It was another good day to travel with intermittent rain all day, sometimes very heavy, but only for short periods. We really enjoyed our farm stay, Eddie was a great host and it was great to relax for a full day. It was the first day since we left London in June that we hadn’t at least sat in a car.
Today we had a mainly travel morning with quite a few stops to look at the sites. Our first stop was to have a look at, not climb, Crough Patrick, a steep mountain pilgrimage site with church on top. Many of the faithful often ascend the mountain in bare feet, walking up very steep paths over sharp stones. The ascent is around 2hrs and it takes 1hr to get back down. Apparently some Popes and Mother Teresa have made the pilgrimage we viewed the mountain from a park dedicated to The Famine of 1840/50. The is a large bronze model of a ”Coffin “Ship in the park. It was in ships like this that many Irish fled the country for the promise of a better life, bound for the USA, Canada and Australia.
We drove by Clew Bay, it is very big and has 365 islands in it. A Pirate Queen, Grace O’Malley, otherwise known as Granuaile or Gráinne Mhaol, ruled the bay for many years in the days of Queen Elizabeth I. Martin told us some very interesting tales of the shrewd Pirate Queen.
Our route had us criss cross from County Mayo to County Galway for part of our journey. The scenery was magnificent. We drove through the Doolough Valley, it was beautiful with mountains and waterways both brought to life by the rain. We also saw Ireland’s deepest fjord, Killary Fjord.
For all our sight seeing today whenever we left the car it wasn’t raining, but almost always it poured rain just as we got back into car. Luck of the Irish I guess. ?
Wild rhododendron are a pest here, who would have thought?
We had lunch and did a tour at Kylemore Abbey/Castle. Originally built as a Castle Kylemore in 1864 it was eventually bought by an Order Benedictine Nuns in 1920 and turned into an Abbey. 10 nuns still live there. The original owner, Mitchell Henry, also built a Neo-gothic church, a Mausoleum and a very large Walled Garden there. The walled garden, was one of the last great Victorian Gardens to be built, covering 6 acres. At that time it was compared very favourably to Kew Gardens, it was restored to its former glory in 1995 and opened to the public in 2000.
We had a look through the house had heard a really interesting talk on the history of the property. The house is very grand and opulently furnished as it was when it was a home. The Neo-gothic church was interesting and subdued in its interior. The mausoleum was simple and unassuming for a purpose built burial chamber housing 3 peoples remains.
It was the Walled Garden that impressed us, we seemed to have taken a particular liking to walled gardens, we haven’t seen one we haven’t liked, and that includes one very neglected garden. This one was huge, covering 6 acres, and while the flowers were past their best it was still beautiful. It is divided into a number of sections including a formal garden immaculately laid out, vegetable and herb gardens planted according to plant use (cooking or medicinal) a rockery garden and extensive glass houses, and some hot houses that feature under floor heating, enabling tropical fruits to be grown.
We then drove to Cong, passing the island of Ireland’s second largest lake, Lough Corrib. Cong is famous for its role in the 1952 film, The Quiet Man. The town has made itself a tourist attraction based on the movie and has retained many of the buildings used in the movie. It is also home to the ruins of Cong Abbey and the interesting addition to the Abbey, the Monks Fishing House on an island the river adjacent to the Abbey. When first built the fishing house had a roof, fireplace and a hole in the floor to fish in. It is also said to have had a rope line to the Abbey kitchen in order to transport their catch straight to the cooks!
From there we drove to Galway city. We both had Irish Stew for tea in a pub opposite our hotel as we listened to an Irish band play. We then walked down through the pedestrian mall to the waterfront. There were many buskers playing in the mall. Down at the waterfront there was a group of young Asians, maybe Koreans, playing drums. They were highly theatrical and energetic in their playing, fabulous to watch and listen to.
We then walked over a bridge and had a look at Galway from over the water. The colourful painted houses lining the street near the mouth of the river looked great. We then followed the very fast and furiously flowing river upstream a bit. So many interesting sights. We eventually made our way back into the mall area to a pub called Tig Coili to listen to some more Irish music. The pub was full, we stayed for a while and then made our way back to the hotel, stopping to listen to some of the buskers. It was in this mall that Ed Sherin got his start.
And that our friends was the end of our day ?
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