Diary 19 - 26 June 2000 & Images
from my excursion to the Emerald Isle

Monday 19th

After rising at 0700 I made tea and toast for Richard and myself which I brought upstairs. He was still fast asleep in his peaceful world of slumber and I look forward to the smile I was likely to receive on waking him up. Whilst we drank our tea I plugged in the camera to the laptop then downloaded the photographs we had taken yesterday. Since they take an hour to download we went down to breakfast and when we returned they were ready for viewing. We viewed them before Richard went off to visit the library and the tourist office and I brought my diary up to date.

It was 11 o'clock when we left Athlone and drove to Tollomore then through to Birr where we had lunch in a restaurant by the river Comber.
Richard was keen to follow the travels of the author Anthony Trollope through to Brannagher from a book he had bought. We found this group of lads sitting outside the bar.
They chatted to us and asked us to stay as their friend was going to be singing in the evening. We pointed out that the would not be around in the evening but that I would like to take photograph of singer had to my holiday web site. Gerald readily agreed and this is the shot I got.
Further along the main street we found the places where Trollope worked and here is a lady going into the house where he lived
At the far end of the street we found this small interesting church where Anthony Trollope may have worshipped
Behind the alter there is a beautiful stained glass window.
Before leaving Brannagher we went to take a look at the house, seen here on the right, where Charlotte Bronte resided for a time.	He enjoyed the day and his explorations very much. After leaving there we motored on to Galway where we arrived at 1930 and found a B&B straight away and within easy walking distance of the town

Tuesday 20th June

It was a comfortable night we spent in Galway but unfortunately grey skies and cooler temperatures than recently greeted us when we awoke this morning. We went into the town where I bought a set of batteries for my camera then headed southwest to further explore the region. Richard wanted to head out and continue along Trollope's trail.

We passed down the eastern edge of County Clare visiting some fairly unimpressive but quite extensive caves along the way.

At the entrance to the caves there were many stalls with all the usual items, such as postcards, pottery, scarves, local honey and jam for sale. I can't remember what I showered this young man but I found the expression on his face to be interesting. I don't think he was really shocked, though he certainly appeared to be surprised.

As they had no bed and breakfast hotels in the centre we decided that we could spend the one night here in the YMCA. I paid the deposit at the tourist information office together with the booking fee then we went directly to the hostel.

It turned out to be a large old building and when a scruffy man in his early twenties opened the door and showed us inside we found it to be unclean and uninviting.

He informed us that the room we booked was on the fourth floor and when I asked him if there was a lift he made some supercilious reply. Richard pointed out to him that I was disabled and found climbing stairs more difficult but this elicited little understanding and a disbelieving and contemptuous look.

We followed him up a wide wooden staircase where odd areas were covered in threadbare carpet that had, long ago, seen better days.

Finally, out of breath and with tired legs, we reached the fourth floor and the slovenly man pointed toward a room with two sets of double bunk beds. It was a high ceilinged room with bare floorboards and an ensuite shower and toilet built into one corner as an afterthought. The bunks were unmade with the duvet and pillow for each folded and laid on the mattress. When I asked if there was bedding he told in a curt voice that I had to supply my own. I pointed out that this was quite unsatisfactory and that we would have to make further inquiries for a more hospitable and conventional B&B arrangement. had

At the bottom of the stairs he held open the front door and advised us there would be no point in returning here as he did not want our business. I pointed out that we had paid the deposit on the room and in the unlikely event that there was nothing better in the area we would use it as a last resort. He said that he would ring the tourist office and arrange for us to have our deposit refunded. We thanked him and left.

We were both disgusted by such an unchivalrous behaviour. However, we were resigned to finding something more suitable and had only driven some 250 meters farther along the road when we found a rather nice house with a vacancy sign in the window. Here the room was in excellent condition all facilities that were expected were available and the landlady, a mature woman, was pleasant, hospitable and helpful.

After checking in and putting our baggage there I left Richard to sort things out while I drove back to the TIO to collect my refund and reconnoitre the restuarant's where we might later go to eat.

