And leaving there we returned by the road to king Ó Néill who received us very well and had great joy. And I celebrated Christmas day where he held great court according to their custom, which to us here is very strange for a king to do, albeit he had so many people. And I departed from there and we returned to the land which the English hold in that island of Ireland. And at New Year37 we were with the Countess of March in a castle of hers and she received us honorably and competently gave us jewels. And everywhere where we passed they gave us great honor, appearing to show us great devotion as we are delivered out of those so great dangers. And if I had wished to reply, I was questioned much more in the island than I was afterwards.
The Earl of March had gone to England and leaving there we arrived at Dublin38 where we embarked to cross to England. And in that city I was most honorably received by the noblemen and clergy. And out of there I crossed the sea and we arrived Wales before a harbor called Holyhead and thence by daily stages we arrived in England, where I found the king in a town called Chester where there is a most beautiful abbey of Benedictine monks where the king was staying; the queen was also there and I was notably received. And from there by daily stages I crossed the island of England and passing through London I reached the port of Dover where I saw Sir Gawain's head — for here he died — and also La Cote Mal Taillée for the knight who wore it was so called. And they kept this in the castle for their great chivalry.39 And there I embarked and crossed to Calais; and thence by day journeys I made my way through Picardy to the court of the king of France whom I found in Paris where he received me most nobly because I had been his servant and chamberlain and I was his father's who reared me; and here I stayed a good four months by order of the pope and with him I went to the jousts organized by the German emperor (who was then king of Bohemia) and the king of Navarre was there and various dukes and great lords. And when the king returned to Paris, I took my leave and returned to the pope in Avignon where he received me notably.
Now let us pray Our Lord who has all things in his power that by his holy grace and mercy he may let us so life in this world that we may so purge our sins that at the end, at the hour of death, we may escape the peins and torments which you have heard recount; that at the end we may have the good things which will never fail. Let us pray God to keep us and do you who will read this book written by my own hand pray for me, if you please.