Waterford to Cardiff: Wednesday 27 July

This tour is called 'Romantic Britain and Ireland' but, as everyone on the bus would tell you, there was nothing romantic about this morning's 5am alarm, with bags to be in the hall for the porters by 6am, and breakfast at 6am, with a 7am departure for the port at Rosslare (in County Wexford) to catch our Sena ferry across the Irish Sea to the port of Fishguard in Wales.

On the journey to Rosslare, we heard about JF Kennedy's family links with Ireland, and passed through New Ross on the Barrow River - home to the Dunbrody replica famine ship (one of the better ships that didn't lose close to 50% of its passengers who were headed to America to escape the potato famine in the mid-1800s).

  

It was a fine day, even sunny with only high cloud, and we had a smooth three and a half hour crossing, sitting in the Barista Cafe with Murray and Lorraine. Later we went up to the cafe on Deck 8 for lunch, where David had fish and chips, and I had a GF beef casserole with brown rice. There's a bit of a saga with that - 15 minutes after we ordered, our food had still not arrived, so I went over to ask about it. I got the impression that mine had been forgotten, and the woman rushed away to find out. She still came back without the meal, and said it had been dropped on the floor as it was being taken out the oven, and they had to put another meal on for me. I asked if David could have his fish and chips as other customers had been served theirs up immediately upon ordering, and here we were now, 20 minutes later with both of us still waiting. So, he got that, and she kindly delivered my meal a few minutes later. Nothing seems to be simple when you're GF!

After docking at Fishguard, we drove through the beautiful Pembrokeshire countryside. Michelle gave us a potted version of early Welsh history. After an hour and a half we had a service break, then Michelle played us a selection of songs sung by well-known Welsh singers - I was disappointed that Harry Secombe wasn't amongst them.

An hour and a quarter later we were in Cardiff and had passed the Millennium Stadium, and then 12 of us were dropped off for our optional tour at Cardiff Castle. This was an excellent tour of the medieval castle and Victorian Gothic revival mansion, entering rooms that people can't always see. The rooms were spectacular, with huge attention to detail. In the mid-18th century, the castle had passed into the hands of the Marquesses of Bute, who had begun many years of renovations and the results were amazing. After the tour, David climbed up the original old motte and bailey castle that was built in the late 11th century by Norman invaders on top of a 3rd-century Roman fort. 

  

  

  

  

  

Michelle and Kevin picked us up an hour and a half later, at 5:15pm, and we were driven the very short distance to our hotel, Jury's Inn.

  

  

At 7:30pm we headed out again, this time to the Millennium Centre for a night celebrating Welsh food and culture and being entertained by Welsh stories, music and Welsh singers.

  

We had a lovely meal, including (for me) the best GF bread rolls I've ever had, a goat cheese terrine, hake on caponata and veges, and a really nice orange and almond cake. The entertainment took place between courses and involved humour, audience participation, and beautiful singing by two sopranos and two tenors (operatic as well as popular music). There was also flute, harp and piano accompaniment.

  

We were all very raucous on the way back to the hotel on the bus!

Blarney Castle and Waterford: Tuesday 26 July

An early start again today, breakfast and bags at 7am, and in the bus for an 8am departure. It was a grey, drizzly drive through the areas of scenic green hills and pastures, towards the town of Blarney and the Blarney Castle with its famous kissing stone. We took a more scenic route away from the main highway, and heard more about the history of the area and the famous people who had lived in some of the villages along the way. On the journey, Michelle played a DVD showing the skills and some of the rules involved in Gaelic football, and also hurling. She often played music or videos appropriate to where we were, and had now taught us some Irish songs.

We were perhaps the first group there at the castle and had around three hours for this visit and to get an early lunch. The walk up to the castle was very pretty, and the castle ruins were interesting. The ground was too slippery and uneven so we didn't go into the dungeon area at the bottom. David went right up to the top with ease, even in a section that others stopped at because they felt it was too claustrophobic. However, he wasn't interested in getting a taste of all the bacteria by actually kissing the Blarney Stone - if you kiss the stone you are guaranteed to get the gift of eloquence.... To do so, you had to lie on your back and stretch backwards while someone held you. Some members of our tour group indulged in that risky behaviour, but a lot of others declined.

We walked through the Poison Garden (display of poisonous plants) and climbed onto the battlements. Then we wandered around the lovely park-like grounds (rather like the tree areas of Hagley Park) and up the hill to view Blarney House - which we chose not to pay to go into. Then we walked over to the Rock Close section, in a glade, and viewed some of the 'magical' spots there.

  

  

  

  

Finally, we headed over to the adjacent Blarney Woollen Mill facility to buy some lunch. There I had the pleasure of eating a GF wrap, with multiple fillings of my choosing. Apparently they'd just sold out of GF scones.

Next was our two-hour drive to Waterford, skirting around the outer edge of the city of Cork. On the way Michelle treated us to some very special Lily O'Brian chocolates. She also talked to us about the Irish potato famine in the 19th Century. I fell asleep a couple of times, and also had a bit of a headache, which is very unusual for me.

We arrived in Waterford at 2:15pm, and had time to browse around the Waterford Crystal showroom, before having a guided tour at 2:50pm. We were shown through the different stages of the design, mouldings, blowing and cutting of the crystal. It was interesting to know that an apprenticeship takes 5 years, and at the end of that time, if you can't cut a particular bowl pattern within a given time, you start your apprenticeship again or leave.

  

After the tour, 12 of the 38 of us in the group went off on a walking tour of Waterford with our guide, Jack (also a Rick Steves recommended guide). He told us about the town being founded by the Vikings and later invaded by the Normans. He took us around some of the notable buildings including: Reginald's Tower (originally a wooden viking building and then rebuilt by the Normans as the first building in Ireland to use mortar), the ruins of French Church and Blackfriars Abbey, the twin cathedrals - Holy Trinity and Christ Church - (one catholic and one protestant, both built by the same architect). We heard interesting stories about some of the important people in Waterford's history, including viking invaders; Strongbow (a Norman) who married the King of Leinster's daughter, Aoife; and 18th century architect John Roberts.

  

    

  

We finished up at the Gingerman Pub, where Michelle met us and shouted each of us a drink, before walking us back to our hotel.

After an hour to rest our weary feet, we headed down to dinner in the hotel (Dooley's Hotel) - and I was so tired I forgot to photograph my lovely meal of soup, fish in a lemon sauce, and a poached pear with a chocolate sauce. We were in bed by 8:30pm!