Donadea Forest Park

We weren't running in the Irish Sprint Champs until five o'clock-ish today.  We had to be out of the Premier Inn by midday and we needed to do a shop before travelling to Maynooth University, the venue for the Sprint, so some logistics were required.

I awoke at 7am to discover the hotel was totally without power so no lighting, no water, no breakfast etc etc.  I walked down to reception and it appeared that the whole area, not just the hotel, were powerless.  Thankfully, it did come back on before we decided to head out for breakfast and I was able to enjoy their excellent porridge one more time.  We did a shop at the supermarket around the corner and set off to Donadea Forest Park in County Kildare.  What a gem of a place.  As we were taking a look at the ivy covered, ruined castle, Joe pulled up in his truck (one of the estate workers) and gave us a bit of background and asked where we were from.  What followed was a conversation about the Settle-Carlisle railway and the best station to get on, York, Harrogate, the Dales and a number of horse racing venues (which Joe intended visiting on his trip to Yorkshire.)  We told him we were away to the Café for a cuppa and he said, 'Oh Pam will set you right' so then we had another lovely conversation with Pam who has run the Café (with the most welcoming Ladies Toilets I must record) for twenty three years.  We covered a fair few subjects whilst we enjoyed our cuppas and then we set off on several of the walks around the Forest Park.

There were countless birds singing and when I set Merlin going, it picked up: Chiffchaff; Blackbird; Wren; Song Thrush; Wood Pigeon; Blackcap; Chaffinch; Robin; Crow and most enjoyable Little Grebe of which we saw several in the rushes.  We also visited the 9/11 Memorial which had been erected to the memory of the firefighters and police by an American visitor whose son had died on that day and whose family came from Donadea.  It was sobering to read all of the names on the two stones surrounded by peaceful woodland.

Then we were off to Maynooth and a Sprint around the University Buildings.  I made a couple of annoying errors but Tony had a clean run and we both enjoyed the course.  We didn't wait around till the end as we needed to travel further west to where we are now, in a very comfortable apartment overlooking Lough Rea, where we will be staying until Monday for this, the second part of our holiday in Ireland.