Notes on Cliffs Of Moher to Kylemore Abbey

Sun 22^nd May
Today we travelled to The Cliffs of Moher. Well they certainly are spectacular and upstage the Great Ocean road in Victoria. The wind was blowing a gale and we had trouble staying vertical.. What a view. It was magnificent and we marveled at such beauty. Of course the others had to go beyond the ‘no going beyond this point’ sign. They are as bad as each other. I couldn’t go any further as the wind was so fierce it was possible to be blown off.
Then we headed for The Burren - a lunar like landscape which goes for over a hundred square miles. Wild flowers grow and the animals graze during the winter months. How they walk amongst the rocks I can’t imagine. It is very historical too with archaeologists finding relics from the past
We then moved on to Galway where we found a nice B & B (Abbey View) the other side of the town so we don’t have to worry about traffic in the morning. Most of these people are very friendly and this one was no exception.. Jennie and Trevor had a ’Faulty Towers’ like experience though in their bedroom with things breaking or falling off and the bath leaking etc which we laughed about over at brekky.
Mon 23^rd May
Left today heading through the Inagh Valley and Lakes through Kylemore Pass to visit the Kylemore Abbey which our B & B host recommended we did. The scenery was spectacular again The winds were bad today and we were told that it was gale force 11 winds with 1000’s of homes without power. The rain came as well so it was not the best of days. I was wearing so many clothes I felt like a ‘Michelin’ woman trying to keep warm. Colder than a Melbourne winters day. The Abbey was beautiful but my photos don’t do it justice. It was pouring with rain at the time. Walked through the walled garden which is centuries old too which is in the process of being fully restored. There were 18 heated glass houses which are yet to be restored.
Drove to Leenane and had hot vegie soup at Gaynors Pub which was the only place to buy any food. We had also run out of our picnic supplies. Soup was good on a day like today.
We stopped at Westport for coffee but didn’t stop to walk through the town. I think we were all too tired. Arrived at Sligo where we looked for somewhere for dinner. Not much happening in this town and ended up having a light meal in Hartigans Pub which was extremely old with lots of history too. Found a quaint little store selling deli style food the old fashioned way. A traditional grocery store with sacks of food and everything in bulk. It was just like going back 50 years. We bought some food for our lunch tomorrow.
From here we had to dash back to the car in the pouring rain and drove out of town again and found another B & B where we crashed for the night. We can’t get over how light it is. At 10 pm it was still light and we forget that it is getting late.