How are things in Connemara?



Day 3:
Another difficult night’s sleep despite the clean place and nice bed .. it wasn’t far off the highway & we heard car noises all night. Kathleen served a great Irish breakfast (her husband had worked for Waterford – he is an unemployed house painter now) We told her we were headed for the Ring of Kerry and she recommended, instead, that we head for Clifden (back where we had come from – west of Galway) and Connemara and Oughterard. She said that Clifden was an hour away whereas Killarney was 3 hours. She lied. Or perhaps the problem was that we kept stopping for photo ops and to check things out. We did have a great day, seeing more magnificent sights, stopping to explore and photograph the Aughnanure Castle, Cong where the Quiet Man Bridge is located, the 12 Bens (mountains), boglands filled with sheep, and visiting the town of Clifden where we were convinced to take their scenic seaside ride (and saw the best caste ever!).













We arrived at the magnificent Kylemore Abbey, that Kathleen had recommended, at 4ish. The stop was quite worthwhile - one of the most beautiful spots on earth - where a gentleman built a dream home in 1868 for his true love and today it is home to the Irish Benedictine nuns. Once again, it was the end of the day and we were way far west when our final destination was to be headed east. So, we drove and drove again, trying to make time and get east of Galway once again. We did stop for dinner in Oughterard and made it to a town an hour east of Galway by 9 or 9:30. Kind of late for getting a B&B. We finally spotted one and went off the road far into the country to find it and it was fully booked. Outrageous. He recommended one on the main road. We were so tired we were happy to find it. A teenager girl showed us a room and we jumped on it. However, it was in a house with a family and all kinds of family noises. Giggling, TV, running…..Still, it was a bed and a shower for the night.

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