Brace yourself...

Pictures are coming (with plenty of waffle, too).

Last Sunday we dropped the dogs off with the in-laws in preparation for a short(ish) family holiday over to Ireland, and then on Monday morning at 4am we got up and got in the car half an hour later to make our way to the ferry port. Two hours later we arrived there, an hour later we were off on our way, and then after another two hours we arrived in Belfast. Then followed a glorious five days of trekking around an enthralling series of lumps and small walls, as Mr Seren refers archaeological sites.

Our original plan was to spend a few days around Dublin, then head over to Galway, up to Donegal, before heading home again, but we had to reduce our plans to spend a full week there down to five days, due to work constraints. So eventually Galway and Donegal were abandoned, and we ended up basing ourselves in Dublin for the whole time (which was much easier, really - especially when kids are involved).

On Monday we stopped off at the heritage centre at Newgrange and took a tour round the Knowth complex and then Newgrange itself. After being up so early in the day, that was about all we could manage - we'd planned on doing the Hill of Tara as well, but Newgrange took up the whole afternoon - so we put that off for another day. Tuesday was the Dublin museum, taking in all the archaeology, then Wednesday was Kildare. We took in the cathedral, the fire temple and round tower, and had lunch in the town centre, then spent the afternoon at Brigid's well before heading home via Glendalough (which was beautiful). Thursday was a days for the kids, at a waterpark, and Friday we headed home via the Hill of Tara and a leisurely drive through Navan, Kells, a few other towns, and a semi-accidental trip up the Falls Road in Belfast on our way to the docks.

One thing I learned on our travels is that Irish drivers are fucking terrifying. No, seriously. Terrifying.

Anyway, over the next few posts (probably more than a few, to be fair...) I'll be waffling on about all the sites I saw, once I've sorted through all the photos and uploaded them (and picked up the dogs from the in-laws). And slept a little...