Ireland

29th, July 2019
Today, we explore Waterford a little more, but we begin with a tour of the House of Waterford. What a wonderful place to go and see. All the lovely Crystal, but the process of how it is made, is very interesting. We are told about the history of Waterford Crystal, and about the workers. It take 5 years to be a cutter, or a person who blows the crystal, and then a further 3 years to become a master cutter or blower. An apprentice cutter has to sit an exam at the end of their apprenticeship and cut a bowl. This uses ten different cutting wheels, and uses 4 different cutting techniques But the amazing thing is, they only have 8 hrs to complete this. It was a truly great and  very informative tour.

After the tour, we head off to find the Viking things about the town. We found Reginalds tower built by the Vikings, but was rebuilt by the Anglo-Normans,  and stepped into 1000 year old church, Christ church cathedral, which has had a cathedral on the site since 1096.
After we finish exploring Waterford, we leave the town and head for our next stop for a couple of days, a place called Kilmacanogue, which is a 2hr drive. Kilmacanogue is 25kms away from Dublin. After we settle in, and talk with our hosts for awhile,we take a drive into Bray, which is a lot bigger than I expected to be, and we get some essentials for the next 2 days.

30th, July 2019
Our host provide breakfast for us this morning, and it was great to sit and talk about a wide variety of things. Bob has a chiropractor  appointment, just to keep his back in check, and then we venture on into Dublin. I want to go to the Jameson distillery and learn about the Irish Whiskey and how it is made. Once at the distillery, we take the tour of how it all happens. Once again, our guide is very informative and entertaining. We get the pics and make a purchase, and get our free drink and sit to enjoy. As we leave, it starts to team down with rain, so we sit for a few more minutes, and decide to brave it to the cafe across the road and have lunch. By the time we are finished eating, the rain has stopped. We head for the car, and check out the ferry terminal where we are leaving from on Thursday. Then we are back to the lodgings to retire for the day.

31st, July 2019
Our hostts cooked breakfast for us again this morning. We said our goodbyes and thank you's to our hosts at breakfast, knowing we had a 5.30 start in the morning.  Did a bit of chilling afterwards, and the  at the suggestion of our host, we went for a drive to a local spot, called Sally Gap. Again, it is a windey road, but not as much as the Healy Pass road, but still narrow, and mostly one lane. It took us up through the bog lands and up mountain sides. But the views were great, and some of the lakes in there were wonderful viewing.

1st August, 2019

An early start today, as we are catching the ferry and leaving Ireland. I have enjoyed our time here in Ireland, enjoyed it's rugged country, and many streams and green grassy paddocks. We arrive at the ferry terminal a bit early, and get some breakfast. 

We line up to get onboard the ferry with the car,  and don't have to wait to long until we are boarded. Then it's a mad scramble to get good seating, but as we have  had priority boarding, we get to use the club lounge, and there is no shortage of ideal seating spots. The trip across from Dublin to Holyhead is a 3hr 40 min crossing, and the ocean is very calm.
When we have disembarked from the ferry, we are in Wales, and we find a place to study where we are heading to, and to plot the course. Our next stop is at Aberystwyth, a 3 hr journey. Once again, the country side is green and looks beautiful. We arrive at our destination, and check out the lodgings for the night. Parking is at a premium, so it is first in best dressed. We take a stroll around the township after a rest, and discover the beach, a brass band practice, the Aberystwyth University, which was founded in 1872, and it is currently placed in the UK's top 50 out of 154 universities in the UK. It is an amazing building, built much like a castle. Then across the road is the ruins of  the castle, which was constructed in 1277 and completed in 1289.
We walk back to our place we are staying and have some dinner in the Resturant, then retire for the day.
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2nd August, 2019.
We pack up our gear, and head off to our next stop, Bristol. Our journeys is a 5 plus hour trip, plus stops. We take in the views along the way, and call into Cardiff, so Bob can see the big stadiums that are there. Unfortunately, we couldn't get as close as he wanted to, but he was still able to view these stadiums.  We cross the Prince of Wales bridge, which is quite a large bridge, and enter England. This is the only time we have seen a welcome to sign when we have crossed the borders. Driving into Bristol, and just like many places we have been in, with streets to small for the volume of traffic try g to access them. Cars  have to pull into driveways, when there is oncoming traffic, and parked cars are along the streets, again, it is a first in best dressed situation in the residential areas.
There are rules, but drivers seem to be very aware of each other, and don't seem to take advantage if the situation, and most let will let you in, without any annoyance. Unlike Australia. But it is very nerve racking at the same time.
We find our digs, and after working out that to off street parking for the unit, isn't available, we settle for a park out the front, and hope for the best.

