Chauffeurdriven vacation on Wild Atlantic way in Kinsale and Cove

Our final day included a trip to the World famous distillery in Middleton, the Jameson Distillery. In this picture we have all of us together, with an old steam engine, carrying a load of Jameson barrels, in the background.
From the left:  Derek, David, Arlene, Barbara, Steve (in the background), Dawn, Linda, John, Bob, and yours truly.
Everybody was more than excited about this visit, and there was more than one mention of "Free Samples".

Another lovely picture of the group, standing in front of this beautiful old copper still, outside the distillery.

Here we are again, all impatient to get inside. It was obvious that they could smell the wonderful Middleton Whiskey from here. (Note the silly impatient smiles).

This still pictured here is actually the largest still in the world. The picture does not do justice to the size of the still, as i could not stand back far enough from it to take it all in.

Anybody following my Blog throughout this tour will be aware of the fixation my fellow photographer had with shoes and feet. It was then no surprise that these particular shoes (pictured above) caught his eye as we toured the Jameson Distillery. These shoes wer made especially for the workers who turned the barley on the heated floors while roasting them and their feet were protected by the thick soles on the shoes. Nonetheless, Steve had to ave a pair of them, and i must say that they certainly have allowed him to look both David and John in the eye. Well, it takes all sorts.

This tour was really nice, but the pay off, at the end, was the all important bit. In this picture, we have David, throwing back one of many fast ones, while Barbara and Linda happily sip along. I had a tough job getting them to move on from here, but we did have to get to Cove, where we had planned to visit the heritage centre later.

We did eventually  make it though,and here we have a picture of the wonderful Cove cathedral, which stands on the hill overlooking the harbour. It was from Cove that the vast majority of our emigrants departed for the USA and it was also the final stop off port for the doomed Titanic.

The first three people to register at Ellis island were, Annie Moore and her two little brothers, and here we have , from the left, John, Linda, Barbara, and Steve, sitting under the statues of this young family, outside the heritage centre in Cove.

And finally, lovely group of new friends, are seen here together, having their final meal in Kinsale in, (believe it or not) the White House. The food here was fabulous, as indeed was the case in all of the places they had meals during this trip.

All that was left for us to do now was to travel to Dublin on Sunday morning and say our sad goodbyes.I did not look forward to this as this trip had been a real pleasure for me, and for my driver Derek.
I would like to thank them all for choosing me to plan this tour with them, and to take them around this country that i love so much. Their obvious enjoyment helped to make this a very special tour, and i have many happy memories of the fun we had.
I would also like to thank Marie Hennessy for sending them to me, as i also  have many happy memories of Marie and her party when they toured with me last year also. Thank you Marie ,and all of your lovely group.
You will all be more than welcome back anytime, as will any of your friends if they want to follow in your footsteps. Stay well and stay happy, until we meet again.

Dave