Week 51 - 29th Sept to 5th Oct

Monday 29th - day 337

After 5 short days we are leaving Sligo and moving on to Cong. There has been a mass exodus

from this busy caravan site, as it was the final weekend of the season, and the seasonal pitches have to vacate, however the surfers are still there.
The journey was bumpy – possibly the bumpiest, by the look of the bathroom! And when we got to our next camp site, we were not sure that we had made a good move. The camp site cost over 20 euros per night, plus 5 euros for electricity, plus 1 euro for a shower; but for all that cost we are in a sort of yard surrounded by 12 foot Leylandii. So we will be off to check out Castlebar tomorrow!

Tuesday 30th - day 338

Today has been a day of two parts! first we went to Castlebar and Westport to sort out alternative accommodation, which we did and then swiftly returned to Cong, to make the most of our two days left here.
After a cup of tea we set out for a walk to (and through) Ashford Castle. We had been told that it was lovely, but rather than the historical building that we were expecting, it was a palatial hotel, set in many acres of woodland and formal gardens.
We enjoyed a leisurely walk (and many stops, as DB whipped his tripod out), collecting some stunning pine cones and photos as we went.
We found the woodland path from the hotel, which took us a lovely walk by the river, through a real dingly dell, all the way into Cong, ending up at the ruined Abbey- just up the road from “Pat Cohans” the pub featured in the John Wayne movie “The Quiet Man” - one of Chris’s favourites. We had heard that it had been newly renovated, so called in for a Guinness. Sadly there was not enough of the old left to stir anything other than Chris’s disappointment, so we made our way back to the campsite.
Of all the expenses incurred in staying on this site, the one freebie is a nightly showing of “The Quiet Man” in the communal sitting room.
However we found that it had been taken over by a coach load of young Germans, so we retired gracefully to our caravan and watched Chris’s copy of the DVD on our PC, from the comfort of our own “sofa”. Brill, we could picture all the places that we had walked through only a few hours earlier!

Wednesday 1st October - day 339

We have enjoyed yet another fabulous day, touring the Burren, in interesting weather conditions, high winds, thundery skies, hail, and golden summer sunshine!
We started at Kinvarra, and took a little trip down memory lane as we remembered the castle; it looked just as lovely as we remembered it as the tide was out revealing the lovely golden coloured seaweed, and little islands.
We stopped for lunch at the seaside/golfing resort of Lahinch, and maybe should have stopped to walk down its golden sands, but we were eager to get up to the Cliffs of Moreh, as we didn’t see them last time we were here, ten years ago, (our first holiday together!) as they were covered in thick fog. Today the cliffs were very clear, but those of us who had hair had difficulty seeing them as the wind whipped the tresses across our faces (not a problem for some!!).
Our next stop was at the Burren, where we parked up and walked the grey lunar landscape down to the water, just as we did last time we were here. It was also just as we remembered it, grey land, grey sea and grey sky -fabulously atmospheric.
And finally we drove back to Galway to complete the trip down memory lane, in foul rain!
Our first pint of Guinness had to be drunk in “The Quays”. It was the only disappointment of the day – all charm and character and been replaced with a huge football screen, we left quickly!
Our next two Guinnesses were enjoyed at a completely different pub (across the road). It was full of character and little drinking booths, and there was lots of entertainment to be had from the locals!
We finished our fab day down memory lane at McDonaghs for the best fish and chips in Ireland (yes really), and we were home by 11pm tired but happy!

Thursday 2nd - day 340

For the first time, we have not bothered to take any photos of the camp site, I think we want to forget it as quickly as possibly! Especially as there has been a traveller take over since yesterday, best be gone we think!!
Miraculously we were pulling out by 11am (another first) and were only an hour up the road, so were resettled in Loch Lannagh Village, Castlebar very quickly.
After lunch we walked the river path into town, and spent the next hour or so being real saddos as we rather too earnestly compared the prices between Aldi and Tescos. We can tell you that Aldi were cheaper for most things, but did not have the range of things that we were after… ground coffee, Activia yoghurts etc!
So unfortunately I have to confess that we shopped in Tesco’s. I am not even haunted by my hypocrisy now! (Hopefully it will return once we have landed!)
Once the forage round enemy territory was complete, we took a run round town, but it did not possess enough charms to encourage us to linger.
So it was back to the caravan to complete our chores, supper and a perusal of the Westport Arts Festival programme, yippee!

