It’s Tuesday in Galway. Bright sunny day. Warm. Couldn’t be nicer. So, on our visit Sunday to Clifden, I managed to hit a rock on the narrow road. No harm done? Well, stay tuned. On Monday we hung around Galway and never used the car. So on Tuesday we headed out on a road trip for the day. We got about thirty miles and the “low tyre pressure” indicator came on. Luckily we were near a town, and I went to a gas station to get some air. The tyre (tire to you Americans who read this) was really low, almost flat. So, while I filled it with air, Elaine inquired inside about a tyre store. There was just two miles down the road. We pulled in and the nice man inspected the tire. Just as I expected, there was a crack in the sidewall. No fixing that! We had a new tyre (95 Euros) on the car and were off in 45 minutes.
First stop of the day (save for tyre emergencies) was Cong in County Mayo, an unbelievably picturesque little town where The Quiet Man with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara was filmed backin the early 1950’s. We took 100 or so pictures before moving on. Cong Abbey, now a ruin, was the last home of the last King of Ireland, Rory O’Connor (Oh, OK, he was Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair back then).
CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE
Despite the SatNav (GPS to you Americans) trying to get us to take one-lane sheep paths, we eventually found our way on real roads to Leenaun (Leenane), another picturesque spot at the end of the Killary Fjord, the only fjord in Ireland. More pictures. And an ice cream for lunch. (With the huge breakfasts at the B&B, lunch is usually totally optional.
From Leenane we proceeded down the road a bit to Kylemore Abbey. In the mid 1800’s, Mitchell Henry built Kylemore as the family home for him, his wife Maureen, and his nine children. Tragically, in 1874 the family was vacationing in Egypt where Maureen came down with dysentery and died in Cairo nineteen days later. (What a way to go!) Mitchell and the children were broken-hearted. Mitchell built a Gothic Church on the estate in her memory and buried her in a Mausoleum close by. Both of them are buried there now. In 1903 the Duke of Manchester purchased the estate from Henry, financed by his wife, an American oil heiress. They sold it 1914 and it remain uninhabited until 1920 when it purchased by the Benedictine community to replace their abbey at Ypres in Flanders. Kylemore has been the home of a Benedictine Order of nuns ever since. They have restored the Abbey and made it a major tourist attraction. It was packed, a gold mine for the Benedictines. They also run a school on the site. Oh, we had another ice cream for lunch as we left.
Then it was back to Galway for our last night. Dinner was back at the Fisherman where we ate on Saturday night when we arrived. We had fish. Tomorrow morning it is off to Dublin, a 2.5 hour drive and we will report from there although it just an overnight stop..
You are having unbelievable weather, simply magnificent!!! Bummer about the tire but your co-pilot was right on it, way to go Elaine.
We are off to explore today, north to the harbor and then possibly the Carlberg brewery. Weather here is nice after escaping Heathrow yesterday. CHEERS to Dublin!