We meet our Irish horses

Riding centre blurb: "After selecting your equine partner and having a brief assessment at the Calliaghstown Riding Centre you will be sent on your way for a memorable journey through the magnificent scenery of the Gardens of Ireland. A fun ride is ahead in the Sleavetoule Forest with optional natural jumps and then follow the quiet country lanes down to the Kilteel Inn for lunch. Here you will have your first opportunity to see a real Irish castle - Kilteel Castle was built in the early 13th century. The afternoon ride takes you across the heather and gorse covered Sorell Hill overlooking the Blessington Lakes and you will finish your ride in the old granite villages of Lacken and Ballyknocken.”
Now for the real story: we (4 Americans, 2 Germans and us), were assigned our horses: I have an 8 year old Irish cob named Sunny Boy, and Sally has a Chestnut mare called Lacey. Around 10:45 we headed out with our guides Aoife and Tanya. We went down country roads, past fields with horses or cattle or sheep grazing.
Turned into the forest and wound our way up to the top of the mountain and stopped to take pictures of the vista below: fields, hedges and villages.
When we passed the castle ruins we knew we were close to our lunch stop and sure enough soon the ivy covered Kilteel Inn came into view.
After lunch Terry (our driver) drove us to the next trailhead and we headed up another mountain until we overlooked Blessington Lake. The trail down was a narrow rocky path, boggy at times, past more sheep, cattle and horses with foals. There was cotton grass growing in one area, then heather and wild rhodos.
Went through a gate, and down a tiny country lane, with moss covered rock walls on either side, plus blackberries, wild roses, foxgloves and other flowers.
Finally we rode through the tiny village of Lackan, which consists of a general store, church, pub and houses. It was a great first day, sunny then cloudy, a bit of wind, but no rain. Anthony our horse wrangler was waiting with the lorry (big truck/horse trailer), and we repaired to the pub. The horses go back to the riding centre for the night.

Photo: CC by Just chaos

On to the riding centre

We were picked up at our Dublin hotel by Terry, an older gentleman with a great sense of humour, who would be our driver for most of the week, and were taken to the village of Kill (Kil means church) and to our B&B. Right next door was the Kill International Equestrian Centre, so we walked over there and spent a pleasant afternoon watching a horse show in the outdoor arena, and then some lesson in one of the three indoor arenas.
Walked to the town and had dinner with the rest of the group (it was pre-arranged).

Photo: CC by Mariko

Day in Dublin

What a great day! We saw the Book of Kells at Trinity College, which was amazing, then went upstairs to the Old Library (incredible); the exhibit now is Medieval texts. From there we walked to the tourist office which is in a very old church with beautiful stained glass windows; we were having tea upstairs in Finn MacCools Cafe when an impromptu choral concert started on the balcony at the other end!
Visited the Guinness Storehouse; at the top they have the Gravity Bar, - it's glass and has a fabulous 360 degree view of the city! We were enjoying our complimentary draft when a men's choir from Denmark started singing right beside us; they were good!
We carried on with our City Bus Tour (hop on and off) and now are back to where we started, resting up for the Literary pub crawl which starts soon. We go to four pubs and actors recite famous Irish writers works.

Photo: CC lyng883

Travelling

Had a good flight to London and managed to sleep quite a bit. Our second flight to Dublin was delayed, so by the time we took the bus downtown and checked into our hotel it was about 8p.m. Walked around a bit and got our bearings.

Photo: CC by Robbie1