Ferry to Ireland

We left Wales Colvyn Bay this morning and drove to Holyhead to meet the ferry. Driving down A55, we observed just how aggressive and dangerous the drivers are here. If they want to pass, they come right up on your bumper and are not hesitant about cutting you off if you don't get out of their way fast enough. I'm surprised the accident rate isn't higher.

The Welsh language is interesting. You take some LL, add DD and FF, insert a few Y and W, then use some random letters and you get a completely unpronounceable word that is meaningful to thousands of people! the accent in Wales is also quite different than any we've heard so far. It takes a while to get the ear tuned in to it.








Once on the ferry, we are introduced to our fourth currency of this trip, the Euro (after the US dollar, the UK pound and the Turkish New Lira). The British have a five pound note as their smallest bill and use coins for 1 and 2 pounds. Every time you use paper currency, you get coins in change. After a while, your pocket is weighed down with a LOT of coins. Once I counted over $40 worth in my pocket! The Euro (worth about $1.60) is the same way, so I expect the same result. There is also the danger of treating it all as "pocket change" like we in the US often do. The money over here in coin is worth a lot more.

Coming off the ferry, we went through the tunnel under the Port of Dublin, 6 Euro, then up the M1 toward Belfast. We got off the M1 (after another 2.8 Euro toll) at the Newgrange exit and traveled a very narrow, windy Irish country road, which made me quite nervous. But we arrived safely at our B&B hotel at Rosnaree. This is a lovely old manor estate house which is listed in Hidden Ireland. Our room looks out at Newgrange and the Boyne River.