Day 5: More castles and cathedrals, rain, a cave, rain, an abbey and rain

Okay, you may have guessed that it’s wet. The day started out fine and I got a run in this morning (about 7km but don’t ask my time because my watch died halfway through!) Then a phenomenal breakfast – an omelet with GF toast! – before heading out to Dunmore cave. What a cool place – even if it was raining inside and out! The guide Mike was incredibly entertaining and the cave itself was amazing! Not only did we learn about limestone, acid rain and other geologic stuff, we also got a history lesson about a viking massacre on the site in 928 AD. Very cool!

Then into town for the human history stuff. It actually wasn’t raining when we decided to walk – we were faked out my mother nature. First, Kilkenny Castle, home to the Butler family (English Earls of something but not royalty). It was raining by the time we got half-way into town so we ducked into a coffee shop for a hot beverage – and a lovely GF brownie…yum! – before heading into the castle proper. A 13th century structure with extensive 19th century renovations, it still lost something by not having royal connections. There’s a contemporary art exhibit in part of the castle right now which was most entertaining. Can someone please explain how a TV showing a video of a waterfall is “art”? I’m obviously a cultural imbecile!

It was raining when we left the castle and grabbed a quick bite in a cafe before heading to St. Canice’s Cathedral, another beautiful *Anglican* church with lovely stained glass windows and amazing roof beam structure. It’s the episcopal seat for the diocese and has been in continual use for worship for 800 years. St Kiernan’s chair dates back to 1120 and is still used when the bishop of Ossory is enthroned. There were tombs for members of the Butler family – from Kilkenny Castle – dating back to the 1500’s.
The rain stopped long enough for us to climb up the 30-meter-high, 800-year-old round tower (except Frank the wuss!) where we had a fantastic view of the surrounding area.

We tried to head to the St Francis Abbey brewery (where they brew Smithwicks and *gasp* Budweiser) but we missed the single 3pm video showing. It started to rain again so we ducked into a nearby pub for a pint while the thunder roared and the rain lashed down. After awhile, it let up and we walked another 5 minutes to the Black Abbey, a working Dominican abbey with unbelievable stained glass windows and all the Catholicism we’d been missing from the other Cathedrals – love that Sacred Heart of Jesus!

It was only sprinkling when we wandered up the high street for our daily dose of consumerism (Duncan – clothes, Gillian – bodhrun) and then headed to one of the best restaurants in the city (according to the proprietors of our guest house) which just happened to have a menu covered in G’s – the universal symbol for GF! I had mussels and fresh haddock and ice cream and YUM!

It was sprinkling when we left the restaurant and decided to walk home – which of course meant it was pouring by the time we got home. This was weather.com’s idea of 30% chance of light showers! It scares me to think what “steady rain” actually means!

/san/
Pedometer: 17,264 or about 8 miles – 1200 steps underground but all of them wet!