A Week With Wheels!

 Our friend Kees from The Netherlands paid us a visit for a week. The metal rack on the back of our bikes being somewhat uncomfortable for passengers, we decided to rent wheels to enable us the travel far and wide as a threesome.

boB volunteered for the post of Trusty Chauffeur and his performance driving on the LEFT proved to be excellent. (Thankfully.)

It was not without its moments, however, and this sort of expression was common!

Melinda, of the Side-Kick Navigation Department, doubled as Roving Photographer.

Our first stop; Yeats' country- County Sligo, which is Northeast of County Mayo, where we have been living. (Although born in Dublin, W.B. Yeats spent many childhood year with his grandparents in this area of Western Ireland. The unique landscapes, as well as the history and lore of the region had a major influence on him, and his love for Sligo certainly shone through his work.)

Meanwhile, Kees flew into Dublin and bused to Sligo. We waited patiently at the station for his arrival while admiring the display of Irish pride and 1916 banners.

With Kees in tow, we headed a wee further west to our hostel in Strandhill, with enough time to catch a beautiful sunset......

...and an incredible trad music session at the Strandhill Pub.

Ah, Guinness!

And good friends!

The following morning we discovered we were only miles away from Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery, the largest collection of megalithic tombs in Ireland!

We took a sunny stroll through these ancient monuments and pondered their unique history.

On the far hill, Knocknarea, in the photo above, the large stone cairn of Queen Maeve's (Meabh) tomb is visible. Queen Maeve is a colorful character in Irish mythology. Estimated to have been built around 3000 BCE, her tomb has never been excavated. It is one of the largest Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland- some 55 meters wide and 10 meters tall! 

There are 60 recorded smaller tombs at Carrowmore proper, of which 30 are visible.  

Amazing!

Later, we spent a few hours in Sligo town and visited the Dominican Friary ruins.

Built in the 13th century, this once beautiful structure sadly did not survive Cromwell's invasion. Below is a photo of its cloister. If you look closely at the inner archway, you can see the engraving know as the Lover's Knot, which is thought to symbolize the spiritual connection between humanity and the divine. Below the Lover's Knot, you can also see the remnants of a carved face.

Being in Yeat's country, it was recommended we visited the Model Museum's Niland Gallery, which houses many of Jack Yeat's paintings.  They also had an exhibit about 'A Broadside', a publication from the early 1900's that was illustrated by Jack Yeats and published by E.C. Yeats, both talented siblings of the famous poet W.B. Yeats. 

The beautiful and expressive illustrations coupled with thoughtful prose and poetry caught our eye and we enjoyed pondering these historic gems.   

And now a photo for all you nurses out there - the Irish Pub just for you! Barstools could be the perfect place to hang your hooks......

(boB here... Melinda told me that the "Foley" is a device that would allow a bar patron to dispose of used beer while consuming new beer at the same time, and said patron would never have to leave the safety and comfort of their bar stool. I don't know the details of how this time-saving device works, but it sounds like a pretty good deal to me!)

We wandered into a music shop where Kees and boB tried out the traditional Irish flutes. (Kees plays flute at home, and was able to make his flute sound pretty nice. boB wasn't.)

At the end of Quay Street we paid homage to the victims of famine at the Irish famine memorial.

Some 30,000 famished and impoverished Irish people left the Sligo area between the years 1847-1851 from this very port. It gave us goosebumps to stand at this memorial and imagine just how terrible those times must have been.

The plaque near this wraithly scuplture shown the following quote:

'The dead are not far from us...they cling in some strange way to what is most still and deep within us.' -WB Yeats

Haunting.

Further down the road on our way to Donegal we came to Drumcliff, at the base of Benbulbin mountain, and paid our respects to The Poet himself.

Although Yeats lived in France at the time of his death, he requested that his remains be brought here to lie beneath Benbulbin. (There is some controversy about whether his remains are actually here or not. It is mysterious indeed.)

And here, getting the perfect picture of the Celtic Highcross..... The Red Shirt Photographer brigade!

Anyone for a Guinness?

We found our way to a quirky and cozy pub in Donegal town.

