Westport & The Connemara; To Limerick We Go!

We packed up and left An Sionnach Rua on Wednesday, the 23rd of June, and headed south toward Foxford on our way to Westport. 

Wee tangent: we had heard that Joe Biden was coming to Ireland, and would be in Ballina. Something about visiting distant relations in Ireland. Extra police and security forces were brought into the Ballina area. That's fine, we thought, we'll go the other direction! 

Well... As we approached Foxford we noticed people lining the streets with cameras ready. Figuring they weren't all there just to see us away, we pulled off and asked someone what was the deal. "Joe Biden is driving through this way!" was the answer. (Turns out Joe flew into Knock airport, and then drove to Ballina through Foxford.)

Good thing we pulled off the road because the motorcade came BLASTING through on the N59, lights and sirens blazing. 

Kind of ironic that we came all the way to Ireland to see our Veep!

Once they wailed their way down the road and on toward Ballina, we stopped off at a must-see:

Wool!

Paul and Dawn, of the Spanish woolen mill Lanas del Rio, told us about the Foxford woolen mill, and so we just had to stop in pet the wool! We went into the loom room and watched the automated looms for a few minutes. Quite a lot different that Paul and Dawn's mill!

The Foxford mill was established in the river Moy by Sister Arsenius and the Sisters of Charity in 1892. Her vision was to create a viable industry using local labor and materials in order to assist the poor of the Foxford area whom had been ravaged by the famine in the 1800's. It was a great success, and the business created great woolen products that were treasured and passed down through Irish families. In the 1980's, with economic difficulties and the movement of manufacturing to the East, the mill experienced financial hardship and was sold, with the Sisters moving from the Foxford area after a strong presence of 100 years. The mill still produces lovely wool products and now has an extensive gift shop and visitor center.

We pedaled on westward from Foxford, and stopped at Loch Conn to take some advertising photos for Bushmills Whiskey. (Gerry gifted us with this travel bottle before we left the Sionnach Rua - very thoughtful, and we dearly appreciate the spirit of it.)

Unfortunately the photo-shoot went awry ....

And look who ended up with the bottle!

With the photo shoot prematurely ended by a side-wise swipe of the bottle, we had lunch on the pier. 

By the time we had lunch the wind picked up, and we had quite a battle south and west toward Westport. Along the way we passed Nefin, which is the mountain we could see from our house in Bunnifinglas. 

Beautiful!

Along the R317, we found a monument to the men who fought the English in the battle for independence. 

We've found quite a few such monuments in our travels. The Irish are very proud of the history of their independence, and it's touching to see the commemoration of their ancestors

We battled onward through the wind, and eventually made Westport. We were tired by the time we got there, and had dinner at the hostel before heading out. 

We'd heard of a pub called Matt Molloy's. Matt is an accomplished flautist and was in the famous group 'The Chieftans', and his pub in Westport is a hub for local and traveling musicians, with high-quality sessions on every night. Naturally we went there. And, naturally, so did our Veep Biden!

Sadly, the place was was closed to anyone who hadn't already entered before Joe arrived, so we just had to join the teeming throng waiting outside. 

Of all the pubs in Ireland, and of all the nights to go there, Joe picked our night in Westport to go to Matt's! Sheesh!

Eventually he and his entourage took off, and we finally squeezed our way in and to the back room where the musicians were in full swing. And swing they did! The music rivaled just about any concert we've been to, and was great craic and worth the wait. 

The next day we unloaded the bikes and took a joy-ride to the island of Achill, to the west of Westport. 

We followed the Great Weatern Greenway, which is a wonderful off-road track for walkers and cyclists. 

The route is quite well maintained, but we were a bit concerned about this section:

What is "cyclist flooding" anyway?

Anyway, the scenery was great!

It was windy again, and before long we needed a break so we stopped at a cute wee coffee shop. 

And found this motivational sign!

Further west along the Greenway we found another great potential location for our pub and music school:

This place is a bit rough, but the views are nice...?

Sheep herding! On a bike!

We ended the day with an easy ride of 55 miles. Not bad for having been off the bikes for so long!

Friday we loaded up and set off ... In the rain!

We stayed mostly on smaller roads, which took us through some stunning scenery. 

Up and down through the mountians...

We found these guys along Killary Fjord, which is the only fjord in Ireland. It was windy again, so when we got to Leenaun we stopped for a coffee and lunch. 

After Leenaun we confined west on the N59 toward Cliford, and on the way nearly picked up a passenger!

