So we got to the last full day and the sun shone aaaaaallll day! And what do you do when the sun shines all day? You go to the seaside of course. Naturally we couldn't go to the seaside less than a mile down the road, oh no, we had to drive for MILES to get to the seaside...
On the way we saw this sign. This is never a good sign, especially when LT pops me on top to take a photo, because it usually means she's about to totally ignore what it says... (Hey, they built a stile to get in there, they want you in there really - LT)
So here we are, a short trudge and squelch later...
Then we drove on a bit, still looking for the perfect seaside. We stopped here just 'cos it was pretty. Of course we also had to climb over barbed wire to get here...
Finally we got to the seaside. I'm not really sure about this sign, but I'm pretty sure we were safe to ignore it... (For the hard of reading, it says 'No swimming between this sign and the next warning sign' - LT)
Man, trekking over these sand dunes is hard work!
Errrr, are these things going to bite?! (Don't be silly - LT)
Look though, we got our own beach all to ourselves:
Walking back, LT managed to find the sinking sand. I am NOT a measuring stick though!
We drove up to Louisborough to grab some lunch, and decided it was far too nice to eat inside, so we tried to head back to a road with a scenic route on it that we'd seen on the way up, but approaching from the other end. Alas, the map wasn't detailed enough, so Katy-Nav dictated random left and right turns, and we found this nice wee bridge to eat lunch on:
We didn't find the road we were looking for, but thankfully we did find the main road again heading in the right direction, about 10 miles too early. Who knew Mayo County Council was so stingy when it came to road signs? There wasn't a single one off the main roads!
We spotted this wee jetty on the way back, so had to stop for a pic:
And then we went back to Kylemore Abbey for an afternoon shot.
Phew, back to the cottage again for the afternoon and dinner. Sitting on the picnic table:
The view from the edge of the deck:
The cottage from the deck:
Do you think she's getting the message that I need to put my paws up for a bit?!
After a rest, it was time to head out again for sunset, taking a quick stop for a photo at the viking ship randomly sitting in the village next to the pub:
Waiting for the sunset that wasn't...
I hope you enjoyed your tour of Connemara, next stop will be London for the Fat Quarterly Retreat in June...
Phew, we got to day 2 pretty unscathed. We decided as it was a bit overcast that we'd go for a drive round and explore. Chris, Colin and Kerry went and explored an abandoned cottage, but LT decided it wasn't the place for little bears to go, so we waited outside...
Next we stopped at Kylemore Abbery. Do I look suitably non-commercial here?
Here's the Abbey. It seems kind of fancy for a religious place where people are meant to be contemplating things, but what do we know? And at €12.50 we weren't going in to find out more either!
Next we drove down to Clifden and had lunch at a Polish pancake house, as you do. It was called the white dragon, but I don't know why, it had dragons of all colours, but we didn't see a white one...
Do you think I could get them to paint a pub sign like this for me?
We drove back up round the coast road and stopped at 'The Best Gift Shop In Ireland' so that Kerry could drool over all the goodies, while we went and investigate the shrine up the road and the jetty. I think the Fighting Irish had been in one fight too many, it wasn't going anywhere any time soon!
A bit further round the coast we saw some waterfalls, so we had to stop and investigate. It really made me need to pee...
Next to the waterfalls was the sign for the peninsula we were staying on, so we thought we better record it for posterity:
We went back to the cottage so that Colin could have a nap (he's getting old you know) so after a bit of sewing on my new friend Wee Jock, we went out with Martin and Stephen to play 'hunt the sunset' as the sun had come out properly by then. This was up a very long windy road where we went just to see what was at the end. This was from about half way up looking back inland away from where the sun would set:
When we got to the end we realised the sun was going to set behind a bank of clouds way out on the horizon, so we decided not to scramble down to the only beach to take photos from, and just come back for dinner. We did have to stop and take a photo of the punk sheep on the way though:
Just checking back on the sunset...
After dinner we hit the pub. There were serious decisions to be made when it came to choosing music before the band came on:
Our round I think... (Ours? I didn't see a paw going into your wallet! - LT) Details...
No look, really, no Guinness, we must get a round in!
Ah, that's better, just let me climb down from here:
*belch*
Kerry decided she had to rescue me and give me some TLC to recover from that pint:
Uh, hello, more drink needed here!
Thank you!
And now for a wee dance along with the band:
Perhaps it's time to hit the soft stuff for a while...