We can't recommend this pub highly enough - incredibly friendly staff, welcoming locals, and a boot through the ceiling. What's not to like about that?

From Donegal town we headed west. We passed by a charming church and round tower in village of Bruckless.

As we passed through Killybeggs, Ireland's busiest fishing port, we caught a deeply fishy scent and thought of the generations of fisherman making their living on the Wild Atlantic. The song, Boys of Killybeggs came to mind:

'There are wild and rocky hills on the coast of Donegal
And the fishermen are hearty, brave and free
and the big atlantic swell
is a thing they know right well
as they fight to make their living from the sea

 With a pleasant rolling sea and the herring running free
and our ships all gliding gently through the foam
when the boats are loaded down
there'll be singing in the town
when the boys of Killybegs come rollin home

Now you're headed out to sea and the wind is blowing free
and you cast your nets as rain begins to fall
and the clouds are riding high and the wind will soon blow by
and today you'll maybe get your bumper haul

Well the weather's very rough and the work gets plenty tough
and the ropes will raise the welts upon your hands
but you'll never leave the sea
for whoever you may be
when it's in your blood it's hard to live on land

Now there's purple on the hills and there's green down by the shore
and the sun has cast it's gold upon the sea
and there's silver down below where the herring fishes go
if we catch them there'll be gold for you and me'

We wondered what the world was coming to when we later saw this somewhat odd combination:

Curious, eh?

We continued west to the Slieve League, the highest sea cliffs in Ireland, and among the largest in Europe. The weather on our hike up to the cliffs started off cloudy....

But as we got closer, the clouds cleared and we were treated to some spectacular scenery!

Rising to a height of 601 meters (nearly 2000 feet!), these sea cliffs are stunning.

Melinda acquired her very own Irish Flat Cap, and was thereby inducted into the League Of Excellent Headwear. Welcome! (Co. Donegal is known for its quality tweed and knitwear- and naturally we wanted to support the local industry!)

Peek-a-boo!

We landed later at Glencolumcille, a Gaeltacht (Gaelic-speaking) village north of Slieve Leage. We visited the folk village museum and learned about the history of the area from 1700-present. And we admired the Early Christian standing stone near the church:

The stone is thought to date to the 700's, and is visited by many pilgrims following the 'Turas' or journey though sacred sites in the area. Glencolmcille's name is derived from 'Colmcille', Gaelic for 'St Columba', the 6th century Irish missionary who was born in Donegal. (You may remember hearing about him in our post about Iona.) According to local legend, St. Columba had a religious center here in this Glen (before he left for Scotland). 

It is fascinating to see how history is layered upon itself. In this wee spot a beautiful historic church is near an even more ancient standing stone, the sacredness of the locality having been expressed differently by peoples through the ages. 

Dodging sheep on the "highway" in County Donegal:

We took the rental car up and down some kinda sketchy roads... when we saw this sign we knew we were in for some fun! 

"..... usses or ...... s beyond..... point"?

No worries - it's a rental!!

Entering a small village we saw this unlikely combination: something about these two signs together just doesn't seem to go....

I mean, really, 80km is what they're asking people to slow down to for the sake of the children? 

We are still trying to figure this one out!

Apparently there are cars bouncing off peoples' heads to the right. Or...?

We don't read Irish Gaelic, but thankfully the shape of the sign conveys the message that we need to know!

And here we learned that cars fall through holes on the side of the road.

boB's masterful driving kept us on the straight and narrow, although it was very seldom straight. 

And in Ireland when they indicate a steep incline they mean STEEP!

Like, 45 degrees steep!

With all this winding back and forth, and up and down, some 10 kilometers west of Ardara we found this beautiful waterfall:

And a beautifully carved tree stump in front of it. No telling when it was carved, or how many seasons it's seen.

Kees was curious to try Fish and Chips, Irish Style. So when we looped back through Donegal town, we hit up the chippy in Donegal that had been recommended by the Forge pub locals the night before. It was a famous chippy known for high quality and tasty F&C.

