By Hook or by Crook

From Wiki: "It is claimed that the phrase is derived from a vow by Oliver Cromwell to take Waterford by Hook (on the Wexford side of Waterford Estuary) or by Crook (a village on the Waterford side).”
I took this photo as I left the lighthouse as I am smitten by barley fields.

And by bales of silage.

Today I took a train from Wexford to Dublin then, after an hour, from Dublin to Belfast. I was carrying a duffle bag of clothes, a bag of golf clubs, and a painting David needs me to deliver Sunday morning to the Royal Ulster Academy of Art. He didn’t have time to get the painting framed before he went to Wexford, so he got it framed down there and I’m to deliver it Sunday morning between 10 am and 11 am, when artists with last names beginning A to D can drop paintings off. The RUA selected his painting based on an electronic image he emailed. After seeing the real thing, they’ll decide if he gets in the RUA show.
So. Back to yesterday's travels. Lovely views as I left the lighthouse.

Tiny in the distance is Loftus House, which a person can tour if she is interested in ghosts and tales of tragedy. Having survived the “Vinegar Hill experience,” I wasn’t game.

On the way back to Wexford, I turned down a country lane after seeing a sign saying “Antiques and salvage.” Another sign directed me to turn down a second country lane, then finally a long driveway. I was well off the main road and questioning my sanity. However, the junkyard/antiques/salvage was as advertised and the proprietor was a nice chap (if perhaps a candidate for a hoarding intervention). I didn’t see anything I wanted to buy so I made the trip productive by asking him where I could go for a swim. He gave me directions to two beaches, both of which I visited after retracing my route through the village of Wellingtonbridge. First I went to Blackhall beach. Just gorgeous. I went for a nice long walk and thought of my grandfather William Francis Casey and my Aunt Rosemary and how I wish I could have shown them around Ireland, which they both loved.

Then I went to Bannow beach, also lovely. Both beaches were deserted and I didn’t have the nerve to swim alone. I did get a rather lame shot of Bannow church, site of the first landing of Normans in the 1100s. It was part of a village that disappeared when Bannow Bay was silted over, leaving only the church.

I found a blog with lots of picture of this church, however I wasn’t willing to hop over the fence and wander around the cemetery.
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