The evening in Limerick was fairly uneventful we had been recommended to a restuarant in Dock Road where there would be live Irish music. We found it was in a very out of the way place and there were very few clients using the bar, none at all were eating in restuarant area so by 2145 we decided to move on. We eventually found a restuarant in the centre of the town and had a succulent and beautifuly cooked steak with good service and an enjoyably ambient atmosphere before walking back to the guesthouse.

Wednesday 21st June

When we awoke and looked out the window we found that it was a miserable and wet morning so after breakfast we went to Clonmel and explored the town where Anthony Trollope used to live in 1845. From here it was a short drive to Fermoy a very busy little town with roadworks and scaffolding all over the place.

The tourist information office was an old gypsy caravan parked at the gated entrance to a large old house. Unfortunately we found that the woman who managed it was not available and the office was locked. However there was a man close by who was happily working at tidying up the roadside and removing the weeds with a spade. On making inquiries with him we were informed that this was not at all unusual and that the best source of information would be available at the Court House. Following his instructions we drove through the town and parked in the High Street. Further inquiries revealed that the urban district council had no information and pointed us in the direction of the library. The two ladies who ran the library were very helpful and Richard was able to find out much information about Anthony's time in Fermoy.

Having enjoyed our afternoon we left that beautiful area and drove south arriving in Cork in the early evening. We located and booked into our B&B which was three miles west from the city centre. After unpacking our belongings we showered, dressed and then took a taxi into the town centre where we had dinner before visiting the local gay bar. We bought drinks and chatted to some of the local people about the gay scene in Cork. We found the local people to be very friendly and informative about the city, which is quite expensive compared with the places we had recently visited. The evening passed quickly and in the convivial atmosphere we were surprised to find that closing time was upon us.

Thursday 22nd June
We finished breakfast at 0930 and headed north again on the trail of Anthony Trollope. Richard was delighted when we arrived in Mallow as it was the main reason he wanted to be in Ireland and central to his interest in the author and his life there. We parked the car near the tourist information office, went in and made some inquiries before leaving with a leaflet depicting the main points of historical interest in the town including the house where Anthony Trollope used to live.

Following the Trollope trail

At one of the houses where Trollope used to stay the woman, who now runs a shop there, was kind enough to let us have the keys thereby allowing us freedom to explore upstairs where we were able to view the courtyard.	Outside in this courtyard nothing within the buildings had been touched for years. There was a peaceful atmosphere around the at so we guessed it would have been a good place for Anthony to meditate or write.	Mallow is a very beautiful village and we took time to walk round looking at the weir and the swans.	This is the main church in Mallow and is located midway along the main road
During our tour of man who the were able to say a number of handsome Irish lads strolling around in the warm sunshine.	Looking west along the main street this Tudor style building with the clock tower dominates the scene.	We took lunch in in the White Deer Inn, a popular watering hole which features music in the evening. Afterward we went to take some photographs of the only white deer in Ireland.	Here along the street we met another of those handsome Irish men that seemed in abundance.

On the way to our bed and breakfast house, which was located some fifteen minutes walking distance from the centre of the town. On the way we happened to pass the Dairygold butter factory. I decided that it would be a good idea to see how the butter was made and Richard thought it would be unlikely that we could get invited to tour. We pulled up at the factory gate and explained to the gatekeeper that we wished to tour the factory. This time the soul showed us where we could back vehicle and pointed us in the direction of the factory where we could make farther inquiries. The foreman that we saw was most helpful and we were issued with white coats and net caps before being shown around the butter making machinery. A young man called Steve, who was on a "work experience" from college, escorted us around the factory and during the course of our progress we learned much about the processes involved in producing a bar of Kerrygold butter. I was delighted at being treated so well as I am sure that in England they would not have bothered to give two casual visitors a warm welcome let alone a guided tour. We had always assumed and where there were delighted when we discovered that the Irish people are much more like Scottish people in terms of hospitality, conviviality and general helpfulness than are the other British races. Greenfield was a large house to the west of Mallow and the rooms were well appointed and large. After checking in we slept for a while and then went out to take dinner in the Hunters restuarant of the Hibernian hotel. It was a pleasant and invigorating walk into town. Although the day had been very showery we managed to complete the ten-minute journey in dry comfort though the skies were threatening the heavy. On reviewing the menus we decided to have the Table'dor @ €14.95 per head, which offered a good choice and, as it turned out, it was excellent food. We had both chosen the roast Lamb and washed it down with a bottle of St Emillion 1997. We were attended on by a very understanding waitress, she looked to be about 50 years of age and did everything she could to ensure that we had our dinner served quickly after we explained that we wanted to go on to a bar where they were featuring some Irish music. The White Deer Bar turned out to be considerably busier than it had been at lunchtime but nevertheless it was in general less interesting than we had anticipated. The highlight of the evening was Richard being chatted up by what must have been the local closet homosexual who bought us both a half pint of beer before continuing on his way to another bar. We walked home feeling very happy with our day and finally stopped off at the last bar before our guest house for a final nightcap.

