Connemara

This weekend was our Irish Memorial Day weekend. Well, I don't think it technically has anything to do with any memorials, in fact maybe it is in observance of Pentecost. Yes, yes it is. Thank you Catholic Encyclopedia.

Anyway, the point for us heathens is that Orrin had Monday free from work. So in a typical last minute rush we planned a camping trip to the west coast of Ireland. The Connemara region, north west of Galway, to be a bit more precise.

It was supposed to rain most of the day Saturday and we weren't even slightly prepared for the trip so we took off on Saturday about noon. On Friday night I baked a batch of carrot-apple-sunflower seed muffins so there was a chance that Silas would get some vegetables over the weekend. Saturday morning we hit Tesco for camp food and let Orrin sleep in a little.

We packed up the car and hit the road in the drizzling rain. We made one stop at Aughnanure Castle, although Silas was napping, so I stayed in the car and also slept while Orrin toured the wet castle. It rained all the way through Galway and then let up once we reached Roundstone. We decided to camp there for the night, near the beach. We set up camp and Silas and and I wondered around while Orrin lit the stove and heated the chicken and vegetable soup. We met a nice man who owned a mobile home there in the caravan/mobile home/camping park, who had been camping there for 30 years. He offered to let us come in and use their pull-out sofa if the rain got too bad in the tent. After dinner we hiked the cliff trail above the beach and tiptoed around the snails littering the ground. We climbed in the tent around 9 o'clock, despite the sun still shining making it far too light for anyone to fall asleep. Silas jumped, wiggled, and dove like a fish though the slippery surfaces of the tent, therma-rests, and sleeping bags. Finally, he settled down and fell asleep about 10.

Unfortunately he woke up screaming "Cheese!" at about 2:30, and then again "Raisins!" at 5:30 before he woke up for good at 6:30. Despite the anguish of whatever crazy food dreams he was having, he did giggle in his sleep as I was holding him when the sea gulls screeched overhead.

We hiked the other end of the beach in the morning while the tent dried out in the sun. We had gotten some rain in the night, although we all stayed dry and comfortable and the morning was clear and bright.

We continued the drive through Clifden, and to Letterfrack to Connemara National Park. Silas loved throwing stones into any body of water that was too big to stomp in. We walked through the visitors centre which had a nice exhibit on the importance of bogs, their history, how they were made, how they are harvested, and how they are being depleted at an alarming rate.

We then started on our hike around the park, past the Connemara ponies, through the blanket bog, and up the 450 meter Diamond Hill. I prefer to call it a mountain though, and I wasn't even carrying Silas. The views were definitely breathtaking and well worth the climb.

Afterwards we drove to Kylemore Abbey, but decided not to pay the 12 euro just to view the gardens. Although, it does have the longest double herbaceous border in Ireland, whatever that is worth. I would have liked to see the nuttery though. The "town of glasshouses" that used to be there are planned to be fully restored in 2012, so maybe we'll go back and see it then.

We drove out to Renvyle peninsula to our campsite for the night. Orrin stopped to buy 60 cents worth of unleaded gas for the camp stove. We only transported a small among of Coleman fuel in the stove, and you can't buy it here. Orrin's dad told him he could use regular gas so this was going to be our experimental first attempt. It worked! Although the stove has a bit more blackened by it, I'd say it was actually a bit easier to get the stove going than with the Coleman fuel. Dinner was followed by another hike on the beach, where Silas actually wanted to take off his shoes and run in the sand. He's still a bit afraid of the waves, although I'm not sure if it is due to the noise they make or how cold they are.

Silas settled down in the tent more easily that night, and fell asleep about 9 as I read him a story about Fionn and the Fianna. He slept well all through the night, perhaps lulled by the crashing waves below us on the beach. The morning was another bright one, so after breakfast we strolled down on the beach again before packing up camp and headed back towards the southeast. We took a different route this time, through Athenry where we made a stop at the playground, and castle. We then enjoyed a picnic lunch before heading back on the road toward Portumna. The castle there had advertised a Victorian walled garden and a kitchen garden which I thought sounded nice. The Victorian garden was rather disappointing, some triangular boxwood hedges with rose bushes planted in the center. I didn't even see the kitchen garden. The house had been ruined by fire and although the information about the restoration work was interesting, there wasn't a lot to see inside. There was an interesting story about a Whippet owned by the family who, local legend told, had been killed by a young lady of the house falling out of the window onto the dog and breaking the dogs back, though saving the girl. Excavation around the house revealed this dog, Fury's grave, and indeed it did seem to have died from a broken back. The kitchen garden was really nice. Neat raised beds with currants, raspberries, fennel, potatoes, strawberries, peas, and many other herbs, fruits and vegetables were planted alongside abundant flowers and a small orchard. There was also a willow maze but it had gotten so overgrown that it was a little more treacherous than it was intended to be.

The last 45 minutes of the rest of the drive home was excruciating. Combined factors of three super slow cars in front of us and Silas whining for milk made it seem like much longer than it actually was. Although Silas was quite cute when he asked to sleep in a tent again tonight, and helped Orrin hang the tent out to dry and fold it and put it away for the next time.

The rest of the pictures are here.