Thursday & Friday

The remainder of Thursday after I left off was spent packing, returning library books, dropping off glass recyclables at the recycle bins, and filling up with petrol. I have managed to remember to buy only unleaded gas and not diesel. (One time in France I filled up our diesel car with unleaded gas – the result is decidedly not good!) I said final goodbyes at the Dingle Pub and at Curran’s.

Our last meal Thursday night at the Chart House was excellent. Lamb for me; chicken for Elaine. We said farewells to proprietors Jim and Susan, and told them we would see them at Christmas.

We left bright and early (8:30) Friday morning for Ballina. It was a beautiful sunny day for the whole ride. We made a few stops along the way since we couldn’t check in until 4:00 pm at the Ice House Hotel in Ballina. We stopped for lunch at the Supermax in Tuam (where we had lunched last year). It is sort of an Irish version of a combined MacDonalds and Subway. We both had huge subs (which would be our only meal of the day – they were that big).

ATTENTION MIANNE! Next stop was at an old ruined abbey, the Carmelite Abbey of Ballinasmale or Ballinasmaul(a) in County Mayo. The Abbey was surrounded by an old graveyard. We found two graves side by side, one for a Hanley and the other for a Fallon. See the last two pictures. We thought that was kind of weird.

Carrying on, we next stopped at the Michael Davitt Museum in Straide, County Mayo. We never heard of Michael Davitt, a nineteenth century Irish activist for both home rule and land reform, but we now know almost everything there is to know. We saw a film about his life and had a guided tour by a delightful tour guide of the museum. And we visited his grave. His story is a long and colorful one that we can read about (should you wish) at the two links provided. We were the only visitors at the Museum.

Then it was on the very nice Ice House Hotel in Ballina. We checked in and then took the 35 minute walk downtown to visit Harrison’s Pub where old friend from Boston, Derek Leonard, is the proprietor. We had a pre-arranged visit with him last year. This year we decided to just surprise him. The surprise was, however, on us. He was off to England for a football match for his favorite team, Leeds. It wasn’t all bad news though as we had a delightful couple of house (and beers) with his wife, Eithne, who I had met years ago in Boston. Views from our room of the River Moy and of our walk into town: