Arrival in Ireland

Up at 1am to book into the ferry port at 2:00, for a 3:15 sailing that didn't sail till nearly 3:30. Three hours rest but no sleep (and the boat was cold) and a small greasy breakfast on the boat saw us hit land at 6:45.

Heading toward Cork, we diverted briefly to take a look at some of the Waterford sites. We found the Whitfield and Powersknock stones, but were unable to spot either the Savagetown stone or tomb despite being in the right spot – the hedgerow was just too thick and high.

We carried on for a spot of lunch in the English Market in Cork, which appears to be where all the road building for the county is concentrated at the moment. It was like driving in London with traffic chaos everywhere you turned.

We finally arrived at the cottage (between Rosscarbery and Leap) around 3 in the afternoon. The cottage is very nice indeed. After a spot of tea, I sat down to sketch out these notes so far, and make a preliminary plan for tomorrow before getting some well-earned rest. If I had known the roads in Ireland were 'B' standard at best, I might have had second thoughts about the trip. And the speed limits! 20mph when driving through the smallest villages, from a national maximum of 60mph. I can only take my hat off to Tom Fourwinds and the mileage he covers in an average weekend…