There was little difficulty leaving Monaghan and going to Dublin. It went more quickly than I had expected. Eventually I arrived via the M-50 at the motorway for (Cork and) Limerick. Again, I made good time,* although driving on the left was nerve-wracking even on the four-lane divided highway.
*Actually traffic was congested for a bit early on [until the motorway for the southeast branched off, I think].
At the point where the motorway for Cork branches off the one for Limerick, it was not far from Cashel, so I decided to visit the Rock [of Cashel. I drove into the town and parked in a lot in the center of town and walkde to the hill]. There are fine views of the countryside all around, and a good guide named Frank explained the buildings very well. I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours in Cashel.
A couple of views looking up from the streets of the town. As you can see, there is preservation work in progress.
Here's the 13th century cathedral. The round tower dates to about 1200.
Views of the countryside from the Rock. The second one includes the ruins of a Cistercian abbey destroyed by Cromwell's men. When I double clicked I noticed the sheep in a couple of fields and the cows in another.
Cashel, from the hillside, including the former Dominican monastery.
Then it was on to Limerick via Tipperary. [I had noticed on one of the tourist information signs that the (secondary) road through Tipperary was more direct than retracing my route to the fork in the motorway and then taking the motorway to Limerick.] There was considerable congestion in Tipperary — streets narrowed with parked cars on both sides and heavy traffic in both directions, moving quite slowly. As I kept out of the path of a large … truck [with inches to spare] I heard a bang and looked over and saw that the left side mirror had been swung back and the glass was cracked and hanging loose. I reproached myself for being so foolish as to think I could drive in Ireland.
It was not easy to find my way through Limerick City, but I didn't get lost. Once on the north side of the city it took a couple of loops through the neighborhood to find, first Ennis St., and then the hotel. Settled in the pleasant hotel I continued to think of the trip to Ireland as a disaster — a day in the countryside around Monaghan, possibly south to Slane and Tara, lost because of the first accident and Donagh Graveyard still unseen. But after dinner in the bar (one bartender looked remarkably like M… D… [a guy I once had a crush on] I felt slightly better — and even more so after a late evening pint.
