Trip continued

View from Glenmaonass waterfall

View in the Wicklow mountains

We moved on to Glendalough (in English, the valley of the two lakes). It is the site of an old monastery founded by St Kevin in about the 5th century. Here is a link if you are interested in more information.
http://www.glendalough.connect.ie/pages/monastic/monastic.html
Even with lots of people around it still has an air of serenity about it. It is easy to see why St Kevin choose it. It now also forms part of Wicklow National Park. We were “attacked” by swarms of midges, small biting flies, which seemed particularly keen on sampling us!!!!. After a brief stop we continued on to Kilkenny via Leighlinbridge. The route we took was the same road my grandfather took over a hundred years ago from his home in Coan to where he worked as a carpenter in Wicklow county. Of course he did not walk it every day but every month or so he walked home and back. We stopped at a garden centre in Leighlinbridge to get some flowers for my mother and Gabriela helped me with the selection. She also bought some seeds of Irish flowers. Next stop was Kilkenny city. I had hoped to see my nephew as it was his second birthday but his Dad said he was too exhausted after a morning birthday party so we visited Kilkenny castle. It is one of the best preserved castles in Ireland but I have to admit it was only my second visit there and I have never seen the inside of it. We had dinner in Kilkenny city and went up into the hills to Coan where we would spend the night at my parents house.
My mother and father were at the door to welcome us as we arrived. The yellow roses were in bloom in the garden. They are the first of the roses to flower and I think they look more beautiful just before the flower opens as they have very pretty red streaks on the outside of the petals. I made tea as is traditional in Irish houses when visitors call. It also gave me an excuse to have some Jaffa cakes but don’t tell anyone :) . Later we went for a short walk. I intended to show Cosmin and Gabriela the river and waterfall at the back of the house but the fading light and challenging terrain conspired against it.
The next morning I made an Irish breakfast a la Gerry. Mom and Dad said goodbye and wished us well on our journey. The next destination was Rosslare on the County Wexford coast