Flying by the seat of our pants -- Monday June 10, 2013

We do not have definitive plans for the following 3 days or so, so our goal is to get to Westport after doing a driving tour of the Connemara area.  Connemara is a district in the west of Ireland of which the boundaries are not well defined. Some define it to be the land contained by Killary Harbour, the Maam Valley, Lough Corrib; a line from there to the sea at Barna, and the Atlantic ocean.

The N59

We took the N59 out of Galway.  The N59 is a 2 lane Irish road but not terribly narrow, so I didn't grip the side handle of our car as much as usual!  It's a beautiful scenic drive! It clouded up pretty quickly, though, and became very cool with a little rain now and then.  The  Ben and the mountain tops are all in cloud cover which is really too bad.  They would have been able to make great shots for Ed. 

Flowers along the N59

The flowers along the way, though were SPECTACULAR:  purple rhododendrons and an orange/yellow bush that grows like weeds! We stopped along the way in the town of Clifden for a local pub where we met Nan and her daughter Natalie  who were traveling from Scotland.  Natalie wrote out a sheet of suggestions for things to see while we are in Scotland.  She trained as a travel agent so she was a wealth of information! 
lunch at

We continued on with our goal of reaching Westport in County Mayo tonight. We called along the way to The Boulevard Guesthouse which someone on one of my Genealogy blogs had recommended.  It is right in downtown Westport.

The Boulevard Guesthouse

They had a room available and when we drove up to it, we were pleasantly surprised! It was along a canal, one of the buildings that fronted the street, and it was covered in ivy.  Very interesting looking.  We rang the bell and were met with a young hostess who was very accommodating (and we found we got their last room since someone else came along not long after and were told there 'Was no room at the inn".)


The rooms were very nice and spacious with high ceilings in the room and a view of the canal. We walked around the town, had dinner at the local pub, came home and read a little and went to bed.  When you are doing this kind of a trip, you need to pace yourself!

I'm exhausted already every night and sleep like a baby.  I have to reign myself in from getting excited about going home to camp where there is NOTHING to do but relax!