Day 3: Dublin to Alton

John was off doing his own thing this morning, so after a bit of a lie-in and thus no breakfast, I spent the time making the most of the room. At 12, we move onto the actual purpose of the trip.

I saw this handicapped parking space in the hotel parking lot. It gives you a good idea of the roads on the Irish part of our trip.

Back at the house, while John does the heavy lifting, I played Tetris (again) trying to fit all the boxes in the back of the Espace so they wouldn't look 'stealable' on the way back (and particularly while parked all day in a parking lot at the park). We were very efficient and it only took us 40 minutes.

We head off to the ferry with the car now slightly heavier than before - note to self, the car will now take longer to brake. I say goodbye to Dublin a bit sad the visit was so short.

We wolf down some bacon and sausage baps on the boat and had there not been a rather long and disturbingly inert queue, I would have bought myself a second!
I'm not so lucky on the slot machines today, and with rising nausea, I decide to catch 40 winks before we arrive in Holyhead.

We got to see a piece of Wales in the daytime today. And it's beautiful! I have decided I will go back there soon. Maybe when I'm over in Bristol visiting Harry. We give up trying to pronounce town names like Llanfachraeth, as all attempt is useless.
I'm sure the pronunciation of these names could be used in a lethal drinking game.









I had managed to get a few names of b&b's near Alton Towers and once again we call to get rooms but it seems most had planned their visits earlier than us! Finally found one in the village of Oakamoor and while the reception we got there was pretty awful, and there was no way to get food anywhere in the village after 8pm - which was unfortunate as it was 8.20 when we arrived, the village is stunning, and the pub landlords and patrons were really decent. We snacked on Marmite branches and Peperami's while watching Russia get their arses kicked by England!

We ended the evening as you would in a country English pub, by playing a little darts!
And play around with the rules and make up your own version. (If we had stuck with the official rules, I would still be there now trying to finish with a double! - or was it triple?)




this was my best score :)