Tintern Abbey and Waterford

We can report that our first night in Ireland was very pleasant. Despite probably being illegal, because it said no camping, we woke even closer to the sea than we manage to in Watchet. Watching the sun rise up over some wind turbines, the little hamlet of Cullenstown was a lovely spot to start the day.

What better excuse but a bit of early sunshine to get out for a walk in the beach, so see the sea arch known as Bridges Chamber. Not terrible impressive, unless we somehow overlooked the actual chamber, but definitely good for the leg stretch.

Just along from our camping spot was a cutest little cottage, covered in meticulously placed sea shells. And the same idyllic view we were enjoying.

Not very far up the road was Tintern Abbey. You probably thrilling I’ve got the wrong. We certainly thought it was in Wales, but it turns out there’s one here, and they were established by the same Cistercian monks as those in Wales. So just not very imaginative with the names.

This one was a shadow of its former self, but did at least have some remnants of a roof, as it was lived in up until 1960. But in private hands since the 16th century, not by the monks.

Despite it being near to lunch, we headed off to Waterford, so lunch didn’t happen until about 4pm. Starting to spot a trend that all car parks have height barriers, so it was necessary to find a parking spot by the side of the road a little way out of town.

Waterford has a quaint old centre, and a bit of a thing for wall art on the buildings. Oh, and of course it’s known for its glass making, except they don’t make any here anymore, so we avoided getting sucked into the tourist traps.

We’ve decided that with a good week ahead for weather, we might as well head for the far south-west ASAP. So we are now parked in a town carpark where Motorhomes are welcome, just east of Cork. Tomorrow we’ll head down to the coast just the other side of Cork and follow what’s known as the Wild Atlantic Way, a coastal driving route that eventually gets you all the way to Northern Ireland. Thigh I doubt we’ll have either the time or the weather on our side for the whole thing. Who knows!

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