The Emerald Isle

 

Chris - The following day saw us lost somewhere attempting to get to Dublin. I was not anticipating any problem as I had travelled in the other direction on a previous trip. Afterwards we figured out the confusion was that as far as English signage is concerned Dublin and Eire are barely worth a mention. So we never located the Irish motorway going north to Belfast until we stumbled across it half way to Dublin. Dublin is a thriving place and it took us a while to locate Jo's parents in Stoney Batter near the centre. We were late, but Ros had the situation under control with a pile of sandwiches and a big pot of tea. 

Jacky was to stay with Ros and Mark. I headed further out of town to meet Brian and The Lads, who have sailed with me before and after covid. I had a fine Friday night on the town. My, those Irish pubs can be boisterous. We took the Tram back at the end of the evening. Saturday was a longish day down to Cork and stay with Jeff and Jackelin. Cork is Ireland's second city and another thriving town with lots going on. Sadly we are unlikely to see Jeff in Syros for a while. He is applying for Irish citizenship and has another 15 months to go, of which he has to spend most of his time in Ireland.

Monday back north to Thurles and another sailing pal, who I hadn't seen since well before covid. Then across country to Wicklow and collect Jacky for the trip to Rosslare and our ferry booking for Cherbourg.

Jacky - It's more than fifty years since I've been to Dublin and it was great to have local hosts to show me round and introduce me to their friends and some Irish history. After a few days, we went to their country home in County Wexford. Daffodils were flowering, trees were greening and the views across country and sea are to die for. It was a great contrast to the city and during a walk to look for frogspawn, a couple of deer poked their heads out of the woods and wandered across my path. It was time to celebrate with a few pints of Guinness in the local pub. 

The ferry from Rosslare to Cherbourg is overnight. We booked a cabin and were waiting to board, when Chris got a message to say the ferry was delayed by one and a half hours. There was a sense of deja vu about snoozing in the cold, but it wasn't as bad as that earlier, longer wait in Patras. And we were boarded early. But poor Aimile was parked on the upper deck - open to the elements and it was raining. The cabin was comfortable and we were rocked in the cradle of the deep until we woke for breakfast the next day... 

We've started the return trip - France, Italy, Switzerland and countries south - here we come.