I’m not gonna lie. I thought I’d come over to Ireland and spend two days tiling the porch. Here we are four weeks later and I’m still not done. Tiling is a bitch that creeps up behind you and bites you in the arse every single time. So I get to the final stages where I need to do some special cuts with my wet blade cutter and the blade dies. Can’t get a replacement for love or money. Jesus Christ on his bicycle of love. So I’m gonna have to wait until I get back in December to finish the job. As I said… tiling sucks!

it was a spectacularly clear morning yesterday so we headed off to Grange Crag to climb the hill. The views across Kilkenny, Tipperary and Laois are unparalleled. It delivered as we made it to the top to this spectacular vista. It never ceases to wow me. The viewing tower was built by one of the Earls from Kilcooly as a celebration of the duke of Wellingtons defeat of the French at the battle of Waterloo. What I had forgotten from my school days history classes was that the landed gentry of the time were actually very pro Irish independence  (as was the Earl) but the French Revolution scared the pants off them so they voted for unionism instead. And hence the troubled history of Ireland began. So I guess you could France is equally to blame for our troubles.

Benson found many freshwater streams to drink from (although I’m sure he’d have preferred to find a skanky oil slick covered pool).

Anyway a great spot for a walk if you have an hour and a half to spare. Some challenging hilly bits but only for the really unfit ones amongst us. Lots of the walk is under deep forest cover and has a pretty magical quality to it.

As always happens we made our way for an early morning walk to Kilcooly today. It was as ever a wonderful experience. Benson was not on form as there were too many deer crossing the path and he missed all of them. Anyway we made it to the Abbey after stepping through about a thousand tonnes of cow shit.

It’s a magical place steeped in hundreds of years of history. Eventually it was closed as a working monetary during the Cromwell years and turned into a folly for the main house.

At the right time you get the best view of the main hall and can imagine the sunlight streaming through the original stained glass window. The carvings were done by a famous Tipperary stone mason  For that reason the office of public works maintain the abbey.