We had breakfast in her conservatory looking onto the garden, meeting the other family staying. They had travelled all the way from Canterbury !
Pip and I set off after breakfast for a little look at the shops and Steve stayed to catch up on emails. The shops are rather good though not too many of them. I bought a new umbrella as mine was falling apart. Mind you it was from the time we were in Beijing for the Olympics.

We collected Steve and drove off to Eartham – a very small village Steve remembers visiting when he was a child living in London. He said he stayed in a large manor house near the church. We found the village and it seems the house is now a private school catering for day and boarding child’s from 2-13 . I certainly hope they don’t take the 2’s for boarding!  We looked in the little village church and then had a drink at the pub the George. It’s a great little local and I can see why people love to go  to the pub here in England. Especially when the weather is not so good.

Headed along the country style lanes to Climping a beach Steve also remembers visiting as a child. It was windy and quite un attractive and he must have had plastic saddles to reach the water.

We returned to Arundel to visit the castle rooms and spent a good 2 hours touring and getting to know the Howard family castle. It was rebuilt a hundred years ago and refurbished in mo recent years. It’s great. Is banquet room is amazing and the Duke hosted his cousins wedding to an Italian prince there last year. The dining room is lovely and the Library was my favourite. All red and dark timbers and comfy chairs. I could really spend some time there.  The upstairs bedrooms are still used for the Dukes overflow of guests and reminded me of the room we stayed in at Carton House  Ireland.

W walked to the large town Cathedral where we spent about 10 mins. I took 2 photos and sat for a few minutes. W walked across the road to the local pub for a drink and I realised I had lost my camera . I ran back to the church……..and it was gone! There wee only about 2 people and us and then by the time we left no one. So in ten minutes someone arrived and found my camera and took it!

So readers no photos for a while. We have Pips – but v few  of us. So tomorrow in Brighton I might be buying another camera. 

After it was over we walked through the area behind St Paul’s and went to Nix. It was a very nice stylish restaurant for oysters and steak. Had a lovely meal and still got home in time to share a wine and chat with Elizabeth and Peter McGregor and Erin ( waterpolo captain’s parents and wife) They are lovely people and that was one of the things we missed with Rob not in the team. We always share with them and this time it was different.

An early start to pack up our things then a drive across the river to Bermondsey. It’s just over Tower bridge. We met up with Georgia   and John and my friend Lynne from Canada. It was lovely seeing her again.

Then we collected our things and drove overe to Parson’s Green to collect Pip. What a lot of driving. Steve is great — knows his way around well and the little Our Lady of Directions was a good help.

We headed off for Henley and it was the most perfect evening. We arrived at a funny little pub and our rooms were really quite good. Headed down to the river and found the perfect summer pub and had the perfect summer drink. Pimms! Gorgeous night and several Gins and Pimms later we found a place for dinner and then back and watched some of the closing ceremony . I’m glad it’s finally over! It was sad tho think Rob was so close to being there but a %$%^$^ of a coach put a stop to it.

And so to bed because we have our visit to Highclere Castle otherwise or better known as Downton Abbey of the TV show. Pip and I can’t wait but Steve is not so enthusiastic. It’s a boy thing so I’m glad Pip is here.

Photos soon

In the morning we drove out to the Connemara area stopping first at Clifden which was abuzz with a pony show. The streets were busy with streets stalls selling all manner of things including hens. We continued on to the most beautiful place – Kylemore  Abbey – which was built as a house , a gift from a husband to his new wife. It’s a real love story. They had 9 children and when on holiday on the Nile,  Margaret Henry died. He, Mitchell Henry, returned and had a Chapel built in the style of a Cathedral. It is gorgeous.

We also visited the garden, a walled garden, so lovely. It was bought by the Benedictine nuns after WW2 when their Abbey in Belgium was bombed. They started a school for young ladies. It’s not a school now but the nuns are still there and run a craft business – making soap, chocolate and other assorted things.

We left the Abbey and planned on finding a suitable place to watch Katy fight the fight of the year. We stopped at a small country pub called the Anglers Rest.  We rushed in and every eye in the place turned and  looked at us – the interlopers! I asked “has the fight started” and they all broke into smiles and welcomed us with encouraging  cries of “come in ….it’s about to start!”
It was a gem. By the time the fight was over and  GOLD won, we had new friends.

Tonight back in Galway we plan to hit the streets which are alive with people celebrating. In my opinion the Irish like a good flight and know how to celebrate.

Photos soon. Its not easy putting them on with the iPad. Does anyone know an easy way ?

Stopped for lunch by the water and as the pub began to fill quickly ( we were the only people for about  5 min) and we realised why. Katie the local Irish lassie was about to box in the Olympic Games!. And box she did  – winning easily and providing some very colourful commentary from the announcers. She goes for GOLD  tomorrow and they predict the whole of Ireland will come to a halt at 5pm tomorrow. Can’t wait!

