Oh dear getting behind, have two days blog to catch up on.....ouch, well here goes an attempt to fill you in & or bore you to tears! Ok let's start with yesterday which seems like so far away.....hmmmm song I think! We awoke to the sound of silence....I have never experienced waking to total silence before, it was very eerie to say the least....a beautiful crisp morning in the Wicklow Mountains, after brekkie we went for a wander around the small village of Laragh which is where we stayed for the night, great pub it was, huge room! After our walk we headed off to the monastic settlement of Glendalough only a few km's further down the road. This area is hikers heaven & many were coming down out of the mountains as we arrived, all decked out in the real McCoy gear so I assume they all knew what they were doing....too much mud for it to be for show! The area is deeply wooded with hills & mountains rising from the valleys. A very picturesque region of Ireland. The ancient monastery here was founded in the 6th century by St Kevin, set in a glaciated valley with 2 lakes, the monastic remains include stone churches, several crosses one of which is a Celtic high cross & there is also a well preserved round tower which the sign stated was once a bell tower....I think not as there was no open bell casement at the top... Just an observation. However this tower did conjure up visions of Rapunzel & her knight in shining armour....never could figure out why that girl didn't tie her hair off up there & let herself down....she was very blonde wasn't she......Aunty Deb will be sure to keep her own counsel on the subject matter when in the presence of a few nieces, I promise! We managed to get some fantastic photos of this area including an apparition in one......I'll leave you to find it should you be so inclined. Having now given Rapunzel a rap over the knuckles for being such a dumb ass blonde we headed down into the village @ meet our very lively leprechaun who went by the name of Michael, he was hawking tourist stuff which I had no interest in but he had an infectious laugh & Moth saw some entertainment value in playing with him so I left them to it & wondered thru the village on my own, came back an hour later to our small green one trying to off load tourists who inconveniently wanted to buy shit from him...I noticed him getting rather annoyed with them as they were interfering with his craic with Moth....never let business get in the way of a good time right....I walked over to Steve who had the biggest set of keys in his hand that I've ever seen....turns out our new green mate wanted us to go up into the mountain to his home for a look see!!! True story.....so off we go with the keys to a total strangers house, at this point I'm thinking possible ambush.....maybe! Nope just a mad Irish leprechaun that maybe had one too many head knocks. Michael lives in a restored police station well over 150 yrs old, amazing place, as sure as the Pope is a Catholic does Michael like his beer...most blokes have empty bottles laying around not Mick....out back was a couple of empty bloody kegs....typical Irishman. Then there was his cat, this cat was a guard cat, had skills that would shame any decent German shepherd...friggin physco cat, it had serious attitude. As we were driving off towards his house we heard shouts of don't let the foookin cat in....yeah righto....sheesh try keeping the sucker out, shit of a thing. Deb 1 Cat 0 I reckon that cat is an alcoholic! Now I ask you....would you give your house keys to a total stranger? Took a different way out of the mountains thank god, bloody hair raising trip in that I really wasn't looking forward to repeating, that road left the Hawkesbury river road for dead. Decided to head back to my cousin Mary's home in Navan via the Dublin coast road & Drogheda which was beautiful given the weather was so superb. Found where our Carnival Legend cruise ship will dock next year when we sail thru. Ann you will be please to know it is real easy access to Dublin city from the port, no dramas! Pulled up in a pub for lunch, soup was real good again, banana beer was average at best! Loaded all my pics up on Facebook, geeez of I don't do this daily also I'll loose track eh! More cousins came to dinner last night, one of them... Brian....I am particularly fond of, he owns a large property close by Slane Castle not far from Navan & he has about a dozen horses & riding school. Brian has had many a famous student including Madonna. Anyway had a great night with them all, lots of laughs! BTW Slane Castle is a favourite spot here of mine built in 1701 it is still owned by the Conyngham Family, the Marquess is a good friend of my cousin Mary so I have been there a bit. Many major concerts have been held in the grounds, U2 have played there several times.