We've been chasing the perfect F&C for months now and in our expert opinion, their chips were excellent - some of the best we've had in Ireland - and their fish was quite good. It ranks highly and we recommend a stop when you are in Donegal town!

After two days of exploring Donegal and Sligo, we had only scratched the surface of the natural beauty and cultural richness these counties have to offer. County Mayo was calling however, and we headed home to An Sionnach Rua.  

We treated Kees to an afternoon in the bog, and he quite liked it! Again, the locals think we're mad and a bit daft for finding the bog work so fun and novel!

We took many a day trip from our base camp at An Sionnach Rua to see some of the local Mayo sites that we had been curious about but hadn't been able to visit yet by bicycle...

Here's the Round Tower at Killala, believed to have been built between 1170-1238 AD:

The limestone tower rises majestically some 25 meters above the town. The tower was hit by lightening, twice, and you can still witness the protuberance midway up its side on the left where repair work had to be done.

The entrance to the round tower is 3 meters up from its base- mostly likely a measure of security. 

Later, at the Ceide Fields to the northwest of Killala, we viewed the Stone Age field systems (collapsed agricultural field walls) that were found beneath the bog. These walls are estimated to be nearly 6000 years old and were thought to have been built by a peaceful farming community.

Bogs grow at a rate of about one meter every 1000 years, so about 1mm per year. Some of the stone walls were found beneath 4 or 5 meters of turf, so the age of the wall is easily determined.

A thoughtful Kees walking towards the visitor center at Ceide fields:

And beautiful scenery!

Above you can see that the bogs around the site are actively used today.

We also learned about some very interesting bog plants:

This is a patch of sundew, a carnivorous plant, and it eats MIDGES. We were so thrilled to hear that there are plants that eat midges that we wanted to head straight for a yard and garden centre and pick up a few in pots to take with us next time we go on bike tour! But then we learned that each plant eats, on average, five midges per month. Maybe not worthwhile to carry potted plants on a bike tour, but on the other hand every little bit helps, right?

We continued on through Belmullet (Gerry's hometown), and came to a modern interpretation of a stone circle- made into spiral. The peaks in the distance are Achill Island.  

At Blacksod Point, we came across a touching outdoor exhibit about assisted immigration from the area in the 1883-1884, after the last great Irish Famine.  A Quaker, Tuke, from York donated great sums of money to assist famished communities of west Ireland who wished to emmigrate to North America. There were plaques, commemorating each of the 15 specific steam ship crossings, complete with the names of all of the ships passengers. Some 3,300 left NW Mayo during this time. 

It was chilling the think of the extent of emigration that occurred from that very place alone. All over the west of Ireland ships left with people bound for the Promised Land, and the cultural effects are still felt today.

We visited Kilkelly later in the week, which is the focal point of a very poignant and moving song about Irish emigration. Written by two Americans, it is based on the letters written between their great grandfather and great-great grandfather.

We've made it a feature of our adventure to visit places that are named in songs, and then to sing the song while present. With Melinda playing chords and guiding us through the song, Kees and boB sang accompaniment.

'Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 60, my dear and loving son John
Your good friend the schoolmaster Pat McNamara's so good
As to write these words down.
Your brothers have all gone to find work in England,
The house is so empty and sad
The crop of potatoes is sorely infected,
A third to a half of them bad.
And your sister Brigid and Patrick O'Donnell
Are going to be married in June.
Your mother says not to work on the railroad
And be sure to come on home soon.

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 70, dear and loving son John
Hello to your Mrs and to your 4 children,
May they grow healthy and strong.
Michael has got in a wee bit of trouble,
I guess that he never will learn.
Because of the dampness there's no turf to speak of
And now we have nothing to burn.
And Brigid is happy, you named a child for her
And now she's got six of her own.
You say you found work, but you don't say
What kind or when you will be coming home.

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 80, dear Michael and John, my sons
I'm sorry to give you the very sad news
That your dear old mother has gone.
We buried her down at the church in Kilkelly,
Your brothers and Brigid were there.
You don't have to worry, she died very quickly,
Remember her in your prayers.
And it's so good to hear that Michael's returning,
With money he's sure to buy land
For the crop has been poor and the people
Are selling at any price that they can.

