I got up a little gingerly on the morning after the wedding.  My alcohol unit count and monthly quota had taken something of a battering the day before and my head was a little fuzzy.  It was a blessing then that the relatives of the bride and groom had laid on a lovely lunch with more drinks, at the wedding reception venue at Ballycurry.  I had enough scope in my alcohol unit quota for a ‘hair of the dog’ or two.

By now, after a damp start, the weather was gorgeous and the manor house and estate looked splendid.  After an excellent buffet lunch, we had the opportunity to see one of the recent ventures the bride’s brother has initiated to diversify revenues into the estate farm.  This was a substantial film set that has been used by the BBC and, latterly, for streamed series such as Vikings and The Last Duel.  The scale of the set was impressive and now the trick will be to find new ways of using it for further dramatic series.

The next day, our last full day in Ireland, again started with dreary weather.  We considered abandoning ill-formed plans to visit local gardens and to visit Dublin’s galleries and museums instead.  But as we left our Airbnb, blue sky appeared and we headed east over the mountains again to Glendalough.

This is an ancient monastic settlement, set in a glacial valley, and now a big draw for tourists.  We arrived just in time to find a parking spot among hundreds of cars and a fleet of large coaches.  The ruins of the towers, monuments and chapels are very picturesque.  The quaintness of the scene was enhanced by the presence of semi-tame deer mooching between the gravestones despite the crowds. 

Rather than loiter among the throng of tourists, or embark on the suggested nearby woodland walks, we headed off to lunch at Powerscourt Gardens.

The mansion at Powerscourt was destroyed by fire in 1974 and has been restored since as a tourist destination with a few high-quality shops (including a couple of Jane’s favourites) and a restaurant.  We were able to bag a restaurant seat by the window overlooking the 47 acre expanse of formal gardens and arboretum.  The view was great and the food was excellent quality and value. 

We worked lunch off a bit with an extended walk around the gardens.  These are varied in format and large enough to absorb the large number of visitors, especially as we moved away from the main building.  The sun was creating lovely dappled shade, the borders were full of colour, bees and butterflies, and the views were splendid.  I enjoyed our relaxed time at Powerscourt very much.

Our penultimate excursion (apart from one final, smooth charging up of the car) was again to the coast.  We visited Bray Head with the intention of walking along the coastal path for a while.  Unfortunately, this was shut due to a recent rockfall so we ventured up towards Bray Head.  This was a steep and stony climb that, until we reached the top, afforded none of the expected views of Bray or the coast to the north. 

^{Looking South and North West From Bray Head}

Eventually I made it to the top of the tree line to get some long views up the coast and across to the Wicklow Mountains but I eschewed the final scramble to the imperious, concrete Bray Head Cross which was built in 1950 and from which, I imagine, the vistas are even more spectacular.

Jane had one more thing on her bucket list for the trip before we left for Roslare and the ferry uncomfortably early the following morning.  That was to visit a traditional, rural Irish pub.  We popped into the one nearest to our Airbnb, Brennans in Kilteel, which was just inside Kildare rather than Wicklow. 

As was befitting, I had a pint of Guinness (which took me fractionally over my 100 alcohol unit quota for the month but which was very nice and creamy).  In a nod to our normal UK-routine we completed the Guardian newspaper Quick Crossword over our drinks.  Then we headed back to our Airbnb to finish the Netflix Scandi-noir crime series we had started earlier in our trip, polished off the remaining chocolate and crisps, and had an early night.  It was a pleasantly chilled evening to complete our busy day and our brief stay in Ireland!