Friday 3rd - day 341

The weather forecast does not look too bad for today, so we decided to take a trip back to Clifden and Roundstone. It was a bit of a “flat bottom” day, but worth it!
Our route took us through Westport but we didn’t stop there as we will be returning tomorrow.
So our first stop was at dreamy little Murrisk, a seaweed filled bay, with a little harbour with a cluster of isolated houses. We stood for a while and watched farmers gather a truck load of sea weed - presumably to be used for fertilizer.
We also learned here that pilgrims would walk up Croagh Patrick (the local pilgrimage mountain) in bare feet as an act of repentance – we hope to walk up it, if weather allows but I doubt that we will be going up bare footed!
From there we drove down the absolutely breathtaking Doo Lough Pass (slowly, behind a very stubborn tractor driver) and alongside Irelands only Fjord - Killary Harbour, at the end of which were the beautiful Aasleagh Falls. We stopped here and walked along the river bank until it became too soggy to go any further, so we returned to the car and carried on towards Clifden.
We had a quick swing round there, again remembering the time that we had brought the kids here on a miserable rainy day, of going from one shelter to another, but today the sun was out and the shops were painted brightly and all looked fresh and lovely (and busy).
We did not stop for tea though as we had brought our own today, we are trying to practice prudence in these difficult financial times, from what we hear in the news it is all going to get much trickier for everyone over the next couple of years, because of the appalling financial meltdown of recent weeks. We may be needing our savings to last much longer if we can’t find jobs in the new year!!
From Clifden we drove round to Roundstone, again where we had brought the kids on a wet day, and so had rather gloomy memories of it. We were so glad that we made our return visit as it was much nicer than we remember, sunshine always helps!
We walked along the main street and down to the harbour, and again stood for a while and watched a lone fisherman store his catch of crab in a watery holding, before he went back out – presumably to continue fishing.
Time then to make the long journey home, but again through delightful scenery all the way, (always appreciated by us) and home to rub life back into numb buttocks!

Saturday 4th - day 342

Good choice of activities for today, as it rained ALL day, and some!
We went for a good look round Westport. It is the beginning of their Arts Festival, and there were art exhibitions everywhere. We were particularly taken by the work of a Ceramic artist who was using interesting heat and firing techniques in order to produce some very strikingly marked rural landscapes. We were tempted, but now that we are in economy mode were not willing to pay 250 euro for a 9 inch square plate!
When we got fed up of being wet we went for a cuppa in a café/art gallery, but again were more impressed by the prices than the paintings.
One of the high spots of the day for me was buying some home made bread from a stall holder, and hearing how her mother had got started.
As I am desperate not to loose my soul again to the public sector if I can at all help it, (nor do I think that I will survive too long working in Booths however fine their reputation!) my aspirations at the moment are to join the ranks of all the Artisans that we have met or purchased work from over the year. Now, unfortunately here is the rub!!! As I cannot paint, turn a pot or create a stain glass panel I will have to look to something that I can learn more quickly… ah bread! I love buying those tasty interesting wholegrain power houses of goodness, so why not make them!!
Well another pipe dream hits the dust when I learned about the installation of the stainless steel kitchen, back to Booths then!
Before we headed back to the caravan for an early supper, we stopped at a local hotel that had free internet access so that we could check our emails.
We had had a very scary phone call from Vodafone earlier telling us that we were about to receive a bill for £1,100 for usage of the dongle whilst abroad(!) However they were going to pay it for us(!!!!!!!!) most confusing. The girl at the other end of the line was well trained and kept us calm, and though I still don’t really understand it, it looks like we should have been on a different tariff, but as it had not been set up, presumably they couldn’t charge us, and the call was to set up the appropriate tariff. Well lets hope so, we haven’t seen the bill yet, so I may have got it wrong!
We didn’t have any luck at the hotel, as we could not access their connection, but spent 2 hours and 12euro trying(!!!) before we gave up and went back to the van to eat before returning to Matt Molloys to listen to their Irish music session. We had been here with the kids before, and were so impressed with this hostelry (owned by Matt Molloy of the Cheiftans) that it had been on the top of the list of things to do, on our Irish leg of the tour.
We were not disappointed, in fact we were impressed and staggered in equal measure. Impressed because the Irish do seem to know how to have fun, and it is always a joy to watch their obvious enjoyment at bashing out the old tunes; Staggered at the amount of alcohol that they consume, and how late it is before the party really starts. The music session did not begin until gone 10pm, and musicians were still coming to join in at midnight.
We were also entertained by a group of young women all strangely dressed and sporting outrageous wigs, well they were entertaining until the drink made them too loud to hear the music!
The high spot of Chris’s day came in the shape of two free pints.
When we found our table, it already had on it two freshly poured pints of Guinness. Well this was almost too much for a Guinness appreciator. He eyed them up for an hour, but when it became apparent that no-one was going to claim them, he made them his own – joy – all that enjoyment at no cost – well not until the morning anyway!

Sunday 5th - day 343

We enjoyed a very leisurely start and a little bacon and black pudding this morning! The weather was fine and sunny so once recovered and well fed we set off to visit the Clew Bay area. It was not quite as we expected it though. I had thought that it was a rocky low lying bay dotted everywhere with peat bogs and white washed cottages, but no it was green and hilly and you didn’t see the bay full of little islands until you had climbed the highest peak, So after a drive around, this is exactly what we did. We parked the car at the end of a small causeway and walked along the seaweed strewn road to a road/track that took us and over the little incline so that we could get a fabulous panoramic view of the bay. As the early evening light so soft, and the air was so still and quiet, we carried on down to the next peninsular to walk along the stony shore until we had seen enough, and decided to that it was time to return for supper –a fine piece of Trout fillet that melted in the mouth!