3rd August, 2019.
I have had a very learning day, but also most interesting.
We started the morning with a visit to Brunets SS Great Britain. Our navigator, alias the GPS, alias Karen, took us the round about way, in which we crossed the same river, about 6 times, to get to the attraction. Once we get there, it was worth the crossings. The ship, is a former passenger steam ship, and was the longest in the world from 1845 to 1854. The ship sailed 1 000 000 miles in her time,  and has been restored into an amazing display. It is so well done, with interactive things to get kids and adults involed, and increasing their knowledge, both young and old. This ship is in a dry dock, but because of her age, rust has gotten to bits of het, but they have got the dry dock area humidified, to stop the rust, or at least slow it down. Then when you get on the viewing deck, you can climb the ropes, with attached safety harnesses. Also on deck, there is a line painted that showed where only the first class passengers only were permitted.  Downstairs are the bunks, and steerage, and first class quarters. It was all very enlightening, and the spaces were very small. The first class dining was very  smart, and proper. 
After a couple of hours exploring, we then went onto our next point of interest, the Suspension Bridge. This bridge, was desigend by the same man who designed the SS Great Britain. Isambard Kingdom Brunel. This man was a mechanical and civil engineer. He built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, steamships, important bridges and tunnels. The Cliffton Suspension Bridge, spans the Avon River, and has been there since 1864.
Next stop is Aerospace Bristol. A complete history of planes built by Bristol aeroplane company. Again, an amazing place. Filled, once again with interactive things for the children of all ages. There are planes and parts of planes, and lots of information of it all. Then we go to the Concorde that's on display. It is really cool. An amazing day all round.

4th August, 2019
Today we leave Bristol and make our way to St Buryan, which is a 5 and some hours trip. But we have points of interest along the way, so, it is a full day of tripping about. Our first stop is Bath, which is 25 mins into our journey.  We are a bit early like an hour until opening t tint,  so we wander the streets after we have a cuppa at Costa. While there I had the unfortunate experience of having  to go to the toilet there.  I was forewarned by the lady who came out. She sided up to me and said,  just letting  you know it's a bit smelly in there, I thought ok, fair enough. But when I got I  there,  it was like the eyes watered, and the pungent aroma off urine almost took the breath away.  I know it's probably not something people write about, but our trip is about experiences, and that was one,  anyhow, the coffee was good. After that we walked about the streets and filled in time.  Taking pics of the Bath Abbey, that was founded in the 7th century. Then we went into the Roman Baths, which was the main reason we went there.  It was wonderful experience, and I just marvel at the way these people engineered and built things. It was all so simple, but it worked, and is still standing now.  The hot springs were known about before AD67 as that was when Romans settled in Bath. The hot springs are caused by water coming up to the surface from the earth core, going through layers of minerals. The water is very warm,  and we got to taste it. There were coins that were found and many artifacts from the period all displayed and explained. It was a very good few hours learning.

After here, we get on our way again, and stop a couple of hours later for lunch. We have a carvery meal, as Sunday seems to be the thing all pubs are doing, and we had a great meal. I got to have Yorkshire pudding for the first time, and it was ok. On our way again, and we motor on roads of all different sizes. We take a detour to Port Issac, then get to our destination after travelling down some very, very tight squeezey roads.