Danielles Travels!: Danielle & Val in Ireland for the 2nd time! Day 5; Killarney to Blessington

Today we started our journey by heading from Killarney to Kilkenny. This was a beautiful drive through some great scenery. We purposely made a few wrong turns and ended up on some small (sometimes scary because they were so narrow) but beautiful little roads. The weather was slightly chilly but the rain stopped and the sun came out and it was spectacular. The greenery here is just so amazingly green that its hard to even explain.
We stopped a castle along the way in Kilcash called, appropriately, Kilcash castle. We were not able to get very close to it because of safety precautions but just walking up near it was pretty amazing to see the stone work and to imagine what it would have been like in the 16th/17th century.
Once we made it to Kilkenny and were able to get a quick cappucino and a scone, we ventured over to Kilkenny Castle. It was quite grand sitting right in the middle of the town center. Once inside the walls there were beautiful gardens on both sides that and grass that seemed to go on forever. The castle construction began in the 13th century and for over 500 years the castle was the chief residence of the Butler Earls and Dukes of Ormond. Across the street from the castle was another beautiful building that houses great shops (time for some souvenir shopping) that used to be the two story stables for the castle, called the Castle Yard. When they were stables the bottom floor were the stall and the second floor was the housing for the grooms. Our next stop was the town of Kildare. We were going to stay there tonight, however, we were surprised to find that all of the inns in the area were booked (we didnt realize this tiny town of Kildare was such a popular place to be on a Saturday night).
Luckily, while enjoying a Guinness and some dinner at a local pub we were able to get on the internet and find a beautiful b&b in the town of Blessington right on the Pollaphuca Lake. We were driving there in the dark on some VERY narrow roads so that made for some funny, albeit frightening, moments in the car! We finally found the b&b and it was even better than we had hoped for. It sits right in front of the water and is absolutely breathtaking. John and Carmel are the owners and upon our arrival served us tea and scones and a wonderful table right in the front room by large bay windows. We cannot wait to see what this place looks like in the morning! I will add the pictures then, since I am sure that they will be worth it! Tomorrow we are going to make our way through the Wicklow mountains on our way back to Dublin to fly out. Last time we were here, the Wicklow area was so striking so I cannot wait to drive through there again!