PG is taking her first road trip, which is around Ireland. We drove from her homebase near Gatwick for an overnight stop in Manchester. I have never been to Manchester and had a GGG grandmother who worked in the cotton mills and stole some clothes resulting in her being sent to Australia as a convict. Manchester was a bit underwhelming for us. The city is quite grubby but we had a GREAT stay at the Hotel Gotham - complete with valet parking. The rooftop bar and the hotel restaurant are great and the staff could not be more accommodating. This is a gem if you ever have to stay overnight in Manchester. We then drove to Holyhead to put PG on the ferry to Dublin. The weather was bleak and the seas rough but the Stena Line ferry had stablisers and we booked seats in the Hegge Lounge which was very comfortable. We have a new gadget which is a bluetooth display screen which works off our iphone and sits comfortably on the dashboard. It plugs into the cigarette lighter and is much better than working off the phone screen as we've done before, so we easily found our way to the hotel.
We stayed at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin (part of the Marriott Group) for four nights which was a wonderful hotel. We used the valet parking and the location was very central - just near St Stephen's Green. We walked our socks off the first day - 16,000 steps!!!
Part of my reason for staying in Dublin for a few days was to take the opportunity to do a side trip to County Offaly where my ancestors lived and had a large manor in the 1600s. One of my cousins had connected us with a local historian and we had a fabulous day climbing over the ruins of the stables of Moystown House the ancestral home, the extensive walled garden, the holy well of Saint Sarens and family grave in the churchyard of the ruined church. Martin our guide fell in love with PG and got lots of photo oppprtunities with the car :) It's great the way she generates such joy and enthusiasm! We always love to share the joy our car with people and this was one of those moments :)
We've really enjoyed Dublin and have headed north for the next stage of our adventure. More to come.
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