Murrisk, Country Life and more

Once at Murrisk and we’ve seen the mountain, we walked across the street from Campbell’s to see the Famine Memorial. This impressive bronze sculpture is the largest ever attempted in Ireland measuring 26 ft X 20 ft. It depicts a ship with 3 masts like the 3 crosses at Calvary and the rigging is entwined with the flattened bodies of those who died on board. The sculpture, John Behan, created this memorial in 1997 to commemorate the souls lost while traveling to other countries escaping the great famine. These ships, also known as coffin ships, were quite often hired by landlords to relocate their workers who had fallen into poverty and could no longer pay for their homes or land. Obviously some landlords were more sympathetic than others so the accommodations and provisions varied greatly. We recently read an account of one such coffin ship that arrived in Canada and had lost 268 people along the journey. Conditions were deplorable and diseases like cholera, typhoid, dysentery, etc., were rampant on most ships.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Westport

Just driving through but what an experience. Westport has got it right! They want the tourists to see every shop in town so to get back on N59, we meandered (damn don’t you wish you could meander) through every side street and roundabout trying to get out of town. Just follow the signs and you shouldn’t get lost, but you will see all of the town!

Clifden Explore

Woke up today to a heavy wind and lots of rain. Damn beautiful Irish weather! Hung around the house for most of the morning then headed out to Clifden for a little local adventure. Bet you didn’t know that Clifden is home to the landing site of the first trans-Atlantic flight, did ya. Not exactly a landing site, they, Abbot and Brown, crashed just outside of town in the bog. Their Vickers Vimy had made it all the way from Nova Scotia to Ireland after a quick 16hrs in probably not the best of conditions. Can you imagine the bitching that the United flight attendants would do on a 16hr flight! God, just open the door and let me jump!

Anyway, we parked just outside the gate to the bog where the sign pointed to the memorial for the crash, sorry, landing. We walked for almost ½ mile and decided we had seen enough dirt so we went back to the car and drove into town for wine and cheese to celebrate surviving the walk, quite treacherous you know. Fast forward to several days later and we drive by the sign pointing to the memorial only this time, it’s pointed the opposite direction. Seems that the bog was not a proper place for the memorial (or to crash, sorry land a plane) so they placed it across the street. Had we turned right instead of left we would have seen the marble memorial of a plane. Oh well, next time.

This adventure wasn’t over quite yet. Suddenly we came upon the Sky Road Loop. With a name like that, how can you pass it up? Forward into the mist, no wait a minute there is no mist, just forward up yet a smaller (L level) road. Wow, what views! Precariously located on the side of Clifden’s cliff is the Sky Road Loop. Wonderful vistas and on a clear day beautiful North Atlantic and island sights that all passengers can enjoy. If you’re driving, not so. Please review the entry titled “Irelands National Pastime” to understand what this drive is really like. We’re talking a strong Level 2.

After all this it was back to Oliver’s Pub for dinner and drinks. Collette had the mussels (small order) and I had the scampi and chips. Enough excitement for one day.

 

 

Meanwhile back at the Shire…..

Hey, did you hear that?

Hear what?

That.

Sounds like something walking around.

I know but we’re in the middle of nowhere, who could be walking around?

Hell I don’t know, you go check.

I don’t hear it now.

Did you hear that?

Alright, I’ll check.

Do what you want with the woman but leave me alone!

There’s no one out there, just sheep. Hey, you awake?

Bellavary and Knock

Beautiful Irish morning! Sunny, warm no rain in sight and forecasted to be a “fine” day. Heading off to Bellavary to hit up the Country Life museum. At first I was a little suspicious, not a single mention of Chet Atkins, Hank Williams, or Patsy Cline but if this is what the little woman wants to see, we’re going to see it. Back on the N59, we head north through Westport on to Bellavary. This small town, sounds familiar huh, is home to the country’s national museum on life as it was in the early 19^th and 20^th centuries. The museum is free but there is a sign upon entering that states, “A 5EU donation is requested. If you chose not to donate, we will not make a spectacle of you, nor will we call you out by name or demean you in any way. You will be allowed to visit this site and see the wonderful things we have collected and preserved at the great expense of others. You shouldn’t feel obligated in any way, loafer!”

Well, maybe I paraphrased a little, but once we made our donation, we visited a wonderful museum. The museum grounds house a small, 8,000sqft home with several greenhouses and beautiful gardens. The museum itself is a modern building, 4 levels, with an excellent representation of life during these ages. Artifacts are plentiful with full explanation of their use and lots of pictures from the era. A very nice museum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But, we’re not stopping there! Nope, we’re going to push on and see one of the most visited sites in Ireland. Now neither Collette nor I are very religious, Collette less than me, I was an altar boy, but this site was quite impressive to us both. In the little town of Knock, made famous by Tony Orlando and Dawn, in the 1800’s no fewer than 15 of the town’s residents saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary with 3 angels circling above a lamb on an altar. This siting was confirmed by the Pope and is now a “blessed” site. We paid our respects, visited the siting area but elected not to fill our containers with holy water (not sure if it’s OK to drink, pretty sure you don’t have to boil it first). Feeling like we have done our best to help the USA rugby team in tonight’s match, we head home for dinner and to watch the thrashing the USA team is going to give South Africa.

Update: USA lost to South Africa 64-0. We’re heading back to Knock for holy water.

 

 

 

 

 

Clifden Again!

