It feels a bit daft writing about my next bout of travelling before I've finished writing about the last, but that will teach me to procrastinate so much!
I'm in Ireland visiting family and I figured I'd try writing about my day while it's still fresh in my mind rather than waiting until I'm back home. So I'm currently sitting infront of a stove full of turf with a dog on my lap.
The weather for the time I'm here is typical for Ireland, one overcast day then a full week of rain predicted. So on the one day we knew we wouldn't get rained on we chose to take a walk around Kinnitty Castle grounds.
Last year I was here I didn't take many pictures as sadly the front of the castle was covered in scaffolding, luckily this year the work has finished.
The castle is a functioning hotel and extremely popular for weddings as you would imagine. It's also open for visitors in their cafe for teas and coffees, I wanted to go inside and get some pictures of the suits of armour but I didn't think they would appreciate my muddy boots!
There is a 4.5km walking trail loop starting at the castle but it can also be cut short by taking a dirt road at the end of the riverside walk, which we opted for as the weather took a turn for the worse.
Offaly is very mountainous and the weather can change extremely quickly here (although that probably goes for all of Ireland), if you're up high enough you can literally watch the rainclouds move towards you.
I'm from rural England so I'm used to greenery, but Ireland is something else for dense forests. It's to do with the temperature being ideal for the flora nearly all year round, and large amounts of rainfall.
The rain can be very annoying sometimes (it's forecast to rain every day I'm here!). It does mean you're never too far away from a stream or river, and in Ireland they're always gorgeous.
The view from on top of the above bridge
Every year I return here this house is slightly more overgrown. The amount of abandoned houses in Ireland is baffling, in the UK every piece of land is accounted for, it's either farmland, houses, or a building site being turned into new houses.
I couldn't understand how spacious and relaxed Ireland is until I googled the stats.
The population of UK is 67 million, while Ireland is 5 million, nearly half the population of London alone!
On the way back to the car park I spotted these horses grazing in the distance (Camera zoom to the rescue!). As we were about to leave their owners called them over to put saddles on them letting me get this close up shot.
Infront of the castle is this enormous lawn. It's so huge that deer can often be seen lounging in the middle. Just before we got into the car to leave we saw these three walking across.
A magical finish to a magical day!
I have an adventure planned involving the west coast of Ireland so look out for that post in the coming days. Until next time.