Russell's quote of the day: "If you see a leprechaun, keep your eye on him!"

By the time we arrived in Rosslare via ferry we had consumed a couple of rounds and the effects of jetlag were manifesting themselves. We didn't mess around but pulled immediately into a likely looking B & B - there are ever so many to choose from!

Fortunately, we lucked into finding a comfy little spot near the ferry landing - called Dungara (tel 053-33391.) After a good night's rest and a yummy breakfast, Russell took a quick shot of me and our o-so-friendly hostess - Una Stack. The sun was shining and it promised to be a lovely day.

We figured adversity to be behind us - but I can not blame the day's only setback on anyone but myself.

When this photo was shot I had no idea that our dealings with Ms. Stack were not quite over...

Blithely unaware of impending disaster, we tootled through the Irish countryside to the medieval town of Kilkinny and my first close encounter with a real castle.

Eager to see the sites, I popped into a local bank to get some local currency - only to discover that my trusty credit card was no where to be found. After several thorough, unpanicked searches of every compartment of every bag, I cashed in a few traveler's cheques so we would have some coins to make a call back to Rosselare, and sure enough, Ms. Stack confirmed she had found my VISA card still in the swiper. She agreed to keep it safe until our return to catch the ferry back to England.... and we were free once again to enjoy the day.

Yes, I felt stupid (and Walter and Dennis are laughing their asses off at me right now I know.)

The castle grounds are lovely and filled with lots of green stuff and statuary.

We coughed up 3 pounds each to do the castle tour and it was fascinating. Some parts dated back to the 13th century.

After the tour we treated ourselves to tea and hot creamed scones in the castle tea shop.

It tasted just as good as it looks.

Said goodbye to Kilkenny and continued towards Galway on the west coast where I had made reservations on the net for a room in Cregg Castle.

Traveled narrow winding roads and saw castles and bits of castles everywhere! No leprechauns yet though.

So it was a very small stone circle. And we had to hike through a bog to get to it. Which gave Russell a chance to tell me about the UK's only poisonous creature - the adder - who of course likes to hang out in boggy spots. I wonder if my insurance policy covers adder bites?

Russell does a stone circle dance. Okay, he wasn't really dancing but chanced to step in a hole at the exact moment my shutter clicked. Just lucky, I guess.

Ou accommodations in Cregg Castle were spacious and extremely comfortable.

Find out more about this extrordinary B& B on the next page...