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 90, my dear and loving son John
I guess that I must be close on to eighty,
It's thirty years since you're gone.
Because of all of the money you send me,
I'm still living out on my own.
Michael has built himself a fine house
And Brigid's daughters have grown.
Thank you for sending your family picture,
They're lovely young women and men.
You say that you might even come for a visit,
What joy to see you again.

Kilkelly, Ireland, 18 and 92, my dear brother John
I'm sorry that I didn't write sooner to tell you that father passed on.
He was living with Brigid, she says he was cheerful
And healthy right down to the end.
Ah, you should have seen him play with
The grandchildren of Pat McNamara, your friend.
And we buried him alongside of mother,
Down at the Kilkelly churchyard.
He was a strong and a feisty old man,
Considering his life was so hard.
And it's funny the way he kept talking about you,
He called for you in the end.
Oh, why don't you think about coming to visit,
We'd all love to see you again.'

-Peter Jones

You can view the actual letters upon which the song is based here:

http://sherlockshome.ie/kilkelly-ireland-sung-by-its-composer-peter-jones/

And here's one of the all-time greatest ideas EVER. A hardware store in the front and a pub in the back!

(boB here: get me one of those nifty "Foley" things that we pointed out earlier, and I'd be set for life in a place like this. I'm going to google just what a "Foley" is and where I can get one...maybe they're sold at hardware stores like this one?)

We visited the 19th century Belleek Castle, just north of Ballina, and received a excellent and informative private tour from Carol, an extraordinary historic buff who happens to be Gerry's mother-in-law.

The gorgeous limestone castle is part hotel-part museum and holds an eclectic collection of treasures from large fossils to the very bed of the 16th century Irish pirate Queen Grace O'Malley.

The dining room above is fitted out to look like a galley on a ship, and it's made using many pieces that came from actual ships! 

One of the neatest rooms of the entire collection is the Armory, which contains loads of antique armor and weaponry from all over the world. This magnificent knight is outfitted for a joust:

And his horse is well armored, as well.

Carol taught us about the amour and allowed us to try our hand at a few of the pieces. Here's Kees with a two-handed sword... don't get in his way on the battle field!

This sword was so monstrously heavy that none of us can really image being able to swing it and direct it to hit someone, especially on a crowded and chaotic battle field. But apparently that's how they were used, and to devastating effect.

This is a Spanish helmet:

Afterwards, as we walked through woods near the castle, we came across the cutest squirrel!

On a visit to the ancient Errew Abbey on Loch Conn, the bounciest wee puppy jumped in front of our car at the parking area. No one else was around except for the wee puppy guide. She was hyper as could be, and walked us all the way back to the abbey through about a mile of farm fields and forest.

We wish we had had a dog bone to leave as a tip! She was a good guide!

These amazing historic structures speak to the deep influence of Christianity on the area during the late Middle Ages.

Kees, boB, and Puppy.

Only in Ireland:

Maybe we could start an inflatable pub business when we get back stateside!

We ended the week on wheels with Kees in Galway. Sadly, Melinda developed a complication from the tooth-work she had done in February, so we had to go to Galway for a day of dental fun, Irish style!

(That's an unfortunate after-effect of the bike crash in January, when we were in Glasgow. Touch wood that the work done in Galway will be sufficient to get her home before addtional dental work will again be necessary.)

We were sad to have to visit the dentist, and sad to part ways with Kees. We had an excellent visit and were grateful for the opportunity to share the adventure together!

Kees took the bus to Dublin from Galway while boB and Melinda meandered through the Connemara on way back to An Sionnnach Rua. 

Along the way we found a faerie tree:

And stopped to view the beautiful Kylemore Abbey:

And azaleas in bloom:

Stayed tuned- we hope to cycle through the Connemara later this month on our way south to Limerick!

We turned in the car after a week of left-side driving adventure. Driving on the left is fun, but we're so unaccustomed to being in a car that it was quite wearying. We were glad to be back on the bikes again, and getting in shape for our tour through the Connemarra.