John Wayne was here!

Slept in till 9:30 today. It's sooooo quiet here. I did get up to see the dawn over the mountains, then back to bed.

Out on the road by midday. Yes, it does take three hours to potter about, have breakfast and get ready. We set off for Cong. Not the prettiest name for a wee village. A famous wee village, in fact. The location of the film 'The Quiet Man' starring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Not that I've seen it. There were certainly lots and lots of 'Quiet Man' calendars (scenes from the B&W film) around. They don't seem to be selling as well as expected...

We had a wander round the village. The Tourist Information was shut for lunch. These two locals were having a bit of a yatter craic. The one with the hat on is probably a descendant of John Wayne. The pub on the Main Street was shut. The 'Hungry Monk' (opposite the ruins of the monastery) tea shop was mobbed. We had an ice cream by the river.

What a terrific drive (through Joyce Country). The rocky terrain of the coast gave way to fields of grass, rolling hillsides, lots of trees, houses with actual lawns (they're paddocks of rocks in these parts). It was quite different.

Managed to pull in off the road at a wee waterfall. Well, more like just a gushing bit of a wee stream, but there was a wee white building I was going to take a photo of. When, would you believe it - in the middle of nowhere - TWO tour buses appeared and they pulled in and dozens of tourists spilled out to take photos and pose in front of the waterfall gushing bit. Never seen tourist buses on our bit of road, but I think they were on the way to the coast road to Galway.

Back home, glass of NZ Sauvignon Blanc to hand, feet up on the lazy boy, looking out the picture windows at the mountains, sea and clouds. I could get used to this.

PS Internet a bit sloooooow, so commenting is curtailed. Thanks for all the comments and stars on my Irish holiday. Much appreciated.