Friday 23rd June
I awoke at 0400 as Richard had made his half of the bed very wet with sweat and after relieving myself I found I was unable to go back to sleep so I spent 2 1/2 hours bringing my accounts and diary up-to-date. After breakfast we packed some of our belongings into the car but I left my computer and camera in the room. The man in charge approached us as we loaded the car. "You have to pay your bill now." He stated as he closed the distance between us. "That's okay." I hastened to assure him. "I am not leaving yet I have left the remainder of my luggage in the room as I am going to return when I drop my friend in town." "Then leave me your Visa card." he demanded. The man had been rude to us when we had arrived on previous evening making some joke about the lateness of our arrival. "I have over £4000 worth of the sale in my bedroom so would I be leaving that behind me?" I again tried to explain. "I am not leaving but only going to take Richard into the town where he had an appointment and I will be returning directly as I have to do some work on my computer before we finally checkout." The assurances made little impact on him and by this time Richard had elected to walk into town as he could see there was going to be a clash of wills that would take some time to resolve. I was quite happy with this arrangement as the me more time to catch up on the work I wanted to do. I locked the car, waved goodbye to Richard and left the man standing there as I came back to the room. In this peaceful environment I worked until 1140. I packed the remainder of my belongings and loaded them into the car fully expecting to be accosted by the man in charge again. However he seemed to have realised by this time that I had no intention of dishonesty and after a short search I located in the kitchen. When I got into Mallow I went to visit a well-known landmark, Paradise Garden.Mallow is a delightful town with a single main street and many coloured buildings. toMost towns and villages in Ireland have many of the buildings painted in orange, pinks and greens with the occasional maroon or deep yellow frontage. I spent some time with Fionbar Rubens, whose garden it is and then went back into the town to find Richard. When I told Richard about the garden and offered to return with him he was delighted. He has a keen interest in gardening and as pictures below will show this garden is something special. After explaining the different parts of the garden to Richard in an interesting enough way that I was not bored by repetition Fionbar invited us to take coffee with him before taking our leave to drive to Cork.

Fionbar Ruebens is a famous local character who has devoted years to the assembly of a religious themed garden	The very rare garden, though heavily influenced by Christianity, caters for and is influenced by all the main religions	and has been featured on a number of occasions, both on American and Irish television program's.
Rubens spends a lot of time and effort in the maintenance of the garden. Over the years he has had many interesting visitors including Tom Cruise.	He gets plants from different parts of the world then cultivates and prunes them to meet his own requirements	Each plant is given special attention and Rubens takes a special interest in bonsai, cutting the roots and branches annually to maintain the tight and shape that he wants in the Paradise Garden
We had already booked our bed and breakfast in Cork but the guest house was difficult to find. It was run by a gay couple and Richard, one of partners, welcomed us when we arrived in the early afternoon. Once settled in he gave as information about the town and what we could expect to find. Richard mentioned that there was an interesting town on the south coast called Cobh that should prove to be interesting as it was here that the ships filled with criminals and emigrants stopped on the last port of call before they sailed for the Americas. It was an interesting drive down to the coastal town and we arrived there in time to visit the museum as well as reconnoitre the town and shoreline. After leaving the museum we went for a walk along the beach. Cobh is an interesting port with activity in the harbour and boats moored up alongside Whilst sitting at a table drinking beer an arrogant raven flew down to pickup an empty brown sugar packet left by some earlier customer.