In the two-second conversation we had with this fellow as we passed by we all agreed it wouldn't work out so well. Hope he found a ride!

We were getting pretty beat up in the wind and rain, so we stopped in a church for a break. 

A very pretty place, and warm and out of the rain. 

We made Clifden in the early evening, dried out, and headed out for music. There was loads of it!

These two kept up the craic with the locals and sang mostly familiar Irish folks songs. 

While this pair rocked it out with a mix of modern country and high-powered arrangements of trad tunes. 

The next morning we loaded up and headed east to Galway. We took an off-the-beaten path route through huge expansive bogs, and managed to stay just ahead of the rain for several hours. 

We stopped at a neat stone bridge for a break of ... oranges, boiled eggs, and a wee dram. Kinda weird, but the fuel did us good. 

Here's poor boB looking fairly dejected... Just as we were sitting there it started to sprinkle rain. No!!

But we headed off again quickly and still stayed ahead of any serious rain. The bog in the Connemarra is beautiful and goes on for miles. Looking back over our shoulders to the north we could just see the Twelve Pins buried in the clouds. 

And as we carried on further we could see a bit more of the mountains, a view these horses enjoy year-round in all sorts of weather!

We happened upon Patrick Pearse's cottage while on the R340. We arrived as two tour busses full of teenage Gaelic heritage students pulled up and began unloading. We walked up to the cottage but didn't enter, for fear of the teenager mob.

We passed through the coastal village of Spiddal, and had considered camping there. But we kind of wanted to get to a music store in Galway, so we carried onward. 

For a while the sun came out and we actually started overheating! The beach was beautiful, and the view south to The Burren was fantastic. But we were hot and decided to treat ourselves to ice cream. 

In the few minutes it took to round up the ice cream treats it overcast again, and by the time we were done eating them we were cold! Time to power on!

We made Galway in fine time, and were shocked to see the teeming mass of humanity filling the streets! Compared to what we experienced in January the place was completely jammed. 

We pushed our bikes along, found a music shop for a tune book or two, and then went up to our Airbnb for the night. We had thought about going back into the city to catch a session, but the thought of dealing with the masses of people in the pubs turned us off, and it was windy and raining quite hard, so we stayed in and watched a movie on the iPad. "Angela's Ashes" is a movie about a family in Limerick in the 1930s - 40s, and is an interesting watch if you want to see how some of Ireland's population lived at that time. Plus it gave us ideas about things to look for in Limerick the following week. 

On our way out of Galway the next morning, we treated ourselves downtown to a coffee and croissants. Tasty!

We made the train station in plenty of time, schlepped the bikes on board, and sat back to watch the country side roll past. We arrived soon enough in Limerick (in the rain) and found out that Limerick has been nominated for European city of culture for the year 2020. Go Limerick!

Mid-afternoon we landed in our incredibly cozy on-campus apartment: 

...and celebrated with a wee glass of whiskey! 

The rest of the week staying in the campus apartment and attending music classes, concerts, lectures, and maybe a session or two. More on that in the next post!

 22.6.16: Bonnyfinglas- Westport. Took Swinford road to Foxford. Then took R318 to R310 to R315. Took Beltra road to R312 to R317. From Newport took greenway cyclepath parallel to N59. Total 36 miles.

23.6.16:  Greenway cycle path to Achill Sound & back. Total 56 miles.

24.6.16: Westport - Clifden. Took N59 to the L1823. Meet with R335 and connected again to N59 Leenan. Total 49.5 miles.

25.6.16: Clifden - Galway. Took R341 to a "bog road". Then, R342 to R340 to R336. 60.00 total miles.

26.6.16: Galway-Limerick by train; total 14 miles biking around town(s).

Life At An Sionnach Rua

Here are a few snaps of our life in Ireland...

Yummy Taytos!! Go Ireland!

This is Ballina, our nearest town. 

That's the River Moy, and St. Muredoch's Cathedral which was built in the1820's of locally quarried stone.

  

Right next to the Cathedral are the ruins of the 14th century Augustinian Abbey. Sadly, the Abbey was burned during the Reformation and the times of Henry VIII. 

It is amazing how, even to this day, the ruins of theses colossal structures still dominate the Irish landscape and remind the onlooker of the importance of Christianity and monastic settlement in the later middle ages.

And now for a Keg delivery!!

The delivery man swings the kegs off the truck, bounces them off the cushion on the ground, and then rolls them away. Then we cart them into the pub and stage them in the cellar. 

