We got up the next morning and unfortunately it was raining. this was the only day we had real steady rain for any amount of time. we had mist, fog and drizzle a couple of other mornings but we had very nice weather most of the time. It was in the mid 50's to low 60's during the day and in the low 40's overnight.
We drove from the cottage to our first stop of the day- Hook Head Lighthouse just a few miles east of Waterford. This is the oldest operating lighthouse in the world- according to some sources- and the oldest operating lighthouse in only Europe in others.
It is the only lighthouse normally open to climb in all of
Ireland by all sources I could find. You have to go with a tour guide but we got there just in time for a tour.
Here's a photo of the lighthouse exterior-
We entered the lighthouse and started climbing. there are several levels that were used as housing and storage over the years- for much of it's time it also served as a monastery. It was said this was the only lighthouse to serve as a monastery.
We did not go all the way up to the lantern room. the fresnel lens had been replaced and it was on display in the base of the lighthouse. Here's a photo of it-
Here's a view from outside on the highest level we were allowed to go. It was so windy that it was difficult to stay put (here's a very wierd coincidence- just as i started typing the word windy the song "Windy" by the Association started playing on my computer).
The tour was only about 1/2 hour and it was over too quickly. Here's a bit of history that we learned on the tour. the phrase "By Hook Or By Crook" was supposedly coined here during the seige of Waterford by Cromwell's troops in the mid-1600's. There is a town called hook where the lighthouse is and another one on the other side of the city of waterford called Crook. He was supposed to have said that he would take Waterford by hook or by crook.
We ate lunch at the cafeteria at the lighthouse- another fine meal. We had great luck with our choices of places to eat and drink. I had only one bad meal all week and they didn't make me pay for it.
Here's a photo of the lighthouse taken through the roof of the room we had lunch in-
We left Hook Head and drove back towards Waterford. We stopped in the town of duncannon to view the Duncannon fort- with it's lighthouse Duncannon fort (Range Front)and also the Duncannon North (Range Rear) Lighthouse across the water from the fort.
Here are two views of the Duncannon Fort (Range Front) Lighthouse
Here are two views of the Duncannon North (Range Rear) Lighthouse from the road.
We left here with the intent of going into Waterford to see the Waterford Crystal Factory shop- another of Cathy's wishes for the trip (and Esther's for that matter). Unfortunately this was not to be.
We had our only trouble on the road to waterford. surprisingly it came on a real 2 lane road with real shoulders for 95% of the way. Unfortunately the part of the road at the curve i went around and came face to face with a tractor riding in 2/3 of my lane was the part with the narrow shoulder with the jagged rocks right there. I swerved out of the way of the tractor and hit the rocks. it seemed OK at that point but about 3-4 miles later in the middle of downtown Waterford the tire went flat.
We pulled over when we could and I called the rental company and thier response was - so change it and tomorrow get it fixed. i tried using the cellphone i had to call the AA service (
Ireland's AAA) and for some reason the call would not go through. so we started to do it ourselves. Luckily an extremely helpful Irishman came along- Tommy Stone- and he wouldn't hear of us changing the tire. He did most of it but we did assist as much as he would let us.
He refused any payment but invited us in to the local pub for a drink. We refused to let him buy us anything and we made him let us buy him a pint and a pack- of cigarettes. We spent an hour or so drinking and trading stories with him. He made one comment that stuck with us for the rest of the trip- mostly because we kept seeing examples of it everywhere. He said "The Irish are the most laid back people in the world- until they get behind the wheel of a car then look out."
We got back to the cottage and almost immediately there was the doorbell ringing. It was our landlady , Mary. She was all upset and concerned about us as she had gotten a phone call on her cellphone from a number she thought was mine and could not call it back from her phone. she was concerned that we were in trouble. We had not called her. We spent sometime talking with her and someone mentioned hoping to get to hear some Irish music in a pub while we were there. She said it would be tough to do because it's mostly on the weekends in the small towns and we would be in dublin on the wekend.
She left and we went out to dinner and when we got back two minutes later the doorbell rang again. this time it was Mary's husband John. He had called around the county- literally- and he had found a pub the other side of Mallow that was having a Irish Storytellin/ singing/ Joke Telling Night and he offered to take us to it.
It was about a 25 minute drive- it would have been 40 if i was driving, though. He would not let us drive. He would not let us pay for his drinks or our drinks at the pub either. We spent about 2 hourd there and it was great fun.
We left a bottle of rum for Mary and a 8 pack of guinness for john when we left on Friday to thank them for thier unbeleievable hospitality.