Blogs from Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, Europe

Ireland the North 2. Day 4 Westport A much better day today with a drizzly start but capes were soon off as we climbed out of Clifden. We are following the coast again and the views are very pleasant with craggy hills, stony shores and a nice smell of seaweed which always makes me feel that I am really by the sea. Gulls are in abundance,as you would expect, and the odd heron and swan in the still waters. Valerie, Brian and Bernard are getting to grips with the Garmins now which means we are able to form smaller groups on the road without putting stress on anyone and fear the inherent fear of getting lost. We may now have some converts to the 21st century and the digital age. We had a mid morning snack ... read more

Breakfast at the hotel, à la carte in this establishment, then off to explore the Connemara peninsula. The terrain soon becomes quite rugged and mountainous. We are once again in bog territory on the Irish moors. The weather is unsettled; windy with brief downpours. One mountain in particular dominates the landscape. This is Croagh Patrick, where in July every year, thousands of Irish Catholics make a pilgrimage to the top on foot as a penitence. Tony gives us a history lesson on the Great Famine of 1845–52. The English version of this tragic episode is that a potato blight affected the Irish potato crop and caused widespread famine. This is in fact what I learned in school. Tony says that the potato blight was a factor but the real cause of the famine was excessive taxation ... read more

Our weekend began at a home named the Westport House, a beautiful home and gardens that was built upon the foundations of one of many castles that belonged to the famous Irish Pirate Queen of Connacht... Grace O’Malley. The original home was built by a great-great granddaughter of O’Malley. I immediately liked the tale of Grace, apparently she didn’t take any “umph“ from anybody and if they didn’t like what she thought she would just “take their head off” literally... LOL. In the home... the front hall was magnificent and included vaulted ceilings, a marble staircase and Waterford cut glass chandeliers. The welcome centerpiece was a marbled mythological Angel, where family tradition was to shake the angel’s hand for good luck upon returning from trips or visiting. What house would be complete without your typical dungeon, ... read more

After checking the weather again when I got up -it looked to have improved considerably from the day before. I thought I would be forced to don my full rain gear to day but was able to get by with out any rain gear. I did get spit on a couple of times but overall it was overcast but dry. I've learned that the best way to forecast the weather here is to look outside ?. The trip from Westport was only 180km but took over 3 1/2 hours to make it to The Harvey's Point hotel. The Hotel is isolated outside of town on a beautiful lake (Eske). My room was gigantic with a parlor room as you enter then a bar area, huge bathroom and large combined bedroom and living room. The hotel is ... read more

On our third day in Ireland we venture out into County Mayo. We leave Castlebar and head north toward Ballina, but stopping first in Foxford to check out the Foxford Woollen Mills Visitor Centre. This mill was founded in 1892 by a local nun who made it her mission to put the idle hands of Foxford to work doing something productive. I was super excited because this was the first time I wanted to purchase souveniers. Beautiful woollen scarves and blankets were available and I wanted them all. We were able to take the 40 minute automated tour that was silly and informative all at once! After making our purchases we set back off to see the Ceide Fields and the Atlantic Ocean. Driving north and up hills, getting colder and colder we found the Ceide ... read more