What a Difference A Day Makes
I’ve had a fabulous day today!
Last night’s couple suggested I make a stop at Ardmore on my way today and to go to the Gallery tea-room and to take a look at the Round Tower. They suggested it was possibly the site of the oldest Christian settlement in Ireland. St. Declan was converting people there many years before St.Patrick reached Ireland. Ardmore is a tiny coastal village with a population of about 400, a delightfully sandy beach and very clean seawater.
It also has an impressive erection to rival Brighton’s 360!! Although it’s only 30 meters high it was built in the twelfth century but was once standing beside an oratory in the 8th. Probably had several floors once as a battle in 1642 recorded that it contained over 40 soldiers.
You know those warning signs on roads warning you of ‘dodgy camber’ or ‘suicidal stags’? Well here it’s warning those ‘dastardly cyclists.’
Lycra clad, helmeted, wearing goggles and riding bikes that, I have on good authority from my friend Gordon, probably cost as much as a second hand car. And they leave them unattended while they have a sweat pint.
So very glad I did.
I could work for the Irish Tourist Board!!! Take a look:
And it appears that the reason for the warning about cyclists is because this road - The Copper Coastal Road - has been voted as one of the top ten cyclist routes in the World. I got that info from Pat, an octogenarian Irish gent I met in the car park with his terrier Sam.
And it appears that the reason for the warning about cyclists is because this road - The Copper Coastal Road - has been voted as one of the top ten cyclist routes in the World. I got that info from Pat, an octogenarian Irish gent I met in the car park with his terrier Sam.
Pat also told me to check out the nearby Copper Mine and avoid Tramoreas it was just a “Hurdy gurdy” place. I saw what he meant at Tramore and sadly Waterford met that description too.
But the copper mine?
Fascinating.
They recruited miners from Cornwall to mine the copper since Cornishmen had the experience, and the mine shafts went a mile and a half out to sea. Copper was loaded onto barges from The Slip and shipped back to Cornwall.
When the seam ran out, the local youth had no work. The vicar of the local church paid for them to emigrate to Philadelphia so they could get work in the coal mines there. Its an UNESCO World Heritage Site and Geo Park.
Amazing what you learn from one man and his dog in a car park and proved remarkably useful when I was able to impress a group of American tourists ten minutes later.
Onwards to Kilkenny.
I am well aware that Kilkenny is a city (and that it’s not on the coast,) but Morgan, my beloved daughter number one, told me it was a must.
So here I am in Kilkenny, staying in a fab Airbnb, with a welcoming hostess, eight rescue dogs and a gorgeous room.
Thankfully Nothing remotely Hurdy Gurdy .
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