James and the young folk collected me from my hotel in Limerick late morning, having driven up from Dingle. While I was in Scotland, the intrepid hill-walkers had ascended their final Furth, and so had completed all thirteen. Since we were already quite near the centre of Limerick we decided to continue in to the historic centre at King John’s Castle on the River Shannon. It’s a big castle, originally built at the beginning of the 13th century by King John of England (the Magna Carta guy.) it has been extensively damaged over the centuries, not least during the siege of Limerick in 1642, when both sides dug tunnels under its walls so relentlessly that it became very unsafe and parts of the walls had to be pulled down. It’s not very pretty when you’re inside it, and the basement is horribly smelly, but it has great views from its battlements and tower, a good exhibition area and a nice café. It actually looks much more attractive from across the River Shannon, because you can see the shape of it better, with its round towers connected by crenellated walls. Ireland has excellent castles.
We strolled around the river walk and crossed a couple of bridges and I posed for a photo with the statue of Terry Wogan, which is recognisable but not a great likeness.
Our accommodation for the next two nights is in Killaloe, about half an hour away from the centre of Limerick. It’s a really pretty wee town on the banks of the Shannon, and in fact there are two wee towns, Killaloe and Ballina, one on each bank. I have never been to Budapest but it seems to be a Buda and Pest type arrangement. Our accommodation looked very smart, in a new estate, but in fact there were a few issues with it. First of all, the dishwasher drain was full of rotting food, and the previous occupants had used it like that, with the result that all of the mugs and dishes were covered with hard little speckles of food. They all needed to be re washed. And the downstairs, especially Davie’s room, had a very damp smell. To be fair the housekeeping team came out and sorted it as best they could, and apologised.
We had dinner in a friendly seafood restaurant down by the river, where we sat outside on the warm evening. Ally ordered the mussels and was brought the biggest bowl of mussels that I have ever seen, it was huge! Towards the end of our meal, we noticed a similarly massive bowl of mussels being brought for someone at the next table. We waited to hear his reaction. It took him a moment to notice and then he exclaimed loudly, “Holy Shite!” We all burst out laughing at both tables!
We strolled around the river walk and crossed a couple of bridges and I posed for a photo with the statue of Terry Wogan, which is recognisable but not a great likeness.
Our accommodation for the next two nights is in Killaloe, about half an hour away from the centre of Limerick. It’s a really pretty wee town on the banks of the Shannon, and in fact there are two wee towns, Killaloe and Ballina, one on each bank. I have never been to Budapest but it seems to be a Buda and Pest type arrangement. Our accommodation looked very smart, in a new estate, but in fact there were a few issues with it. First of all, the dishwasher drain was full of rotting food, and the previous occupants had used it like that, with the result that all of the mugs and dishes were covered with hard little speckles of food. They all needed to be re washed. And the downstairs, especially Davie’s room, had a very damp smell. To be fair the housekeeping team came out and sorted it as best they could, and apologised.
We had dinner in a friendly seafood restaurant down by the river, where we sat outside on the warm evening. Ally ordered the mussels and was brought the biggest bowl of mussels that I have ever seen, it was huge! Towards the end of our meal, we noticed a similarly massive bowl of mussels being brought for someone at the next table. We waited to hear his reaction. It took him a moment to notice and then he exclaimed loudly, “Holy Shite!” We all burst out laughing at both tables!
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