St. David's Cathedral
After probably the best night of sleep I had enjoyed up to that point, I headed downstairs for breakfast. I felt so good that I was even up for "the full fry." The food was great; but, the view from the breakfast room was even better. The overnight fog that had crept into the valleys below the B&B was slowly burning off, revealing the green countryside below it. Absolutely spectacular is the only way to describe it.
Once we had stuffed ourselves and paid the bill, we headed off toward Fishguard to catch the ferry for Rosslare, Ireland. The ferry was leaving at 11:10 a.m., and it was only 9:30 a.m., so Kelly felt we had enough time to make a short detour and see St. David's Cathedral. After completing our tour, we drove off to Fishguard. We got there at 10:45 a.m. Even though we already had tickets, they wouldn't let us on the boat because they stop boarding passengers a half an hour before departure. The next fast boat (which takes an hour and a half to make the crossing) would leave at 4:00 p.m. The next slow boat (which takes a little over three hours to make the journey) would leave at 2:30 p.m. Normally, I would've waited for the next fast boat. However, even though we had hotel reservations in Dublin, we had no way of getting from there from Rosslare. And the 2nd was the middle of a three day weekend in Ireland. So, I didn't think our chances were very good for finding a way to make it from Rosslare to Dublin after 5 p.m. on a Sunday of a three day weekend.
At that point, Kelly asked if there were some other place in Wales from where we could depart. There was such a place. Our tickets were also good for a crossing from Holyhead to Dun Laoghaire, which is only 10 miles south of Dublin. However, Holyhead is in the north of Wales, about 120 miles from Fishguard. As the clerk at the Stena desk warned us, the trip is through the Snowdonia National Park, which meant five hours of windy roads. Fortunately, Kelly said, "We've never been to that part of Wales and we've got nothing better to do. Let's go to Holyhead." Kelly's action saved us that day.
We headed north along the coastline. After a brief stop in Aberaeron for lunch, we continued to make our way to Holyhead. Slowly, the coastline scenes changed into low mountain scenery. Turns out that Snowdonia is quite a pretty place. It's filled with these little villages that aren't much more than just a pub or a B&B. All in all, the drive was a great way to spend a Sunday.
We departed the national park in Porthmadog. There I saw the most bizarre toll bridge I've ever crossed. It had all the usual signs saying that a toll bridge was coming up. However, the toll was only 20 pence. There was no gate at the toll point. The toll collectors themselves were a couple of boy scouts with a bucket resting on a lawn chair. At first, I thought it was some sort of scam. But, given the road signs before it, it must have been legitimate. But, I wonder how two boy scouts would enforce the toll if someone decided not to pay.
We worked our way up the coast from Porthmadog, crossed the bridge onto the Isle of Anglesey, and arrived in Holyhead. We were at the terminal at 5:00 p.m., plenty of time to check in and catch our boat. We took a high speed catamaran to Ireland. What a boat! This thing has several restaurants and bars (including a McDonald's), a video arcade, plenty of chairs, and more televisions than a department store. It took people, cars, and even semi-trucks. The only thing it didn't provide was a walkway outside. You're pretty much locked inside the boat for the duration of the trip.
We left Holyhead at 6:30 p.m. The ride to Dun Laoghaire took about an hour and a half. The trip got a little rough as we approached Ireland. I was later told that it was a minor miracle that we made it over because the high speed service is frequently canceled. I guess that any sort of chop on the water makes the boat unstable. Anyhow, since I was feeling a little queasy by the end of the voyage, I was happy to see the shoreline of Ireland approach. Dun Laoghaire's harbor has two long breakwaters that surround the harbor. From a boat, they look like two arms reaching out to hug you. Sort of a friendly welcome I thought.
We got off the boat and went into customs. "A chance to collect another stamp for my passport," I thought. But, the officer took my passport, asked me my nationality, gave the passport back to me, and waved me through. No stamp, no questions about luggage, nothing. Customs in Ireland are even easier than those in England. Although I did miss the cavity search.
After asking around, we found a Dublin Bus that stopped right outside
of the hotel in which we were staying. After a 45 minute ride, we got out
at a station right across the street from the Morehampton Townhouse in Donnybrook,
a suburb of Dublin about three miles from its center. Of course, it was
raining. We trudged across the street, went up the steps, and went inside.
We were happy to call it a day. After getting the keys and some short directions
about Dublin, we went to sleep.
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