Ballykissangel
Trip Start
Oct 01, 2006
1
8
86
Trip End
Ongoing
Avoca, Ireland
Monday, October 30, 2006
Finally got to the airport and discovered that tourists in Dublin, push in line very badly - to the point where I pushed back!! (Well I just stepped in front of the rude man and told him very loudly that I had been waiting a lot longer than he had!!) Go me!!
The car from Hertz is in terrible shape, There is mud all over the floors, and the outside is filthy. The seat reclines dont work properly and the bar to put the seat back is missing. Quality. But it had taken us so long to get this far, and the car was bigger than we expected, so we have kept it.
We drove to the powescourt waterfall, it is the tallest waterfall in Ireland. You have to pay 5 Euro per person to get into see the waterfall, but it was worth it. Behind the mass of Itialian tourists the waterfall was cascading down this green moss covered hill, set in a lovely (green) valley. It was really worth the drive. From there we luckily asked directions and found the road to Sally's gap. This is a windy desolate streth of mountains in wicklow county. Everything is covered in this great (bracken?) ground cover that gives it a real red colour. It is a very scenic area, and apart from the random car coming the other way you feel quite alone. We found another smaller waterfall along the way, that more tumbled doen the side of a hill than fell as a waterfall, but it was very scenic all the same.
We were quite lucky so far to sort of end up on the right road to where we have been going, and we sort of just find the right places. Lets just hope we can keep it up! In this way we found glendalough (we were looking for it but ended up stumbling on it a lot easier than we thought). This was an old abbey, set in between two very scenic lakes. It became very famous and as a result was raided by the norse very regularly for the next few hundered years, until it finally fell into disprepair. There was ne tower that has survived really well, it reminds me of rapunzel's tower.
We went for a nice long walk around the lake, an up to a lillte waterfall (I know 3 in one day??), the sun was even shining for a while (I swear it was) and it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.
After that we drove to Avoca for the night, known as the "meeting of two rivers" and the famous poet thomas moore - but what it is really more commonly known as is the town of avoca, more commonly known on TV as ballykissangel. I have never watched the show, but Justin assures me that it is just the same as on TV. We had a few beers at Fitzgeralds, the inside is just the same - we know cause we samlped a few of the local beers inside just to be sure. As it was a bank holiday the pub was fuller than usual for a monday night, and the drunk locals were out in force. Including Mary. . . . . . mary was a lovely drunk lady (50yrs old??) who decided to take an interest in Justin. We knew who she was before she came over to us, as she was the loudest person in the pub. (Funny and nice drunk). Anyway she thought that Justin was a good irish boy, and came over to see if she could become his. . . . friend. After chatting with us for a while, and a getting a few good squeezes of Justin and a couple of wet kisses on the cheek, she discovered that we were Australian. Well she liked that even more than him being Irish. She begged to be allowed to come home with him, and she would iron his shirts!! I think I would have let her come if her friends hadn't of dragged her off home.
The only other incident fo the night was when we were sitting in the fish and chip shop having some dinner. All of a sudden we see a bit of a group walking across the bridge following a car. We realise shortly after, that it is a hertz and that they are taking someone to the church (it is 8pm at night - same church as in the TV show). Anyway the owner of the fish and chip shop runs to the front door, turns off all the lights and locks the door. Then without a word to us, walks off and leaves us sitting in the dark for 10 mins. Fair enough that it is a local custom, but dont you think you would explain to the only two people in the restraunt why you are turning the lights off?? Weird.We didn't realise when we booked, but it is the Dublin Marathon today. Makes for hell with the traffic and getting around. We went to the airport bus stop (going to collect the car) and found that even though the street wasn't closed, they were not picking up here today. So once again walking with our bags, though Dublin to the next stop they said they were picking up at. We waited for half an hour before an Italian couple hailed a cab, and were explaining to us that they had been waiting for over an hour (the bus is supposed to run every 15 mins). I jumped in at this point and said we will share the cab, and the costs. Lucky thing we did, cause it cost us the same amount as the bus, and we got a fantastic driver who was very helpful with directions for driving around Ireland, and general info.
Finally got to the airport and discovered that tourists in Dublin, push in line very badly - to the point where I pushed back!! (Well I just stepped in front of the rude man and told him very loudly that I had been waiting a lot longer than he had!!) Go me!!
The car from Hertz is in terrible shape, There is mud all over the floors, and the outside is filthy. The seat reclines don't work properly and the bar to put the seat back is missing. Quality. But it had taken us so long to get this far, and the car was bigger than we expected, so we have kept it.
We drove to the Powescourt waterfall, it is the tallest waterfall in Ireland. You have to pay 5 Euro per person to get into see the waterfall, but it was worth it. Behind the mass of Italian tourists the waterfall was cascading down this green moss covered hill, set in a lovely (green) valley. It was really worth the drive. From there we luckily asked directions and found the road to Sally's Gap. This is a windy desolate stretch of mountains in Wicklow county. Everything is covered in this great (bracken?) ground cover that gives it a real red colour. It is a very scenic area, and apart from the random car coming the other way you feel quite alone. We found another smaller waterfall along the way, that more tumbled down the side of a hill than fell as a waterfall, but it was very scenic all the same.
We were quite lucky so far to sort of end up on the right road to where we have been going, and we sort of just find the right places. Lets just hope we can keep it up! In this way we found Glendalough (we were looking for it but ended up stumbling on it a lot easier than we thought). This was an old abbey, set in between two very scenic lakes. It became very famous and as a result was raided by the Norse very regularly for the next few hundred years, until it finally fell into disrepair. There was one tower that has survived really well, it reminds me of rapunzel's tower.
We went for a nice long walk around the lake, an up to a little waterfall (I know 3 in one day??), the sun was even shining for a while (I swear it was) and it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon.
After that we drove to Avon Vale for the night, known as the "meeting of two rivers" and the famous poet Thomas Moore - but what it is really known for - is the town of Avoca, more commonly known on TV as Ballykissangel. I have never watched the show, but Justin assures me that it is just the same as on TV. We had a few beers at Fitzgerald's, the inside is just the same - we know cause we sampled a few of the local beers inside just to be sure. As it was a bank holiday the pub was fuller than usual for a Monday night, and the drunk locals were out in force. Including Mary. . . . . . Mary was a lovely drunk lady (50yrs old??) who decided to take an interest in Justin. We knew who she was before she came over to us, as she was the loudest person in the pub. (Funny and nice drunk). Anyway she thought that Justin was a good Irish boy, and came over to see if she could become his. . . . friend. After chatting with us for a while, and a getting a few good squeezes of Justin and a couple of wet kisses on the cheek, she discovered that we were Australian. Well she liked that even more than him being Irish. She begged to be allowed to come home with him, and she would iron his shirts!! I think I would have let her come if her friends hadn't of dragged her off home.
The only other incident for the night was when we were sitting in the fish and chip shop having some dinner. All of a sudden we see a bit of a group walking across the bridge following a car. We realised shortly after, that it is a hearse and that they are taking someone to the church (it is 8pm at night - same church as in the TV show). Anyway the owner of the fish and chip shop runs to the front door, turns off all the lights and locks the door. Then without a word to us, walks off and leaves us sitting in the dark for 10 mins. Fair enough that it is a local custom, but don't you think you would explain to the only two people in the restaurant why you are turning the lights off?? Weird.
