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.
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.
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!
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).
So good to head from you! Are you in Limerick for the meitheal summer school? If you are and if Gerry Shannon is still involved: Please give him my kindest regards. I was at the first one (in Ennis) and still have the fondest memories!
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