Remember when we saw the Guinness Quality Team van on our first stop in Ireland last January? We finally got to meet them!

Turns out it's not a van-load of full-time taste-testers who personally check the quality of the pour at pubs across the country. :-(   (We were hoping we could move to Ireland and get a job doing that...) 

Rather, it's a fellow who drives to local pubs, providing technical services to pub owners so the taps run well and the beer tastes right. The Quality Tech trained us on cleaning the beer lines from the kegs to the taps, and also how to change kegs and make sure everything is running in top form. We'll add that to our resume!

Here's Paraic Mac in the bog:

Mac is a gem of a man, and we have loads of fun helping him in the bog. 

Here's boB in a boG:

On a bikE!

The bogs aren't ALWAYS soggy places - for the most part, during this spell of wonderful weather we've had, one can walk (and bike) without getting wet feet.

And it's home from the bog- in Wellingtons!

And behind the pub...

We've spent several weeks cleaning out the inside of that shed. It's filled with stuff people have left behind over the years: old pub furniture, empty coal bags, busted timber, broken cast iron cookers thousands of aluminum drink cans... You name it! 

Here is a collection of trash we removed. This represents a mere fraction of the clutter.

We heard that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.... and so.....

We end many a day in the pub. Here we are with some of the regulars. Padraig (the singer) is on the left, and Michael (officially the kindest man you could ever meet) is on the right. And, well, I guess we can be counted as Regulars now, too! :-)

We did venture out to another pub, Rouses', in Ballina for a trad music session night:

Great craic! These folks were very good, and invited us to play a tune or two. 

One day we rode to Turlough for a family festival taking place at the National Museum of Ireland. We heard that there would be music and so we loaded up and cycled 20 odd miles on the back roads to get there.

...Between Lough Conn and Lough Cullin, over the Pontoon Bridge...

And found this metal square suspended on two posts, and framing a pretty nice picture of Lough Conn. 

At the festival we found the Clew Bay Pipe Band!

Highland Pipes!! The pipe band was made up mostly of younger players, and they were quite good. They also played with a sort of rock band, and the combination of pipes and electric guitar was pretty good. 

This young chap is a drummer-in-training. He worked hard to keep in time and play his part!

We also caught a bit of Irish step dancing:

 

The National Museum of Ireland at Tulough was itself incredibly entertaining and informative- with exhibits specific to country life in Ireland 1850-1950 , it's struggles and the skill and ingenuity it took to survive it. We were strongly impacted by these figures;

As you can see, famine and emigration took a huge toll on the population in the 1800's.

We needed a bow rehaired...

And met Kevin Sykes. He's been making violins for nearly thirty years. It was inspiring to talk with this very kind and thoughtful man.

This is brilliant!

As you can see, M.C. Hammer has left his mark far and wide. 

We found the ruins of the13th century MacJordan's castle on a cycle ride, just a few miles/kms from home. 

Just a wee bit further down the same road, we stopped into the Straide Abbey and the Michael Davitt museum. The same family who built the castle above, had the Abbey built as well! The Abbey ruins are to the left of the church below:

The ornate stone work within the Abbey was incredible!

It must have been a massive and impressive place during its prime. (It is STILL massive and impressive today!)

The museum staff treated us to tea and we had an excellent private tour that taught us a lot about Michael Davitt's life and the profound influence he had on 19th century Ireland (and elsewhere).  

We were deeply impressed by the story of this fascinating and well traveled humanitarian who was willing to make many personal sacrifices for improvement of his country's circumstances. We sat next to the nearby steam and listened to the 'Banks of the Moy':

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s2p7VGHyMfE

We found the future home of our pub and music school!  

The landscaping is, um, very mature. 

Here's one of the nearby standing stones, the Carrower-Ogham stone.

There are dozens of such ancient monuments, as well as ring forts, dolmens, and tombs scattered in this area. People have been here for thousands and thousands of years and it is fascinating to think about the layers of history represented in these monuments. 

Here's the beach at Inishcrone, north of here by about 16 miles. 

Inishcrone is home to a "glamping" site (glamour camping). This place has a double decker bus, London taxis, and a Boeing 767-200! The plane was floated here from Sligo on a barge, then trucked inland a few hundred yards. It will be made into a wee hotel/hostel. Clever!

That's Kilalla Bay, north of Ballina. On the other side of the water is the Rosserk Abbey.

An Irish staple:

Bikini potatoes! (Please note, generally this is the only time bikinis are worn here in Ireland.)

