Day Five: Sightseeing and Biking in the Rain

We started off Thursday with a little sightseeing. First we walked up to Kilkenny Castle and did a self-guided tour.

Then, we grabbed our bikes from the hostel and headed over to St. Canice's Cathedral, which was built in the 13th century. It's a very pretty medieval style church that's still in use with a 9th century tower on its grounds. Unfortunately, because Hamilton was too young, we weren't able to climb the 110 steps to the top for the panoramic view of Kilkenny. Two notes about that:

1. Yes, we would have climbed it just before a 35-40 mile bike ride in the rain that day...we're just that crazy.
2. Anyone who has seen Hamilton climb stairs knows he would have made it to the top with no problem!

There aren't a whole lot of pictures from the ride today because it really was pouring for a good bit of the time that we rode. In fact, here's the only one, from a water break as we entered Tipperary County (yes, Hamilton's asleep).

We arrived in Cashel and completely shocked the owner of the lodge where we were staying. We must have been quite a sight--covered in grime from the road with a sleeping baby on the bike! Fortunately, he allowed us to hose off our outerwear and gear in the shed and moved them to the boiler room to be dry by morning. He also drove Jenny into town to grab food for dinner in breakfast (not far, but who wants to walk in the rain). In fact, he was so kind, he completely assembled a crib for Hamilton to sleep in that night before it was time for bed!

We slept so well.