On to Waterford via the Southeast Coastal scenic route! We enjoyed a quick look around Ardmore harbor / beachfront. Although I've been to Waterford before, Danny hadn't. And I really love crystal so I was happy to share the experience again! We took our tour of the factory, and enjoyed the showroom...but with the increases in costs in Ireland neither Danny or I felt we could splurge on crystal!

Then we doubled back through Dungarven to Lismore. The castle gardens here are quite lovely and exploring took some time!

From Lismore, we decided to enjoy a pretty nice day by driving over the Knockmealdown Mountains through Glogheen, Ardfinnin, Clonmel, to Callan.

At Callan we had another unanticipated snag in plans. Our choice of b&b's Moonarch, had no rooms. The hostess explained that another guest had had a medical emergency and she couldn't kick out her husband while she recuperated. She had made a reservation for us in town, but at a place beside a pub. I prefer NOT to spend a saturday night next to a pub, so we decided we would move on.

We found that there was some event in nearby Kilkenny that made booking a room impossible. We decided to skip a short look at Kilkenny, and move on to Dunlavin, north of Castledermot on way to Wicklow - our next destination.

This was a wonderful place!!! I loved it. Blackrath Farmhouse is everything you think of when you picture a country farmhouse b&b. A warm, friendly welcome on arrival was accompanied by tea and cookies (biscuits). Our hostess sat down to chat with us before a lovely turf fire. We watched the Eurovision (a sort of talent show like American Idol, but groups of contestants represented a different European country)finals with Patricia.

This isn't be a fancy place, but a well-run home-away-from home that had all the ingredients of a fantastic b&b! I loved it!