Tralee, Adare, Limerick and Bunratty

Our next planned campsite was in Adare. Our route took us through Tralee in the north of Kerry, where we only stopped briefly for a break and lunch as the weather was not at its best and most places were closed as it was Sunday. Luckily pubs were open!

St John's Castle, Limerick

However, as we drove north, the weather improved and we actually arrived at our destination in Adare earlier than planned and in glorious sunshine.  The campsite owners were not in, so we chose a place to set up and relaxed for a couple of hours whilst waiting for them.   By about 5pm, we were feeling a restless and thought it might be nice to go to the Adare itself (about 5km away) to have a look around and get some food.  We found a place to park without a problem for once, however we could only stay there for an hour as the car park was being shut at 6pm!  Adare was quite small, but did have a couple of shops and a good Tourist info with display (unfortunately closed by the time we arrived).  We found a couple of useful leaflets at the Tourist info, including one for medieval banquets, held in castles just north of Limerick, and decided to sign ourselves up for one.

St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick

After moving the van just about in time, we got some food, had a final walk around and then decided that we couldn't be bothered to return to the campsite but would continue towards Limerick instead, so that we would be there early the following day.  This plan was excellent apart from the fact that we didn't know of any campsites in Limerick, and failed to find signs for any as we approached.  In the end, we spent the night in the car park of a shopping centre with a shop that was open 24-7, kindly providing us with a snack and toilets!

Next day, we got our early start as planned, and were in Limerick town centre by 9am.  This posed a  new problems for us, as it turned out the car park we were planning on using did not open till 10:30.  We eventually found an alternative and set off around the town, before going to St John's castle and St Mary's Cathedral to get our dose of history for the day.  These done, we had just enough time to get to Bunratty, accidentally find a campsite nearby, sleep, shower and change before going to the castle for our banquet.

View of the Shannon River, Limerick

It was a very enjoyable evening, with mead and a snack of bread with salt (for luck) on arrival, together with music provided by a violinist and harpist.  The staff were all in costume and provided an excellent history of the place and background to life in that period.  Once a lord and lady of the manor had been chosen for the evening (it wasn't us) and introduced to the rest of the guests, we all descended from the great hall to the dinning hall.  The food, wine and entertainment we all very good.  As we were on a smaller table, with a couple of empty seats, we got a larger share of the food and alcohol than most of the rest of the guests.  Gavin paid for his overconsumption the following morning...

Bunratty Castle by night

It turned out that our banquet ticket got us a discounted entry rate for the Bunratty folk park, so we returned the following afternoon for a look around at the rest of the

attractions.  The folk park was basically a living museum, much like the Black Country museum, or Beamish, with lots of different types of buildings and staff in period costumes.  There were even some animals on the farms, which provided Gavin with a chance to feed the goats before we left.

Pre-feast entertainment in great hall

History of the Castle and feasts

Food tasting

Dinner time entertainment

Bunratty castle by day

Bunratty dinning hall, from minstrels gallery

Escapee from Buratty caslte dungeon

Waterrmill at Bunratty folk park

Irish smithy's cottage, Bunratty folk park

Gavin feeding goats in Bunratty folk park