noddy1878:2302598 said:
Oh dear! Hope it picks up for you! Try and make the most of the trip if you can. You've probably spent enough on it and get no enjoyment from it. Try some Irish Beers (some cracking ones out there - and not the common ones!) and things might look up!!
Bit better now I've had a good rest, just had a rather nice Bewleys coffee to help wake up. I love Bewleys coffee and Barrys Tea, which I've bought a pack of last night, need to get some Bewleys coffee too at some point to take home!
Aye I've heard good beers about Irish beers, although I will of course be sampling some proper Guiness too while I'm over here, it would be rude not to!
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Blindtraveler:2302606 said:
I agree Normaldom is uba costly and dull. Here for you mate just ask.
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I agree Normaldom is uba costly and dull. Here for you mate just ask.
On the upside, excell, tridant, defo a best of brittish bus day. Is the Adventurer a nice ship?
Costly is right!
The Adventurer is a mighty fine ship it must be said, I think they've done it up a bit since I last had it in January 2011.
We're just about to leave for the walk to Ballally tram stop, which apparently is only 10 minutes away. We'll see about that shortly, Cork here we come!
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Here gang is Day 3:
19/09/2015 - Put A Cork In It, Day 3
0615 and we're both awake after a rather decent kip, much to my surprise. De-rancification is a high priority after yesterday's endurance, and a coffee follows soon after as does a couple of tweets and a brief spell on the forum. We leave at 0725 for the walk to Ballally, which is indeed about a 10 minute walk. It's all downhill in this direction, so I'm predicting a dislike for the return later! €4.80 later and we have our return to Central Zone 1 for the trip to Heuston. After a 10 minute wait [the frequency is not good at this time of day! - Ed] we board dud 5026 for the trip to St Stephens Green. A 16 minute journey later, we're walking down Grafton Street and over the Liffey to get onto the Red Line at Abbey Street. The walk went more smoothly than expected, and we're soon on
3017 to Heuston. I remembered 5026 being dud, but 3017 sounds familiar[turned out to be a winner! - Ed]. I left my nerd book [as I've calling my spotting books and atlas lately - Ed] in the bag back in the hotel, so I have no idea what I need as I'm going along today.
The ticket collection from the TVMs is as easy as I remember it, and we soon have them printed. Butlers Chocolate Cafe is spied for a coffee break, and €5.80 later I've bought us both coffees as a sort of compensation for yesterday's long walk. You get a complimentary chocolate with your drink though, which I wasn't expecting but was most delicious. There isn't enough time to run up to the front to identify the loco heading the 0900 Dublin Heuston to Cork, but I'll look instead when we get to Cork. Free WiFi is most welcome for this long journey, and while Lynz cracks on with reading a book I get the tablet out and pop onto the forum and Twitter. The buffet car's catering facilities are not in use but a trolley is, and when it finally gets to us it's time for a Bewleys coffee and a packet of Tayto Cheese and Onion crisps for €3.40. I love Tayto crisps, they're just so hellfire! The coffee isn't as good as it is in a Bewleys cafe, it has to be said, but it did the job. Granted, not as well as the coffee from Butlers did. We eventually arrive into Cork at 1141, 4 minutes early, and much to Lynz's unamusement I head to check the ID of the 201 Class which brought us here.0 [which turned out to be winner
222 - Ed] I had intended to get a snap of it too, but the groans from her soon put me off that idea. Fortunately the number was easy to read from near the ticket barriers and we head to town.
A Costa break in Merchants Quay shopping centre is had before we start walking around Cork city centre. Having done that, we end up in Subway for lunch [she doesn't like Burger King, much to my disappointment - Ed] and my usual meal is had. That's all done by 1340, and we're booked on the 1620 to Dublin Heuston. We give up trying to find owt to do so decide to try our luck on getting the 1420 instead. Seeing the DVT at the head of the train [4006 - Ed] made me smile, which she sees and asks me why that is. It is insinuated that other enthusiasts want to go up and hug a train, the idea of which is shot down immediately. I inform her, upon being asked what it is that makes trains fascinating to me, that it's virtually impossible to explain, you need to have it in you to appreciate and understand it. At which point the topic is dropped as we arrive back at the station. We discover it's a €10 excess to be allowed on the 1420, two hours before our booked train. I had originally thought 4.5 hours would not be enough, how I wish I'd booked the 1420 or even the 1520 after all, not to mention counting my lucky stars I didn't book the 1720! Quite, if we'd stuck to the original plan to spend 3 days in Cork, oh my how it would have been boring!
201 Class number 226 [dud! GRR! - Ed] is powering our train back, and we leave 1 minute late at 1421. Upon observing 92018 on my tablet's background photo, Lynz comments that it should be a woman on there. So for proof I do actually like women, I show her the pictures on it. "So you do like women then" is the comment back. No words for that to be honest. I leave her carry on reading, WhatsApp'ing and SnapChat'ing and doing her home shopping order as well as whatever else she's doing. I meanwhile get on with reading the forum, Twitter, texting and updating this, as well as afterwards getting into TPP Mode for a potential trip across the pond with another of my 'norm' mates. He's one of my very best mates [outside the railway fraternity of course! - Ed] who's well into Doctor Who, World of Warcraft and some other bits and bobs. While he doesn't enjoy the railway scene, he does however understand the passion as he's similarly into other things. We both survived the Stockholm trip quite happily last year, and have been wanting to do another trip since then, so things will be rather different!
Anyway, enough of me going on about my problems, I think you've got a very good insight into the day! After arriving into Heuston at 1654, there was some teasing about trains for a fair few minutes, followed by winner tram
3025 to Abbey Street [as I type up this evening's bit I've opened up the book and seen what were winners - Ed]. We have a wander around and end up in Madigans on O' Connell Street. 4 pints of proper Guiness and some very interesting conversations later, poor Lynz has had too much. We find the takeaway which does slices of pizza that we visited and loved last time [late May 2013 - Ed] which we'd gone past earlier, which would have meant no empty stomachs if we'd gone up the correct road! €4 later I have a monster slice of pizza and a can of Coke, one helluva bargain as far as I'm concerned. We then walk, talk and eat on the way to St Stephens Green, during which we have more interesting conversations [I'm not going into what, as a lot of it wouldn't make any sense to the rest of you - Ed] before we join winner tram
5021 to Killally. Before we know it, we're there and the strange conversation is still going, so much so I nearly fell up the stairs out of the tram stop!
Brutally honest conversation still going as we walk uphill to base camp, which was an easier walk than I expected. Back in the room, it's time for things like phone calls home, after a de-rancification. It's been quite a sweaty day somehow! Time then to finish the trip report. I have no idea what we're up to tomorrow but we'll see.
I am aware the trip report makes for less than pleasant reading on the section coming back from Cork. It does show how Normaldom [copyright Blindtraveller 2015 - Ed] rates in my book, perhaps I should have taken the other work wife with me instead!
