Ireland

Liz and I are safely back from a delightful holiday in Ireland. We set off on Monday and parked the car at a garage near Gatwick. All went smoothly and our Ryanair flight even gained 15 minutes on the flight to Shannon. We picked up a small silver Peugeot hire car and set off for the delights of the Castle Oaks Hotel, Castleconnell. A beautiful bedroom, swim, sauna, steam room and jacuzzi before sumptuous 4 course dinner - the best Irish beef and smoked salmon. The next morning we were in the pool again before a full Irish breakfast complete with white and black puddings. Killahoe has a fine cathedral which encloses a High Cross and Ogham stone. We drove to the Cliffs of Moher. Magnificent views over the sea and bay. The new visitors centre built into the hillside had opened a fortnight before and the audio-visuals were excellent. We were lucky with the weather here. It does look as though there will be charges levied to enter the area. We paid 5 euros to park the car. We stopped at Kilfenora to see the ruined cathedral and lovely crosses and then on via Gort and Loughrea to Ballinasloe.
Dennis is a doctor here for 6 months and has a granny flat in a new house where we warmly welcomed by John's mother (John built the house - not me!) with brandy, bran and sandwiches. Wednesday we visited Clonfert cathedral (not easy to find!) and drove to the famous Marian shrine at Knock. We admired the enormous basilica and the shrine itself and loved the excellent bookshop. Here I was able to purchase a simple wooden crucifix which I can use at the Lent Group as a focus for prayer. I definitely approve of a shop which plays Bach's St Matthew Passion as one browses!
Especially as this was Ash Wednesday. We drove on in pouring rain to the pretty town of Cong which was used in the film "The Quiet Man". The ruined abbey is next to a new church built to incorporate part of the old church Our lady of the Rosary.The plan to get back for 6 pm Mass was thwarted by finding the road to Tuam closed and having to drive down to Galway!
We returned to Ballinasloe to find that Dennis was complaining of pain in his neck and back and in fact he was off sick for the next 2 days which is something he never does!
Thursday we set off for Clonmachnoise which is a magnificent site. We were charged student rate as the electricity was due to go off although this did not happen and we admired the fine crosses and brilliant presentation. Pope John Paul II preached here on 30 September 1979 (my birthday) and on the same day he celebrated Mass at Knock in the centenary year of the apparition.
Birr Castle Demesne is a beautiful garden with a very large telescope built by the thrid Earl of Rosse. This was a lovely day with crocuses and snowdrops in profusion. The science museum is most interesting focusing especially on astronomy and engineering. In the Georgian town we found the excellent Emma's cafe & deli where we enjoyed large brie and cranberry sandwiches. As we reached Roscrea we just found a garage in time to fill up. Liz had been due to stay at Roscrea Abbey last year so it was good to see the fine high church with its stained glass and to stroll in the grounds. The shop had some interesting items and we bought a Golden Jubilee card for Fr Mark Hartley ready for March and a book about Blessed Gabriella patron of ecumenism - she has a stained glass window in the abbey.
The attempt to reach Holy Cross Abbey had to be abandoned in the traffic of Thurles. The problem with driving in Ireland is that roads are narrow and go through towns so the journey always takes longer than expected. We got to the b and b in Birdhill in the dark.
Today we drove in rain to Shannon airport after another sumptuous breakfast at Lacken Lodge and the Ryanair flight again caught up on time. We were pleased to see Gerry Murphy, a teacher from St Joseph's College, on the flight and I got chatting to a young lady flying on her own for the first time. We collected the car without any problem and did our shopping in Selsdon giving me time to visit the new Selsdon library which is most impressive. Louise had got the day off as Mum was unwell but we found her much better and on new antibiotics from the doctor.
So ends 5 days full of different scenery, weather, churches and interesting experiences.