When I was a nurse in the Navy just after the war had finished, a friend of mine, also a nurse decided we would have a really good holiday somewhere where there was no rationing and the dreaded food coupons! Eventually we decided on Southen Ireland and set about getting tickets and sorting our leave out. Of course tickets were free which meant we could travel any distance we wished!
When the time came, we caught a train from Plymouth to Fishguard changing at Cardiff on the way. We had a good crossing and disembarked at Rosslare where we spent the night to recover, and to give us energy for travels to come. We got a coach to Cork stopping at various towns on the way including Waterford where we visited the glass factory and eventually arrived at Cork which is a lovely city. I was thrilled to see my surname (no prizes for guessing!) in large letters on a hotel!
After exploring the city the one thing we simply had to do was to go to Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney stone to make us 'full of the blarney' as they say! It is quite a difficult feat to accomplush. You lie on your back near the edge of the castle on the summit, lean over to reach the stone while someone holds your legs to stop you hurling down to your doom! Make sure you have a very good friend with you!!
After that adventure we got another coach to Glengarriff which is right down south and on the coast. We hired a boat and rowed ourselves out to an island called Garnish. which had a beautiful Italian garden on it. In the evening we went to a hop with some nice young men who were staying in the same hotel as us which was fun and useful as they told us places to see which were not on the map.
We got a train to Killarney which was simply lovely. We hired a jaunting car which is really a horse and governess car and drove around the lakes known as"The meetings of the waters"which were quite beautiful.
Our holiday was slowly coming to an end. We felt our last port of call had to be Dublin. So off we went. When we arrived we had difficulty finding a B&B for the two nights we intended to stay as the Dublin horse show was on. Eventually we found one. We sorted ourselves out and started to explore the city.
When we had seen all the main places, including Trinity College, we felt it was time to call it a day and return to the Navy and nursing. We packed all our "goods and chattles" and caught a train to Dun Laoghaire where we got the ship for Holyhead and so ended our adventure!
When the time came, we caught a train from Plymouth to Fishguard changing at Cardiff on the way. We had a good crossing and disembarked at Rosslare where we spent the night to recover, and to give us energy for travels to come. We got a coach to Cork stopping at various towns on the way including Waterford where we visited the glass factory and eventually arrived at Cork which is a lovely city. I was thrilled to see my surname (no prizes for guessing!) in large letters on a hotel!
After exploring the city the one thing we simply had to do was to go to Blarney Castle and kiss the Blarney stone to make us 'full of the blarney' as they say! It is quite a difficult feat to accomplush. You lie on your back near the edge of the castle on the summit, lean over to reach the stone while someone holds your legs to stop you hurling down to your doom! Make sure you have a very good friend with you!!
After that adventure we got another coach to Glengarriff which is right down south and on the coast. We hired a boat and rowed ourselves out to an island called Garnish. which had a beautiful Italian garden on it. In the evening we went to a hop with some nice young men who were staying in the same hotel as us which was fun and useful as they told us places to see which were not on the map.
We got a train to Killarney which was simply lovely. We hired a jaunting car which is really a horse and governess car and drove around the lakes known as"The meetings of the waters"which were quite beautiful.
Our holiday was slowly coming to an end. We felt our last port of call had to be Dublin. So off we went. When we arrived we had difficulty finding a B&B for the two nights we intended to stay as the Dublin horse show was on. Eventually we found one. We sorted ourselves out and started to explore the city.
When we had seen all the main places, including Trinity College, we felt it was time to call it a day and return to the Navy and nursing. We packed all our "goods and chattles" and caught a train to Dun Laoghaire where we got the ship for Holyhead and so ended our adventure!
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