The Ireland-UK Trip: Day 8: Rig Return and Bunratty

This morning after breakfast, we went into Adare to wander around a bit as we didn't have to be at the Retroventures office till around 1030 AM to return the rig.

We visited the Holy Trinity Abbey Church near the town's visitor center.  We'd checked before but there'd been a wedding going on at the time you see.  The interior proved a bit plain so I'll spare you the pictures I took inside except for the stained glass windows:

 Holy Trinity Abbey Church

 Garden across the street from the Abbey

The time came though and after cruising by the Sprockets and Hubs shop to visit briefly with Elaine, the co-owner of Retroventures, we rode out the 9 final km to Retroventures HQ.

Chris Davidson, Elaine's husband and co-owner of Retroventures was there to welcome us back along with his father-in-law, Dave.  We unpacked Mary Kate and after a delightful chat over tea, we repacked our luggage and were taken to Bunratty by Chris.

But before we left, and in between mild rain fall, we got a final picture of Mary Kate and us:

Here's Chris, on the left and his FIL Dave; it was Dave who had the idea to add Royal Enfield motorcycles and sidecars to the rental lineup at Retroventures by the way.

 Chris and Dave

Bunratty is a small town with a castle, near the Shannon Airport where we are catching a flight tomorrow to Edinburgh, Scotland for the Scottish phase of our trip.  More to follow on that.

We left our bags with the reception desk since our room at the Bunratty Castle Hotel weren't ready for us yet and wandered over to the castle.  Quite the restored structure, and worth the visit so long as you don't mind claustrophobic stairways!  We timed it just right and got through the castle before several busloads of other tourists arrived and really filled up the place.

 View from the tower of Bunratty Castle,

not quite the highest point of the castle but high enough.

Below you can see the yellow building that is the

pub called "Durty Nelly's" where we had lunch.

Durty Nelly's is purported to be the oldest pub in Ireland,
but there's competing claims apparently.

 Bunratty Castle

Part of the Castle grounds is a Folk Village/Living History exhibit featuring several buildings showing the life conditions of the day.  Martha finally found herself an authentic thatch cottage to get a picture of her in front.

 The town center of the Folk Village featured the usual shops, 

but Martha selected the local Bobbie to get a picture with.

I think these horses are called Shetland Ponies.

By 3:00 PM we were tired and exhausted from all the walking so we returned to the hotel and checked into our room.  Later on, dinner was at The Creamery, conveniently located near the hotel.  The service, food and atmosphere were excellent by the way, a great last dinner in Ireland as spend one last night in the Emerald Isle before flying to Scotland tomorrow.

Mileage ridden in Ireland: 660 miles