Ireland - Carlow

Neil & I were up at 5 to catch our train at 6:04, only 6 min walk to train station from our accommodation in Stafford. Broad daylight at 5 in the morning which made it easy.
We were looking for carriage K but they went from J to L, thank goodness there was a station employee standing right beside us, she said quick get on and walk through the train because it is right down the end of the train??? I stepped up and got slammed by the door, twice, before I managed to get in, as soon as Neil alighted it took off. After pulling our cases through 5 carriages with very few people, thank goodness, we arrived in …… First Class 😲 That was a lovely surprise these tickets were cheap! Free breakfast, coffee, anything we wanted really and we were the only ones in the carriage.
Wonderful scenery through North Wales and around the coast to Holyhead. The beaches in North Wales are extremely popular. There were holiday camps extending for kms. Mostly holiday bach’s, all identical. Speeding along in a train it is hard to capture the scenery but we are heading back to this area of Wales after our Ireland stint so want to take a closer look at Conwy Morfa Beach, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay and others.
Caught the Irish Ferry, taxi to Dublin Airport Terminal 1 where we were meeting Diane & David, flyng in from Glasgow. Unfortunately their plane was delayed two hours but when they arrived we picked up rental car, getting our luggage in was a test!! After much juggling & D&D ending up with a very cosy back seat, Neil took the wheel with me navigating and down the motorway we went. The hour and half drive went smoothly arriving in Carlow about 7:30. Great to catch up with D&D and hear about their week in Scotland. A nice meal, a couple of drinks and bed, it was a long but interesting, entertaining day.Read more