Ireland Day 4

Today we woke up to another typical Irish or Kinchlea holiday morning. A giant cloud hung over Bertraghboy Bay, brining mist and rain. Temperature was pretty moderate at 10c. What is with these Atlantic lows that stay with us, first Nova Scotia, now Ireland.

After a bit of breakfast we decided to travel along the coast from Cashel, where we are staying to Clifden. We needed groceries and a few other liquid supplies.

We grabed our rain gear, cameras and paints and jumped in the car.

First stop, Roundstone, the tide was out so we spent a bit of time taking pictures and walking the shops in this little villag

Second stop,Doonloughlan. Here we saw a place were they smoked fish, salmon and several other varieties. The shop shows how it is done, from the salting first, add ing the flavours down to the different times to cure and then a sampling. I unfortunately didn't go and watch as I got distracted by the tidal pools and went exploring

on our way back to the main road we passed by
an old castle in ruins
 

  Consensus was stop for pictures lets not go through it. back up to the main road.

Third Stop was the monument commemorating the landing of Alcock and Brown. These two gents  completed the first Transatlantic flight in a Vickers Vimy from NFLD to Ireland in 1919. In typical UK fashion, the cairn monument is in fact 5oo meters from the landing site. It offers a great view of the Atlantic and of the valley leading to the landing site but no explanation as why this monument is  here and not there.

Four Stop was Clifden, time for lunch, a look at more shops and  photo ops. Clifden must be a regional centre as it had 2 major grocery stores, and at least 30 restaurants or pubs and they all serve seafood (yeah!) go figure being a coastal town and all.

After lunch we headed north to Connemara National Park and Kylemore Abbey.

Kylemore Abbey was originally a home for Henry Mitchel but after WWI the Benedictine "Irish Nuns" of Ypres bought the land and turned it into an Abbey and Private School. The abbey it self was interesting but a little disappointing, more of a castle than a typical abbey. The miniature

 
Gothic church was an interesting memorial, but the highlight was the Victorian Walled Garden.













After the Abbey we went for a drive along a fiord to look for a wool shop which was closed ( awe shucks ) however freerange sheep were every where including the middle of the road,

  then backtracked to Clifden where we bought our groceries and had dinner. Dinner was really good, service sucked. Holly and Wes became the designated Dave Dupuis, their appetizers never arrived and their order seemed to hold us up. Way to take one for the team guys.


Back to the cottage at 10:20 it is still light out, and cup of tea and relaxing. Geoff and Alison decided to play Boogle with Beth. We tried to warn them off but they insisted. Although they did find words that Beth missed, she really smoked them. Her scores were typically higher than the combined score of Geoff and Alison.


Did a little texting with my Baseball Buddies, Rich and Kerry caught up on the Jays, but couldn't quite make the game and gave up closer to 12:45 local time.

Off to bed, GO JAY GO.