Okay. Today is a day with little or no touring. The van is in hospital, mainly to have its water seal redone. This was booked in from June 6, and we returned to Rathkeale to have the work done. John, the fellow doing the main job, estimated about 4 to 4½ hours for the work, assuming no interruptions. Well, Murphy's Law was in action today, and the van belonging to the owner, which needed to be on a ferry at 5am the following morning, had some emergency work to be done, which only John could do. We knew this first thing in the morning, so determined to give him at least 7 hours without us breathing down his neck. We wandered into Rathkeale (sans camera, but with computer — we knew we could catch up on our internet and blogging in there!)
First priority — morning tea! We found a lovely little tea room and sat down to what was effectively a late breakfast of poached eggs and coffee. The girls in the shop (we say that advisedly — their ages ranged from about 17 to about 60!) couldn't have been more attentive, and we enjoyed a leisurely repast.
We then walked up the main street of Rathkeale. Sad. Rathkeale has been hit hard by the financial recession, with about half the shops locked and shuttered, or simply derelict. And as we were walking in we passed a housing development with over 20 high-end houses partially built — and now derelict and falling into ruin. But Rathkeale is not beaten. The businesses that are still there are pushing themselves hard, and are being supported by the locals. At least two of the people we met working in nearby Adare live in Rathkeale, and we think that Rathkeale might well benefit in the long run from the huge tourist presence in Adare.
Anyway, we went to the local library to use their internet, to find the sign "Rathkeale Library will be closed on June 20. We apologise for any inconvenience". Well, I suppose they weren't to know we were coming! So we decided to adjourn to Rathkeale House, the pub we used two weeks earlier. We walked in, and the landlord recognised us. We were welcome, even though all we were having was a cup of coffee. Their internet recognised us as well, and we didn't even need to put in the password! Warren caught up with the blog, and we both checked and responded to emails.
While we were doing this, Warren decided to have lunch at the pub — Char grilled chicken with vegetables, the whole washed down with a mug of Irish Coffee! Beautiful. The cooking at Rathkeale House is second to none!
We then returned to Cara Motor Homes to see how the van was going — another two hours required, so we adjourned to the office area and watched movies on the computer — Jack Irish and Doctor Who! The van was finally ready about 6.30pm (Thanks John for persisting with the job!!, including a couple of extra little bits we tacked on), and we took our leave as the clock was getting nearer to 7. We went down to Adare, as we had decided to buy in the Heritage Centre Gift Shop a couple of gifts we had seen but passed up two weeks earlier.
Distance driven — today, 12 miles ( 20 km ); to date, 2,874 miles ( 4,626 km )
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