Casual morning at the homestead. Headed into Clifden for breakfast at Walsh’s Bakery. What a wonderful place to gain weight! Not only does this place serve the usual for breakfast, eggs, black pudding, rasher of bacon, potato, toast, they also have pastries!!!! To die for!!!! Great coffee, quiche and breakfast, including a pastry with homemade custard, around 15EU, the best!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Took an afternoon stroll, remember, we’re retired so we stroll, down to Oliver’s for soup and brown bread and to watch the tourists pass through to catch the ferry. Noreen and Peter are very good hosts and the food is great pub grub. If you’re in Cleggan, you must come here!

Galway

Today we drive to Galway. Long trek via side roads but much better viewing. We took the coast roads R341/340/336 through Ballyconneely, Roundstone (how did they get their name?), Carna, and Spiddle into Galway. We were here in March 2013 and loved the atmosphere, small shops, pubs, and cobblestone walkways, everything you expect in an Irish town. But don’t be fooled, this town is home to the National University of Ireland and you know what that means, yep, no parking! But it is a great town to have a meal or listen to traditional Irish music.

We parked in the parking garage located in downtown, next to Marks and Spencers (nice store for expensive food and clothes) and walked to Old Town. A few street performers were out but mostly students passing heading back to the university after lunch. This is a walking area so no cars, just tons of people. Lots of little shops selling everything from traditional Irish sweaters (best price anywhere ~80EU) to traditional Irish sweaters. We decided to grab a bite to eat and stopped at The Quay, great atmosphere! This pub has been written up in most travel books and is well deserved of their writings. My lunch was lamb, potatoes, root vegetables, potatoes; Collette’s lunch was bacon and cabbage with potatoes, root vegetables and potatoes. Delicious! All cost was ~45EU with a bottle of bubbly.

Back to Cleggan for the evening.

 

 

 

 

 

Staying in Touch

So with no internet at the house, and no phone, we drive into Clifden and find a pub that offers free WiFi to stay connected. At first this didn’t seem to be a big deal, just drive in to any coffee shop (i.e. Starbucks) sit in a corner and connect to the world. Well, there is no Starbucks (gasp!), free WiFi may or may not be available even if offered and sitting for a couple of hours in a restaurant or pub, going to need a cab to get home! We did find a couple of places, Mannion’s Pub for one, that has great WiFi, pleasant service and they really don’t care if you sit for a couple of hours to “catch up”. We’ve become pretty good at Skyping with our family. If you don’t have this app, and you plan to travel, get it. Simple enough to use and you can visit with family and friends for 0 cost. Can be beat.

Strokestown (yes that is a real place, not where really old people with high blood pressure go)

Destination: Strokestown Famine Museum

Man with all the hype, this was going to be a great journey. A simple 4.5hr drive from Cleggan through some of the prettiest countryside in Ireland to see the National Irish Famine Museum. National museum, you say, and now open all year, wow! As a side note, one of the benefits of traveling during the “off” season is that you get to read about all those places that are open during the “on” season. Check before you go, that is if you have internet access.

This museum is a collection of letters, announcements and legal documents covering life leading up to and including the famine years. The cost for this one attraction, there are 2 additional attractions on site, is 9EU. We chose not to walk through the restored 18^th century Strokestown Park House or the walled gardens and instead just visited the museum.

We haven’t been disappointed in Ireland until now. This museum is an absolute waste of time unless you are stuck in Strokestown. Nothing more than a collection of letters in glass cases with some audio telling you of things that happened during this era. For the 18EU, go to a pub, get a pint and read about it on the internet.

Carrick-on-Shannon

Nice little river town. Carrick-on-Shannon is located on the Shannon river off N4. Their recent claim to fame is the reopening of the Shannon-Erne canal which was abandoned in the 1860’s. The canal was reopened in 1993 and now provides the public with insight into the workings of 18^th century lock-works and some Victorian stonework. We, on the other hand, had lunch. Collette chose to have the bacon and cabbage special whilst I had chicken goujons and chips, accompanied with local bubbly lunch cost ~35EU.

Ballyconneely

Driving through our own backyard, we came across Ballyconneely. An even smaller town than Cleggan, this coastal town is home to 3 great points of interest, the Connemara Golf Club; the Bunowen Castle and Smokehouse Salmon. We drove out to see the salmon processing and were surprised at the castle. Bunowen castle sits on private land so no wandering around it but it looks magnificent from the road. The castle is situated on 365 acres and contains the ruins of a 500 AD church and cemetery. There is quite an extensive history but to sum it up, the O’Flaherty’s built this and several other castles in 1500AD. In 1652, Murchadh O’Flaherty was evicted from the castle by Cromwellian forces and the castle was burned the next year, just for kicks. In 1650 the castle was “replanted” by a landlord named Geoghegan, seven generations inhabited the castle until 1840.

During the famine years, the castle was used as a “poor house and in 1841, the last of the Geoghegan’s died passing to Walter Blake in 1853 who added an outhouse. A well awaited DIY project, I’m sure!

Bumowen was “dismantled” by George McWilliam of Ballconnely in 1944 due to excess rates by the government.

 

 

Now on to salmon! I could hardly contain Collette’s enthusiasm whilst heading out to Connemarra Smokehouse. This small processing company is family owned and operated and is well worth the venture. Not being a fish person, I truly enjoyed the salmon samples given to us during our informal tour. We purchased a trio pack of smoked, honey roasted and peppered salmon for 25EU, not bad for hand processed salmon. Very friendly folks well worth the visit even if you’re not a salmon fan.

 

 

Last on todays list was a visit to the Connemarra Golf Club. Located on the end of a peninsula, I have been told that this links course can be very challenging. Pete, who owns Oliver’s Pub in Cleggan, is a member and advised me that it would be wise to play carefully and have a handful of balls at the ready.

Unfortunately we weren’t there to play, just see the course and buy me a sweater. The course looked beautiful, lush green fairways and wild, tall grass off the links hence the need for lots of balls.