TALL SHIPS AND FARMYARD FROLICS

On the way to Waterford, we stopped in at New Ross to buy some airtime for the phones and internet dongle. The roads into the centre of Waterford were all closed for the Tall Ships Festival, and 3 large Park ‘n Rides with shuttle buses were in operation, coping very efficiently with the half million visitors. We parked in the CareDoc carpark and from there only had a short walk into town. There were thousands of people on the quay in a very festive mood. Queues were long to explore the ships, but there were plenty of stalls to browse, and foods to buy.

The balloon seller was dressed as a pirate,but it was difficult to capture his whole body!

We had seen this fascinating musician with his troupe of moving puppets at Midleton, Co Cork before.

We trudged slowly back to the van to catch up on a little sleep, as David had a full night’s duty ahead. Fortunately the patients were distracted from their ailments by the festival, so the shift was quiet and David snatched a few hours sleep in the duty room, while Sandi slept in the van outside. Even the firework display did not disturb us.

On Saturday the sun came out so we took the opportunity to give Mr Stubby a good clean and scrub.

David worked that evening till midnight, then joined Sandi in the van for a few hours. We needed to make an early start the next day, as we had to drive 2 hours up to our accommodation for the week ahead, drop Sandi to settle in, with David needing to get back into Carlow by 9am for the day’s duty.

The fully-equipped doctor's car used for home and hospital visits.

Hillview B&B is on a dairy farm near the village of Kiltegan.

We were given a little self-contained cottage next to a field with shy 3 month-old calves, frisky ducks and plump chickens.

Our cosy cottage

Lovely moo-babies outside our window, with himself in the front, and the farm in the background

Afternoon siesta for the calves with the glorious Irish hills beyond

It is always a great treat to be able to cook for ourselves, and we raided the bargain shelves at Tesco for salmon, lamb and pork rib, which together with Sandi’s special seafood chowder, made for excellent cuisine for the week.

Breakfast each day consisted of the best eggs we've eaten in Ireland, in over 2 years, prepared by B&B owner, Rosemary - the Poached-egg Princess of the Universe!

The happy hens who supplied the eggs for our breakfast

At breakfast each morning we looked out at the beautiful view and watched the antics of the wild birds as they flitted around the bird feeder in front of the window.

The view from the breakfast room.

We laughed at the frisky calves, who played like children at dusk every day. The long summer evenings, spent looking over the hills and trying to talk to the calves, were very relaxing.

Closer shot of our shy neighbours

The calves weren't the only frisky ones - the drakes were positively lascivious, nabbing the ducks at every opportunity, as they ran for cover. Raunchy bunch these waddlers!

Puddleduck and Co.

David worked in a GP practice split between the 2 nearby villages of Hacketstown and Rathvilly.

Typical Irish townhouses in Rathvilly.

On Saturday it was again a long drive down to Waterford for a day shift for David. The van radio had stopped working, and it transpired that the amplifier had probably blown. So he had no alternative but to sing loudly [and tunelessly] to pass the time. Some of you may remember this Irish ditty from younger years:

About a maid I'll sing a song ……… sing rickety tickety tin [melody and words available on application]