Friday July 25th 2025
This week we’re off to Ireland for the Forest Fest Music & Arts weekend in Emo, Laois…
Forest Fest began as a passion project fueled by a love for live music and community spirit. With a unique blend of big-name performers and intimate surroundings, it quickly garnered attention and acclaim. Over just a few short years, Forest Fest has grown in popularity, being voted the 4th best festival in Ireland.
Thursday July 24th 2025
We left Liverpool in the afternoon to catch the Dublin ferry from Holyhead…
Arriving in Holyhead we thought we’d have a quick bite to eat and a pint but we couldn’t find a pub…
We found a shop but nobody fancied anything…
Despondent, we trudged back to the bus to sit in a queue…
There was a rumour that one of these containers might sell beer…
Eventually we started to move…
On board, we headed off to find a bar…
Plastic glasses but the Guinness was fine…
Sea was fairly calm…
Several pints later it was time to disembark…
Our hotel was in Tallaght…
Decent…
We dumped our bags and met downstairs in reception…
The plan was to head to the village of Clondalkin…
It was about a 15 minute drive away in a cab…
We tried the Black Lion first as we were all starving…
Disaster! No food after 9pm…
The Guinness will have to do…
Great pub…
The next pub was just up the road…
This was the Crème de la crème…
The gang…
Still no food yet but we were content eating our way through the foam…
https://youtu.be/yQLvsg9cTx4
After an eventful night, we stumbled upon a pizza takeaway…
I remember ordering the kebab and Roy ordered everything on the menu!
What a fantastic start to our Irish adventure!
Friday July 25th 2025
Keith was up early today and in the hotel gym before anyone else was up…
He put us all to shame so after breakfast we set off on a walk to have a look round Tallaght as we weren’t needed at the venue till around 6pm…
We only got as far as the local precinct…
Serendipity!
Just what I needed…
We couldn’t find much else to do so we planned a scenic route back to the hotel…
The river Dodder…
Eventually we arrived back in the vicinity of the hotel where we discovered the Tallaght Stadium…
Home to Shamrock Rovers FC…
We wandered over to the reception area and a member of staff showed us around the stadium…
The new manager😄
Back at the hotel, the plan was to head to the festival via the village of Sallins…
It’s a beautiful place…
We parked the bus as we had a couple of hours to spare…
Pub maybe…
More Guinness…
We still couldn’t find any cask beer for Carl, here he’s drinking Moretti but most of the time he was drinking Smithwick’s Red Ale…
Meanwhile Keith was planning on more exercise…
Soon enough we were all heading next door for our dinner…
Great food indeed…
and great beer…
Alex tried the unfiltered lager…
The brewery was next door…
Time to go…
But first we’re off to find a famous grave…
I suppose we’d better head off to the festival…
On the way there, we received a directive from our management to delay our arrival by at least one hour as the dressing rooms weren’t available yet…
Cue: screech of brakes…
Great little pub just off the main road…
More Guinness…
More exercise…
Eventually we arrived at the festival…
Great lineup…
We were introduced to ‘The Magic Mod’…
He was very good👏👏👏
We were on stage soon…
What a crowd👏
What a brilliant end to the second day of our Irish adventure.
Saturday July 26th 2025
Time to go home…
Time for a quick pint…
Time for a bite to eat…
Time to reflect…
Time to say goodbye for now…
What a fabulous couple of days we all had!
sipadvisor 
so that must be where fine Irish band, The Wolftones must have taken their name.
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Yes most definitely.
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