Instead of taking the more direct route to Waterford, we decided to take a side trip to Cashel. So, we left Cobh on the 0800 train to Cork. After a short walk to the bus station we picked up tickets for the 1000 departure of the X8, headed for Dublin Airport. By noon we were standing at the foot of the Rock of Cashel.

There was a change in the weather coming. The damp air blown by 20+ knots of wind out of the west made us glade we "layered up" this morning. Getting off the bus we new our morning porridge would run out soon, so we stopped in at the The Bake Shop. All of the breads, sweets, and cookies , in the case, looked wonderful. We chose to fortify ourselves with two sausage rolls. This was a great "eat & go" meal of sausage in puff pastry. Yummy, makes my mouth water just thinking about it!

We stopped in the Tourist Information (TI) Center for a map. The offered to lock our bags in there storeroom to make moving around town easier, a huge help.

Just a short walk up an inclined 500 meters from the bus stop and TI, this well preserved, medieval structure dates back to the early 1200's but the history of Cashel goes back to the 5th century.


This was the strong hold of the Catholic Church in Tipperary County, its massive cathedral overlooks several "smaller" Abbie's including this 13th-century Cistercian Abbey known as Hoare Abbey.



As you can imaging this structure is under constant preservation. Today, unfortunately, the Cathedral was closed but the good news was we were treated to our tour free of charge. The web site lists the average visit of 1-2 hours, which was about right, including a video presentation.

Off to the Cashel Folk Village (http://www.cashelfolkvillage.ie). Undaunted by a passing hail storm, Bernard the current Curator, was a wealth of information. Highly passionate about, not only Cashel history, but Irish History as well. Bernard is the son of the last sole caretaker of the Rock of Cashel, or simply The Rock.

This privately owned & funded museum holds artifacts going back thousands of years. One in particular, that we were able to hold, was Bog Butter. Dating back to the times when invading army's used a Scorched Earth method to exterminate the indigenous peoples. Locals would bury food, wrapped in animal skins, in the peat bogs to preserve it, in the hope they would survive the attack, they would have something to eat.

Bernard also had artifacts, memorials, and stories of The Easter 1916 Rising, The War of Irish Independence 1919-1922, The Irish Civil War 1922-1923, and The Great Irish Famine 1845-1851. A great story teller, he has obviously kissed the Blarney Stone, maybe even more than once.

We collected our bags and enjoyed a Chocolate Chip Cookie, once again at The Bake Shop, while waiting for our bus. We transferred at Cahir (pronounced Clair) to the route 55 bus which dropped us off in Waterford at 1830.

A side trip to an Aldi grocery store on the way to our lodging. We checked in at the Portree Guest House, kicked off our shoes, and enjoyed a dinner of bread, local cheese, and a glass of wine. The end of a long but fascinating day.

Fair Winds & Quiet Anchorages,
Wendy & Jeff