And, in case you've been missing them, here's the obligatory sign collection:

Please. Do it for the barefoot children.

We enjoy helping Gerry at the pub. We did some advertising for a party one night:

It was a fancy dress party, and we dressed up!

Well we dressed in coal bags and tinsel...  :-)

Gerry won the prize for dressing like Freddy Mercury, and danced all night long!

That was a FUN night! We were away by about one in the morning, but a handful of diehard regulars kept the party going until about four a.m.! 

We were walking through the square in the centre of Tubbercurry, a nearby town, and these lad struck up a conversation with us to find out where we were from. Great lads to talk with, and another example of how open and friendly we have found the Irish people to be. 

They asked us to take their picture with our camera. So they primped up their hair (in unison - they were so vain it was cute!) and put on their Cool Faces. 

This lad kept asking to see the pictures, and wanted us to email them so he could put them on his Facebook page. 

And they took our picture in front of this sculpture in the square. Thanks, Lads! They have a fantastic traditional music week with tuition and sessions in July. Too many festivals, too little time! We have to come back again!

The Meelick Round Tower, about 10 miles from where we live:

Round Towers were built around 1000 AD. Their exact purpose is not known, but it's thought they were built by monks as a defensive structure for protection from Viking raiders. Approximately 80 of these towers remain scattered throughout the Irish landscape, six of which are in County Mayo. 

As you know, we've been on a wee mission to find the best fish and chips... Another of our difficult duties while we're on this adventure. 

This is Norios chippy in Ballina - which we have decided has the best fish we've found so far. (The best chips were in Donegal Town.) The perfect post-ride treat!

We have fallen in love with Irish Whiskey over the past few weeks. Powers is most excellent, and Bushmills is up there as well!

Here's another one of our difficult duties:

Pulling pints!

boB pulled these two, and they were graded as Perfect by Gerry. Melinda pulled quite a few, too, and she became quite skilled at it! 

We helped Gerry in a few really busy nights at the pub, and now we can add that to our resumes!

The satisifaction we feel upon earning this accomplishment can not be overestimated!

The house we're staying is attached to the pub (it's a tough life!) and has three bed rooms. Gerry lets rooms out occasionally, and a few fishermen stayed here with us. One fellow left us a huge brown trout to thank us for letting him crash here for a few days. 

The Moy is famous for the salmon fishing, and a fine Cork fisherman gifted us one of his salmon. There were three of them from Cork, and we had a great time with them. Their accent is so different than the Mayo accent that we had a hard time understanding them, but that made it even more fun!

A beautiful large fish, fresh and better tasting than any fish we've had! The fishermen were always nice and friendly folks, and we had great craic in the short time we had with them. 

Here's a foxy lady:

Foxy!

We painted the pub mascot: the red fox. Gerry has a tea mug that says For ... Sake, and there's a fox face in the middle of it. So we transferred that image to the back wall of the pub as a treat for Gerry and the pub-goers, and for us too. So far it's a smashing hit! 

Gerry has music some nights, and Kieran Lundy is a regular. He sings classic Irish country songs and ballads, dishes out the craic, and once he found out we were musicians he goaded us into playing a few sets. When Kieran was here several weeks ago he invited us up to play a few numbers, and a fellow called Hughie requested a song called 'Health To The Company'. We didn't know it at the time, but we promised to learn it. When Kieran came back for another gig he invited us up again and this time we sang 'Health To The Company' for Hughie. From across the pub we could hear Hughie singing along. Kieran invited him up to the mic, and Hughie belted it out for us all!

Then he kept going and sang for about another another hour! Great Craic! And one of the reasons that we love it here - people are so friendly and open, and everyone appreciates it when someone sings a song in a pub. 

We had an excellent family night with Gerry's lovely family at the pub- above Paul &Carol and below Sarah (Gerry's partner) on the right with Carol, her mother. 

Alas, and all too soon, it's time to go. Our last couple of nights in the pub were a bit tearful. We think the local regulars may miss us as much as we'll miss them. They have helped us feel so at home here. 

 One of the benefits of traveling the way we do is that we get to meet so many beautiful people and witness how they live and think about their part of the world. It is so enriching to build these connections. But it sure is sad to say goodbye.

We'll always have these unique and special memories of our time here, and with any luck at all we'll pass this way again!

Farewell for now to An Sionnach Rua, Bunnifinglas, the bog, our friend Gerry and his family, and all our new County Mayo friends! Up Mayo!