Friday 25th September 2026

It was the day to farewell Italy, probably for the last time and head to the west coast of Ireland.

Gobbled up the last pastry and sipped the last cappuccino before jumping on the Airport Express to Bergamo. A 50 minute trip through highly industrial areas and passing the turn off to the famous Monza F1 track to be plonked at the secondary airport with a magnificent mountain view.

Based on advice regarding long processing times at security and customs we arrived early. Seems if you are not carry an English passport it’s a breeze, unless your replacement knee goes off . A quick ‘feel up’ for Jane and we were off.

Jumped on our Ryanair flight where to our surprise we had Exit rows for the 2.5 hour flight. The first part of the flight was amazing as we flew up over the Alps where many of the taller peaks were already covered in snow.

The trip passed quickly and we were off plane, luggage in hand and after 30 rapid fire questions from Customs Agent we were on the bus within 30 minutes.

A very busy trip through narrow streets down near the docks area where I am not sure I would like to spend much time. Pretty grim with lots of substance affected people staggering around. At one bus stop it was confronting to see a guy swap a small package for a pair of joggers and wander off bare-footed.

Finally arrived at another busy railway station to make our way halfway to coast, mainly because accommodation in Dublin was scant due to a concert featuring WESTLIFE. They had done 9 consecutive nights.

It was quite ironic that the two sisters we shared seats with to Mallow had been to the concert the night before. They were ‘craicing ‘ company as we laughed our way to our destination . They gave us a full rundown on what to expect in Mallow.
Off the train and down into a town the girls may have undersold. It had that charm of small country town with narrow streets , small raggedy shopfronts and plenty of places to have a feed.

Our hotel was really nice with about 70 rooms and great bars to sit and enjoy the atmosphere. The locals spoke a lot of Irish dialogue which was impossible to understand.

Headed off for a post dinner walk to explore town which was basically deserted- think they were all at our hotel. Didn’t have the time or energy to walk out and see the Mallow racetrack which is home to the Cork Race Club – famous for its Easter race meeting..

So now it’s turn our minds to walking again, with a trip to Tralee tomorrow to start. Irish weather is a bit different to Italy with 30mm of rain expected on Day 3. Looks like the freeloading poncho will earn its keep.