A short break in the Emerald Isle

Barbara and I rarely venture outside Cornwall in the summer, but we have just returned from a four night visit to Ireland, a welcome break from our hectic summer schedule of doing nothing. Although Dublin is only a one hour flight from Cornwall's Newquay Airport, this was our first visit to Ireland, apart from a few hours that I spent in Dublin in the early 90s on a consultancy job. Visiting Ireland is another great option for MEI Conference delegates, as Newquay Airport is only a 45 minute car journey from Falmouth, and there are regular flights from Dublin back to the London airports.

Ireland has a population of 4.8 million, of which around a third live in Dublin, a fascinating vibrant city, with over 750 pubs.

One of the many bridges across Dublin's River Liffey

 

Trinity College Dublin

The best of food and drink!

After spending a few hours in the capital, and sampling the Guinness, which always tastes better in Ireland, we took the train to Killarney, a journey of about 200 miles, which took a leisurely six and a half hours, as we chose to travel by the steam train which runs every couple of weeks. The restored locomotive and carriages are operated by the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, and locomotive "Merlin", built in 1932, was used for express passenger trains between Dublin and Belfast, before being withdrawn from traffic in 1963. The long journey to Killarney was due to the frequent stops to replenish the water supply, as Merlin consumed 40 gallons of water every mile, as well as a ton of coal every 50 miles!

Barbara and Merlin

Killarney was our base for a 100 mile circular tour of the Ring of Kerry to take in some of Ireland's outstanding natural features.

 

Ireland is a highly recommended detour if you are travelling back to the UK's major airports from Cornwall.

Twitter @barrywills