I think I may have over-indulged in photos yesterday, so today I tried to contain myself a bit more.
Apart from everything else, it was a long drive today, as once again I underestimated distances, but I'm ensconced in my B&B in Ballina tonight, so a least I made it.
Usual start to the day, brekky, repack cases and off we go!
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| Days' journey - sort of....!!! |
First stop was very close to last night's accommodation. It was called Horn Head and the drive around the peninsula was just lovely. It only took about half an hour but the views were spectacular.
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| Me at Horn Head |
AS you can see skies were a bit grey today, but that didn't bother me one bit. Sadly though, the tide was out so all the beautiful water views became sand views, so I didn't take as many pics of the sand!
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| Horn Head |
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| Horn Head |
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| Horn Head |
Today, my task was to follow the coastal WAW roads because I hadn't driven them before. I succeeded on a few, and I'm not sure on another few!!!
Went past some lovely coastal scenery. I wasn't always sure where I was, because they only put the names in Gaelic....
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| Coastal scenery |
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| Coastal scenery |
One place of interest on the journey that caused me to stop was Leo's Tavern which is famous as the place where Enya and Clannard used to perform. I was going to get a coffee there, but they didn't open until 12 noon.
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| Leo's Tavern |
Eventually I did stop for a coffee at this lovely pub...
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| Viking House Hotel |
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| View from in front of the Viking House Hotel |
There were some people watching the big rugby game between Ireland and Australia and I quite innocently asked the score.... Aussies were winning, so I went and sat in a corner away from them!!! I hate it when opposition supporters sit near me!!!
One of the WAW tracks I followed took me through Portnoo and Rosbeg. At one stage I was completely bamboozled.... I just kept going in hope and after a few U turns, I eventually ended up back on the main road..... I feel like I'm doing the Back Roads of Ireland tour!!
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| Portnoo |
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| Portnoo |
And Rosbeg was where I got completely disoriented.... ended up almost in someone's drive...
But the scenery was pretty!!!!
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| Rosbeg |
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| Rosbeg |
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| Rosbeg |
Can't remember if this place, Bloody Foreland, was before or after the above towns...???
The name of the town is not swearing or related to Battles fought there, but rather to the colour of the rocks at sunset.
Here are the rocks..
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| Bloody Foreland |
And here's the explanation...
Guess who pops up again - good old Colm Cille
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| Info about Curraghs |
There's also some interesting information about the Curragh, the boats that Colm Cille and others would've used to move between the various counties and countries..
Once I survived that weird journey I headed straight for Adara, because by this time it was almost 1.30pm and I hadn't had any lunch. Here I found a map of where I had just been - called St Anna's way! (There you go petal!!!)
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| Ardara |
I had sort of set Ballina as a target for tonight, not realising it was still another couple of hours away. And I was also conscious it was Saturday night and would be harder to find accommodation. While I was having my lunch at Ardara, I looked up a few places in Ballina and everyone said no availability.... so when I hopped back in the car, I found a B&B online and rang them up and sure enough they had a spot for me.... so long drive or not, I was going to Ballina.
So I'm safely here in Ballina and it's nice and comfy and there's a pub up the road for tea.
Tomorrow I hope to make contact with the family of Rory MacNally - the founding Principal of St Francis's school - our sister CARE school in Perth. Sadly he passed away a few years ago, but his partner, Donia, works at St Clare's and we've often talked about Westport and Rory's connection to it. So I've exchanged emails with his brother Liamy, and I'm hoping to meet him tomorrow.
It's been a funny day today - a lot of it was spent in the car going round and round bends.Or once you hit the open highways, the roads are very good.... but chances are you're going to get stuck behind a tractor or a horse float, or the worst variety.... Little Old Ladies (I'm not in that category yet!!!) who trundle along at 70kph where the speed limit is 100kph 😒 Then when you get to the town and have a speed limit imposed, they speed up!!!!! Aaaaarrrggghhhhh.
Perhaps I am beginning to experience the real Ireland. Or perhaps life is very similar no matter where you are!!!
John Moira and I did end up in someone's driveway, or should I say, property following what google maps told us and ended up being chased by 100's of little wild turkeys. Keep your fluids up !!
ReplyDeleteCan just picture the scene!!!! Yes it easy enough to take the wrong turn then wonder where on earth you have ended up!!! It all becomes part of the story then deosnt it!!!
DeleteThere you were watching the rugby in a pub in Ireland - there we were watching the rugby on big screens at NIB stadium in the most thorough wet weather gear we have ever worn to a game. The test was broadcast before the Force game and it was torrential rain. Funny to think it was a few thousand kilometres apart but at the same time!
ReplyDeleteHey Denise, that is weird isn’t it??? I actually didn’t put this in the blog but I stopped at another pub for possible lunch and the whole pub was filled with men focused on the screen. Needless to say I didn’t stay there!!!! Hope out managed to dry off after your wet day out!!!!
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