Leaving Ireland

After the great visit with all that crystal the next morning we were up early and off to see a little more of this historic Viking town.
Opposite the hotel is Reginalds Tower, named after the Viking leader of 914AD who raided the area and set up his fort.  Waterford has a very interesting history in the area of defence and the Vikings were rather smart people.  The original fort was built of wood and then slowly replaced with stone. There were quite a few towers around the city but this one on the waterfront (which was owned privately and lived in by the same family for over 200yrs) is now open to the public and has a vast display of artefacts from the local area. Some restoration has been necessary and it is great to know that this incredible building is now protected and will be cared for into the future.
We left Waterford and headed back to Dublin. We travelled just under 1500 kms during the week in the Nissan had cost us a total of 80Euros as the diesel here is cheaper than petrol but still 1.35E per litre. The fuel economy was quite good we thought and the vehicle had been comfortable ......for me but........Lawrie found the seat wasn't wide enough for his hips and he would feel uncomfortable after a while.
Our return to Dublin meant that our Irish adventure was over but now we had the ferry ride across the Irish Sea to enjoy before setting off around the UK.
Fortunately for us the day was fine and the wind gentle so the crossing was fairly smooth. The trip from Dublin to Holyhead in Wales took about 3 1/2 hrs and after showing our passports we then headed out to our new car (another Nissan) this one a Juke (about the size of a rav4). We have seen some different vehicles on this trip and it is interesting to take note of the various models.
Our first stop was Chester , another very old town that had Roman ruins to be seen, if you could find somewhere to park that is.  We went for a drive after dinner as the traffic was lighter and it is daylight till about 9.30pm and drove around the streets and tried to get some photos.
Today we have driven up to Whitehaven on the Cumbrian coast in the Lakes district. My dad's father was born near here in 1884 and we are hoping to go exploring tomorrow.  We really had our driest day today with the windscreen wipers only just needing to be used driving up the coast.
There were lots of rolling hills with green grass and white sheep everywhere once we were north of Liverpool and Manchester.  Driving up the M6 made the trip a little easier and we didn't make too many wrong turns.  We have 3 nights here so time for some laundry and some looking around. We have good internet signal here so I can hopefully write some more about this great adventure we are enjoying.