It's quite rainy this morning - not unusual for Galway, apparently, as it is on the Atlantic - out past Claddagh, which is actually a region, not just a ring, it's an old area where merchants used to ply their trade, past the area of Salthill, on Galway Bay.
Across the bay, if we could see through the rain, are the Cliffs of Moher, the Burren and the Aran Islands. Our driver, Dave, tells us we will hear all about rain, turf, sheep and the Irish and it will be a fun day!
We are heading to Connemara, an area where Gaelic Irish is spoken a lot. Students wanting to learn Gaelic come from all over to go to school here and they are boarded with families. The Connemara Irish is different to the Cork Irish but they can understand each other. And the word 'Connemara' means 'with the sea'.
There are a lot of stone walls all over Ireland, we had thought they were built by the convicts to give them work but Dave says it was mainly to clear the fields of all the stones. There are lots of Connemara ponies around, they seem like the Icelandic ponies - well suited to the environment.
Quite a few thatched houses, some even being built now. These are expensive to build and really expensive to insure as they are a self-contained fire trap!
We had also noticed the standard house design all over - a box structure on a piece of concrete. Dave says that all houses built now have to be wheelchair-accessible so that's why they are like that. Shame no nice garden beds by the front door. This is a prime example...
The Aran Islands are off in the distance, the Aran sweaters come from here. These are white with coloured panels and the panels are specific to each family so if any of the fishermen were lost at sea and washed up, they could identify what family he came from.
Some amazing scenery along the way...
..to the first stop - Patrick Pearse's home - he was one of the signers of the proclamation from the Easter Rising - we are being educated in Irish history and the more we hear, the more we understand and the more sense it makes! Here's his house...
Next stop - the bog road, as we saw a bit of on the Ring of Kerry the other day. Today we went right out into a big section, amazing! It's wetland bog and is being harvested. Dave showed us some of the cut turf. This area is very unique and unlike anything we've seen before.
We have a brief photo stop in Roundstone - this is one of my main reasons for choosing this tour - this was one of the locations in the film The Matchmaker, one of my favourites, so I was very excited to see this one - and it looked just as I imagined!
There is an actual matchmaker festival in Ireland, but it's not in Roundstone, it's in Lisdoonvarna. We went through it the other day and saw some signs still up for it. It's on in September so we missed it - I might have gone to an event if it were still on!
Lots of amazing scenery - it is indeed wild...
Some wildlife...
Clifden is the largest of the towns in Connemara, we go along the Sky Road for some impressive views...
We had a choice then of Kylemore Abbey or Connemara National Park. We went with Kylemore.
Kylemore Abbey was owned by Mitchell Henry who bought the estate around 1867 for his wife, Margaret after she fell in love with it. They had nine children and lived a happy life, they entertained, planted 300,000 trees, were totally self sufficient, hunted grouse, pheasant and rabbit and fished for trout. Sadly, Margaret got dysentery and died, aged 45. Mitchell couldn't maintain the home and it was sold to a couple of others until it was gifted to the nuns, who formed a boarding school for girls.
It's a magnificent building, right on a lake.
We went first to have a sandwich, then up into the abbey itself. After the nuns arrived, a sacred heart statue was erected by the Benedictine community as a thanksgiving after the mortgage was paid - can almost see it here...that white dot in the centre on the mountain.
..and here in close up...
It's like their own Christ the Redeemer...
Inside, they have a lot of interesting information about the convent school run by the nuns. It only closed in 2010 due to dwindling numbers and the difficulty in getting staff.
They also have examples of the drawing room and dining room.
After the inside, we got into the little shuttle which took us up to the walled garden that Mitchell created - amazing!
If you were a gardener, you'd seriously want to work here. And these guys do! Here are their kale plants.
Then on to the shuttle back down and across to the gothic chapel, a beautiful little cathedral Mitchell built dedicated to the memory of Margaret.The stained glass window depicts the five graces - fortitude, faith, charity, hope and chastity.
Margaret was laid to rest in a mausoleum behind the chapel and when Mitchell died many years later, he was brought to lay beside her, by peaceful running water in the place they loved.
So that was Kylemore. We went for a coffee before hopping back in the bus and driving back to Galway.
It was a pretty spectacular day and the Wild Atlantic Way is indeed wild and rugged and beautiful and we did learn a lot about rain, turf, sheep and the Irish, just like Dave said we would!
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