Shoe burial, bus travel - Westport bound

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Early take off this morning - and when I came downstairs to catch our bus I found someone’s hiking boots parked by the exit. These were not your normal hiking boots, these boots had obviously seen some giant cliffs, some terrifying bogs... and/or they belonged to our co-host Tom McDermott who had experienced the blow out yesterday on the trail... but thanks to a clever duct-taping job, he had prevailed, conquered the crocs, beat the odds AND survived his first hike of this tour! Way to hang in their laddie ?

Today’s journey is taking us across the country from Dublin to Westport. Batt, our Irish host storyteller is weaving a story about the potato famine as we make our first stop in Strokestown Park. This little burg is home to the Irish National Famine Museum. We took a tour of the museum, and gardens, many had lunch in the cafe, and I went onto the property for a woodland walk. A beautiful park of ferns, large, lush green trees with curled branches, fairy doors and bridges seemingly right out of a J. R. Tolkien novel.

Once I had made the mile trek, I went to the front of the home where I sketched and dabbled with my water colors until the rest of the tour group boarded our bus. We headed out of Strokeston Park and continued our tour of the Irish countryside on the narrow roads until we arrived in Westport, a small but lively town on the west coast. Arriving at our hotel, we had a walking hour to explore and get our bearings before dinner. Kerry and I took a trip across the quaint bridge into town to discover any pubs that may feature some local Celtic music later on. There were a few but most would not start up until after 9 and because we planned to climb or walk Croagh Patrick mountain tomorrow we decided to turn in for the evening and get some rest.

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Comments

[Kenda]

Ooooh!! I love the fairy trees! I’d have a field day taking photos there!