Waterford Kilkenny

The past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind as I try to get in some last minute touring. I took the Copper Coast to Waterford. The Copper Coast has several old copper mining operations, none of which are active anymore, but still boasts and impressive coastline and nice geological part. I tried to stay in Youghal, but was unable to find anything, so booked the last 25km to Dungarvin, which didn't have much. At least the main roads had good shoulders to ride on, which made things easier and more straight forward then knocking around the side roads. I ended up staying at a fancy B&B outside of town and had to scramble to find dinner, but breakfast was good and rest of the way to Waterford was fairly easy and scenic.

I spent one full day in Waterford and managed to bang out as many things as I could, starting with the Waterford Crystal factory tour, and Reginald's tower, Ireland'

s oldest and continuously used structure. Here there was much more info on the Viking origins of the city, but this was much supplemented by the Viking Museum later, which had the only remaining golden vestments in Europe. Waterford in Ireland's oldest city as well. Some of the history lessons are starting to mesh together as the same names keep popping up. I then briefly toured several churches before heading into town for dinner.

I was planning on going to Wexford, but I changed my plans to Kilkenny after visiting the tourist info office. Kilkenny more inline with Dublin then Wexford, and there seemed to be more to do. It was a short ride, so I made two stops at Jerpoint Abby and Kells Priory that were both christian settlements until the protestant reformation around 1500. Jerpoint Abby in particular, had well done stone carvings that reflect the history of the Abby and the peoples there. I liked the decorative borders, which would be good to replicate in my future mansion. Some of the artifacts matched with what was in the Waterford museum, and it must have been really impressive before it was destroyed. 

I had planned one full day in Kilkenny, and was able to see Kilkenny Castle which had been carefully restored to its original condition. Some of the restoration efforts were fascinating in researching and replicating remnants found to fully restored rooms. No pictures, sorry. There is also a large park attached, which would have walked given a bit more time. I then visited several churches, and did the “Smithwicks Experience” as Smithwicks was brewed in Kilkenny until 2013. This also had an interesting history as the monks started brewing to help keep water clean. Things were quiet until the world wars where entrepreneurial founders started exporting widely. I then met up with a walking tour, and being the only person there, I got a private tour of the city for the next two hours. Many things are really more impressive with a little bit of insight, and he was able to point out less prominent, but more important parts of the city, as well as local history, legend, and circumstances that made things the way they are today. It was a great tour that left me wanting to go back and visit these places we went past. So I did manage to get back to a few before things started to close for the day. Dinner and a brew, then back to the Hostel to plan my next moves.

It's looking like my trip into Dublin will be more compacted then I then I thought. Accommodation is tight up through Saturday night, so I will be arriving later then I expected. I'd still like to ride through the Wicklow mountains, but am having a hard time making reservations. I guess I'd rather have a hard time now then on the road. Either way, I have another day in Kilkenny to figure out what to do, relax, and perhaps get to a few more attractions that I missed yesterday. Indeed, this may be my last day to really relax my time in Dublin will be busy, and I'll be busy as soon as I get home.