Heading to Galway, Ireland --- Saturday June 8, 2013

We leave early from Doolin and head to Galway for the next two nights.  Galway is in the West Region of Ireland and the province of Connacht.  Galway lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay and is surrounded by County Galway. It is the fourth most populous city in the state and the sixth most populous on the island of Ireland. We head out of Doolin following R478 onto N67 into Galway for the next two nights as our next stop. The N67 road is a national secondary road in Ireland. It runs from Kilcolgan to Tarbert and passes though Kinvara, Ballyvaughan, Lisdoonvarna, Ennistymon, Lahinch, Milltown Malbay, Quilty, Doonbeg and Kilkee.

It wasen't a terribly long ride so we arrived early to our next B & B called the Corrib View B & B.  From the outside it's a disappointment!  For one thing, I didn't realize it was a car or bus ride into downtown Galway.  I've been trying to get places where Ed & I could walk to pubs at night (for obvious reasons!) and this does not fit the bill.  For another, it is in a cul de sac of B & B's reminding us of the Motel 6 strip of motels.  The room is small and kind of dark but very clean. The host is very pleasant, though, and there is a nice, comfortable living room to sit in so perhaps this will be fine.

Ruins of Cong Abbey

We spent the afternoon driving out of the Galway to a town called Cong in County Mayo.  It's a beautiful ride and a very quaint little city with some interesting abbey ruins. Cong is a village straddling the borders of County Galway and County Mayo, in Ireland. Cong is situated on an island formed by a number of streams that surround it on all sides. Cong is located on the isthmus connecting Loughs Corrib and Mask, near the towns of Headford and Ballinrobe and the villages of Neale and Cross.

Cong is known for its underground streams that connect Lough Corrib with Lough Mask to the north. It was also the home of Sir William Wilde, historian and father to prominent playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer Oscar Wilde.


We start our ride to Cong thru Galway, up the N84 and then onto the scenic R334.  And what do you know....it's a small enough town that we began to get lost.  We ended on a very small road along a Lough (lake/river?).  Room for 2 cars if you are both polite!



We found a couple managing their plants along the side of the road and decided to ask them where we were!  They were very sweet.

When they heard we were from America, they bemoaned the problems Obama is experiencing in the press in the USA. (We really like the Irish!)


Driving Road in Cong

They also gave us scenic directions to get back on track...they like to get lost, too!  They told us about the path we would continue along to the other side of the lake/lough that is just recently opened. It used to be a sheep path only...somewhat paved, grass in the middle, only room for 1 and 1/3 cars...not many pull offs if you find an oncoming car....AN ADVENTURE!  So we took it.




It was a BEAUTIFUL drive.  Not many times to cringe, lots of ewes and their babies, sheep all over, many with different colors sprayed on their backs (to tell them apart from their neighbors sheep??), mountains all around...Stunning scenery.






By the time we get back to Galway to settle into our room Ed starts playing with his pictures which often takes awhile.  We didn't head out to dinner until after 9 pm (because it is so light out in Ireland---still light out at 10 pm!--it's hard to get moving earlier!).  Apparently, though, all pubs and restaurants here stop serving at 9!  Oh well...chips and wine for dinner!  We can deal....we're eating WAYYY  too much anyway!
We decide to do a tour of Galway city tomorrow and then do our driving tour of the Connamara area and their mountains on Monday.