To Banagher, Ireland
Trip Start
Mar 29, 2006
1
75
232
Trip End
Feb 28, 2007
Banagher,
Ireland
Saturday, July 8, 2006
Anne, understandably, was very twitchy in the morning. She put her heart flutter down to an overindulgence in just about everything but mostly fatty substances and alcohol. Keeping away from food containing fats was very hard in France and Italy. The many meals out that we had were generally saturated in oils although throughout France we tried to avoid them. In the supermarkets there was not the huge range of 'light' foods that we are used to in Sydney. [Another 'light' product that is not readily available on either the continent or the UK was the beer. There was no such thing as a low alcohol beer. Whereas in Sydney 60% of beer sales are in that light category here in Europe it is practically unheard of. You can obtain non-alcoholic beer (Becks or Groschen) but that's for the wimps or the desperate...like Anne...ha! ] It was no wonder the two of us were looking even chubbier that before we left. We were not getting the exercise either. No footballs to kick around the park here on a regular basis. Anyway, Anne's breakfast that morning was meagre not that she had much choice in the hotel's excuse for a continental breakfast.
We had a fair time to wait until our flight to Dublin. I asked and received the OK to stay in the hotel room until 11am and was also promised a taxi call at that time. [The hotel appointments may have been below par but the service was very good.] Anne stayed in the room and read her book while I went for a stroll outside. I picked up an English paper and took a look at the rubbish on offer at the market stalls opposite the hotel. I also walked over to the canal to pass the time. At 11am I took our cases down to the lobby and we rested on the lounges in the foyer until our cab arrived. !0 mins to airport with a very helpful cabby and we joined the queue for the Dublin flight.
The airport was small and Ryan Air must have been its only user. I knew our cases were overweight and I was hoping that that would be overlooked as at Prestwick. But no! We were hit with a 40 Euro fee by the inflexible 'check-in chick' for the privilege of them (they (?)) handling our cases. We had a small, healthy, fat free lunch on an upper deck and then joined the throng in the departure lounge. The plane was surprisingly late for Ryan Air which was irritating considering we had made a point of getting in the departure area first but once on board the flight went smoothly. I watched the coast disappear underneath but as we approached the Irish coast it disappeared under a bank of rain clouds. What I could see as we dropped lower proved only that Dublin was an enormous place and I was not looking forward to the prospect of driving out of it in the rain.
The walk from Ryan Air's allotted arrival gate was quite the longest ever. There was even a sign advising us that we should allow ten minutes for the walk to the customs area. It was still raining. We actually got wet climbing down from the plane as did our cases when we retrieved them.
We found the Alamo/ National car rental desk. No problems. In fact I have been very impressed with the service from the hire car businesses especially since all bookings were done over the net. We had to catch a small bus to their depot where we picked up the car keys and made a dash for our Nissan Almira getting soaked in the process. It was not a diesel and had a little more oomph than the Peugot but it did not have a/c of which we had an urgent need to clear the windscreen inside.
Fortunately the road out towards the west was fairly straightforward and was mostly motorway. I was a little nervous having to cope with a misty windscreen, water falling from the sky, a change of vehicle and a change of road rules. We moved off the N4 to the N6 and went country at Kilbeggan. With some fine navigation from the lady now sitting on my left we found our way to Banagher despite her confusion over her left and right. Real Irish roads now. Narrow, no markings and hedges on each side. At least it was still light and the rain had ceased. Flashing by on each side were green fields, cattle, sheep and pretty country homes...just as in the glossies.
We had stopped at a supermarket and stocked up on a few necessities and phoned Tracey (the owner) who explained that she would have to send her mum along to meet us. She was held up at work. Banagher was a bit of a surprise. It had all the appearance of being a holiday town on the River Shannon. Our cottage was one of about 50 in a private estate called Portavilla just off the main street. The cottages were two storey and all identical except for the colour of the front door. Ours was red and had a number 15. Mum was there to show us around. It was neat and clean. Sitting room and kitchen ran out to a back garden and there were two bedrooms and bathroom up a steep set of stairs. We paid mum the 900 Euros outstanding and had a bowl of soup for our evening meal. I watched the final for third and fourth place on our own TV and then collapsed onto a comfortable bed.
