I just tried opening the window and it nearly fell out. It's not attached very well. When I arrived last night, the man who greeted me said that breakfast was served from 8am to 10am an... The B&B has a lot of doors marked "PRIVATE", but also a lot of unmarked closed doors. ... A view from the road to Dundalk. Dundalk has a lot of chequered flags flying. I didn't find out whay. It's Sunday morning. An ornate clock on a pub. Just to give you some idea where I am. The M1 motorway, seen through a footbridge. Scenery. The railway line , about to cross the border. Scene with horses. The final border crossing of this trip. It looks like this from the Irish side...