Drove onto the Cliffs of Moher and by now it was fine and sunny. We only got a little lost because we decided to take a more minor road to look at the scenery and before we knew it we were lost. We stopped to ask directions from  a lady out walking along a country lane with 5 children and she gave some very encouraging directions. Then she told us she wasn’t a local so could be wrong! How very Irish. We found the cliffs , along with lots of other tourists and climbed up the side to look over the magnificent cliffs. The area around the cliffs is all farm land with lots of stone fences and cattle grazing so it’s an interesting scene with all the tour buses around the area.

We continued on and came to Doolin. I had heard about Doolin from Pip, my niece , who went to the McGann pub – my maiden name for those who don’t know that interesting fact!. Pip had gone there during her travels,  so we followed  her instructions and found it. We were going to stay the night but I’m glad I changed in favour of 2 nights in Galway, as Doolin although quaint was just a little too small.

We found the McGann pub and I went in, all smiles, and we found two men at the bar . One had no teeth ( slight exaggeration ) and the other was what we would say was  “a sandwich short of a picnic”. We asked if someone was there to serve us a drink as it seemed very quiet.
Just then a lady came out all happy gappy smiles,  wild red hair and looked strangely at me when I said my name was McGann. I asked if there was anyone named McGann around the area and she and the toothless man laughed together and said “oh no McGanns are from around Ennis.” End of conversation! I wonder at the name of the pub!
We sat outside in the bright sunshine drinking and watched all these young people down the street drinking as well -all dressed up . It was their deb ball for the end of their school days! Very glamourous they were too .

We left Doolin and made our way to Galyway and into a lovely apartment. We needed a washing machine so I changed from a B&B and found a new apartment  – huge with a washing maching. It even has views down towards the bay. I love Booking.com. You can book and change booking usually with no penalty…….

Watched a bit of Olympics and went to dinner where !!!!  surprise they had the Olympics on and we saw yet another Irish boxer in action . It seems Paddy Barnes ,who was trained at the Holy Family Golden Glove Boxing club in Belfast was going to win a bronze. What a name for a boxing club. These Irish love a fight!

We’re looking forward to seeing Katy win GOLD tomorrow..

We continued on and at Portmagee crossed over the bridge to Valentia. We made a stop for lunch at Knight’s Town.. It was obviously a summer holiday spot with some very English sounding people there for boating and that afternoon there was to be a rowing carnival. Everyone was rugged up and it didn’t feel like summer. The locals were all complaining about the rain! We drove along the island toward the ferry back to the mainland.

We drove back along the Ring after using the car ferry to get back to the mainland. Passed through a town with horses and cows for sale and I had to resist – as I saw one very cute cow!

We were going to take a short cut across the ring but got a little lost (no signs and very confusing) Ended up visiting a car museum with a very interesting Irish gentleman named John showing us his cars . There in his big shed he had around 35cars, motor bikes and even a jeep. Steve had a ball talking to him and he was so sweet .

We arrived back intime to do some emails and a chat with Finnoula  before setting off on our 10 min walk into town. We had dinner at Foley’s followed by a drink at Ryan’s ( where we chatted to a funny man called Martin who loves Australians and told me his Mother’s name was Frances)  and a final drink at O’Malleys to listen to some music. I Love all the names of the pubs!   Then home to bed.

TUESDAY

We had an early start driving through the most beautiful landscape to Muckross House set in gorgeous gardens by a lovely lake. The weather had cleared and it was blue and sparkly. We did a tour and found out all sorts of info from our little guide named Mary McCarthy. We had lunch in Killarney ( we were glad we had stayed in Kenmare as it was very touristy here) then  moved on towards the Dingle .

We started to see some beaches and as its summer holidays, there were bodies on the beaches.
We stopped at Inch beach and just watched . It was so funny to see the cars drive right down onto the sand where signs warned them to drive carefully in the sand! There were kids having surfing lessons, kids digging, dogs running,  people drinking coffee at the cafe and everyone seemed to own a wet suit. Must be very cold in that water .

Continued onto Dingle and found it to be a charming little seaside town. Quite arty crafty. They had a trail of  arts and crafts which we visited followed using the map supplied at the Information Centre. Found a great leather place. Had to drive down a very long drive but finally arrived at a showroom – very small and very tastefully done. Beautiful bags on sale so I couldn’t resist. Steve promised to carry it home for me (long with the beautiful throw rug I bought at Muckross House).

 So we booked into our B&B  Dunlvin House to find she had given our front room away. The room was got was on the back of the house and was really very good. For 70E a night with a big breakfast it was a bargin. We freshened up and made our way back to town for a drink and dinner.

We walked around the town and finally booked for dinner at a shack (called Out of the Blue) which had come recommended  – it sold fish but NO CHIPS! We got the last table and that was at 8.30. So started with a little pub crawl. Dinner was just great. Again not just a Fish and Chippery. Really good seafood.

I had wanted to stay at Castlewood House which we passed on the walk back into Dingle. It looked lovely.  Anyone booking here try and get a little closer in to save walking along a very dark road after a few drinks!

In saying that – our B&B was quiet and breakfast great.