Ireland Crawl

We started off the day today with a beautiful day blue sky and a visit to the Tullamore Distillery, one of Jon's favorite whiskeys. As we've toured many distilleries, nothing out of the ordinary per say, but a must stop. Next we hit the road and found a local graveyard to explore. Found a marker with the name Lawton, as so many names changed in immigration, could this be where Lawson originated? Next up came the Charlesville Castle. It is currently be renovated, but that's what Jon like about it. You could still see it in a state of some ruin. Antonio was our guide and still learning English, but did a great job. At the entrance to the castle was a 900 year old Oak, pretty amazing. I had forgotten from my time in England that things either don't open or close early on Sundays. Finding food for dinner became a challenge. We finally moved onto Althone, where Jon's ancestors were baptised and found it to be a very booming city. We came upon Murphy's Law (pub) and got pizza and a beer. I noticed a man at the bar that in my opinion resembled Jon so I asked him his name. Low and behold it was Thomas Curley. What are the chances? A distant relative only God knows, but it was nice talking to him. Found a last minute B&B to stay at so turned in for the day.Read more