Sligo to Galway

Well the weather has not improved very much at all; it is still bloody cold, mainly wet with very small glimpses of sun. The highlights of today were Castlebar, Killary Harbour, Kylemore Abbey and Connemara and its coastline.

Our first stop of the day was the delightful town of Castlebar with its typically narrow streets, colourful buildings and seemingly endless stream of traffic in the main street. We managed to get a park right on the mainstreet and went for a walk and wouldn’t you know it we stumbles upon a bakery selling hot cross buns, coffee and hot chocolate among other things(you should have seen their Easter Cakes and gingerbread Easter Bunnies). The people in the shop were really friendly and we got a chance to see a slice of village life first hand.

After leaving CastleBar we crossed quite fertile farm lands before climbing into the Maumturk Mountains (Joyce Country and is he celebrated here!) and the Connemara National Park before dropping down to the wild an woolly Connemara coastline.

We drove up the side of the Killary Harbour with its marine farms, oysters I assume; the scale of the operation was huge. At the village of Killary, two shops, a pub a restaurant and a garage we stopped briefly to take some photos.

Just after Killary we got our first glimpse of Klyemore Abbey, reputedly the most photgraphed building in Ireland. The Abbey, its church and wall Victorian Gardens were built in the late 19th Century by a textile baron from Manchester in 1920 after a change in owners, a run of bad luck and personal tragedy it was bought by the Dominican Nuns. When you stand and look across the Lake you can understand why the original owner built it there and why the Dominicans bought it as a place of devotion, reflection, education and work.

The Connemara coastline was the wild Irish west coast I had always imagined. The Atlantic, the misty rain the winds, the stone walls, the stacks of peat and the cottages. Unfortunately not so many old original cottages now but lots of new holiday homes, rentals and B&Bs.

On the way over the last pass before we reached the coast we had a close encounter with a small group of Connemara horses, these horses are renowned for their strength, resilience and the intelligence. Further round the coast we stopped at a small fishing village called Roundstone and visited a Bodhra (Irish drum) maker. He also made guitars and Irish harp, a most interesting place.

We finally arrived in Galway after a very long day and after a very quick visit to Claregalway to see where some of Deidre’s ancestors came from we headed for our B&B.

Saturday night in Galway was very entertaining albeit cold. We found our first real “Irish Pub” called Sonny’s, good food, really friendly staff and a great atmosphere not to mention the best Guiness and Kilkenny I have tasted. After that we went to another pub (more Guiness) to listen to music. I forget the name of it but it was packed and although we didn’t stay too long we had a great time.

All our B&Bs have been great, a new experience for us but one I can recommend.