We spent a day and took a fast train (TPG) to Marseille for the day. This is France's second largest city with an old port on the Mediterranean. It is verrry busy. The sounds of motorbikes and buses are continuous. We walked for an hour around the port then sought refuge from the 34 degree heat. We still had two hours before our TPG so we weaved our way through the back streets. It was full of arabic and African street vendors and stalls and felt like a third world country. We clocked the train at 300kph. It was 16 carriages long and double decker. After Avignonevit continued on as far as Belgium.
We start the day in Cashel after a long drive from Dingle. The Rock of Cashel was the highlight and a grand old hotel made the small town very comfortable. We then headed towards Dublin on our first M (motorway) Road before braving tiny roads to Glendalough. This is the site (now uninhabited) where Claire's ancestors we think Great Great Great Grandfather mined lead. It was also the site of an sixth century monastery founded by St Kevin. The site stretched up the valley for 4 kilometers, starting with the monastic site and graveyard, a lower then an upper lake (photographed) then the mine site ruin. Interestingly a second mine was called Van Diemen's land. On the shoe of the lower lake was our first wild animals (2) in Ireland. We then drove on to return our car at Dublin airport and join a tour group for a few days in Northern Ireland.
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