The Connemara Loop

Shock, horror! Rain today! Not used to the wet stuff on holiday at all this year. Actually, it wasn't wet till the afternoon, so we had a brilliant drive up through the Connemara National Park, with The Twelve Pins on one side and The Maumturks on the other, it was spectacular. Could have been in the West Coast of Scotland.

We drove along Killary Harbour (Ireland's only fjord) and then drove back round the coast to Tully Cross. Amazing coastline with big white sand beaches. Seems to be a scuba diving centre. But the weather was closing in then, so we drove on to Letterfrack, and stopped to find a spot of lunch.

We walked in to Molly's Pub. Pitch darkness. We stood still.
I could hear the local radio on a badly tuned transistor radio :-(
I could smell the peat fire :-)
I could feel something moist touching my leg :-0

After a few seconds, our eyes got used to the darkness, and we realised we were in a real wee old pub, stone floor, peat fire, and still something moist touching my leg. It turned out to be a wee pug dog, fortunately.

At the bar were a couple of chaps. One chap was wearing an All Black rugby shirt. I asked if he was a Kiwi. No, but the Irish love the All Blacks. So we had a chat about rugby and the state of Irish Rugby at the moment. His name was Sheamus - I think he may have had the butcher's shop next door, as that was the name over the door. Or perhaps there are just a lot of Shamuses...

They didn't do meals. Just toasted sandwiches, but it was such a great wee place, a toasted sandwich would do just fine. I had a Guinness too, and spent so long taking a photo of it before I drank it, the young barman must have thought I was mad. He brought us over a nice map of the Connemara Loop, which we didn't have. He told us there was live music on tonight. We were tempted, but it was a bit too far to drive home...

The rain had set in good and proper by this time, and so we didn't see anything of the mountain scenery on the way home, so we were lucky we saw it this morning.

These two donkeys quite near us are my emergency blip as we came home. They don't kick up a racket either! It was either them or a glass of Guinness. I keep some food in the car for them. A couple of rock hard scones and an old banana. They look pals here, but the big one is always nipping and kicking the wee one if it gets too near.

Two neighbours came by last night, at separate times, both with Sammy the collie. One came to return our rubbish bin, which he had put out for us. And the other had gone down to the water to take a photo. It was glorious. Not a ripple on the sea, so the reflections of the clouds and mountains were perfect. The neighbour said she'd never seen it like that before. You certainly never think, 'Wonder what's on TV...' on evenings like this.

Good to have a bit of a chinwag and find out the things tourists don't usually hear about the Irish economy and the everyday problems of the folk. We learned that the crowds of young folk at the football grounds come for a week of intensive instruction in the Irish language. They are billeted out around the cottages and come from all over Ireland.

Can't see much of a view today, so the TV may go on this evening.