Ireland Trip 2022

I'm back and ready to report back on my trip to Ireland.  This was with my "Ladies Lunch" group, Ana, Mary and Catherine.  Ana's late husband's family have property and land there and Ana now owns the house that David built on their plot of land.

Many of you will associate Ireland with Dublin which is of course one of the closest points to the UK but we were staying in a small village called Ballyconneely - the blue dot on the map below.

After a slightly hair-raising cab ride to Stanstead airport (I'd allow at least 45 minutes for the drive there, the cab driver made it in 25!) we had plenty of time to check in, get through security and have some lunch.

The flight was uneventful and we arrived at Shannon airport on time.

Shannon is not far from Limerick on the map.  We picked up our hirer car and set off for Ballyconneely.

The first part of the journey was fairly straightforward, the roads to Galway are good and there was very little traffic.  Unfortunately we hit Galway at rush hour so it took a while to get through there and on to the road to Clifden.  The nearer we got to Clifden (the nearest town to Ballyconneely) the smaller the roads became.  And more winding.  But the scenery was beautiful.

We stopped in Clifden to pick up some essential shopping.  It has a very nice supermarket with lots of choice.

Then it was on to Ballyconneely.  Around lots of bends and over 2 bridges which are only wide enough for one car.  Just before you get to Ballyconneely we turned off onto the road that leads to Ana's house.  I say road but track is probably a better description.  It is only wide enough for one car, winds round and round and up and down and you find yourself praying you don't meet a car coming the other way unless it's by the driveway to a house where there will be room to pass one another.  Fortunately, the whole time we were there we didn't meet too many cars and every time they reversed back enabling me to pass!

And finally we reached the house.

Like many houses in the area it's single story but it has 3 bedrooms, kitchen, separate dining room, 2 reception rooms, bathroom and shower room and great views with their land running down to the lake you can see in the 3rd picture above.

Our first couple of days we had really good weather.  It was bright and sunny although chillier than it had been at home.  Cattle and sheep graze on the land which is part of a heritage protected site so there are strict restrictions on what building can take place.

Of course we had to explore the beach which is just a short walk away.

Mary, Ana, Catherine

We stopped on one of our travels to take a picture of this lake which was just like a mirror.

One of the local neighbours

Sunset

Kylemore Abbey

A meal out in Clifden at the Marconi restaurant

Spot the seals!

Overall we had a lovely relaxing week.  We did some of the obvious tourist things - we ate out at lunchtime and then cooked back at the house in the evenings.  We went to Mass at the village church on the Sunday and tried out the local pub. 

We visited Kylemore Abbey and a place called Roundstone where we had a lovely seafood chowder.  We went to a concert and listened to an amazing fiddle player.  We browsed lots of craft shops.  Catherine and I watched the Queen's funeral.  We met some of Ana's in-laws and we even joined in with a memory walk around the nearby Marconi site raising funds for the Alzheimer's society.

The Marconi site is where the radio pioneer set up a radio station to transmit across the Atlantic.

It's also where Alcock and Brown landed when they made the first trans-Atlantic flight in 1919.

This picture of a map shows just how much water there is in the area!

Roundstone Harbour

The hotel at Ballynahinch

It's a beautiful part of Ireland to visit but it must be quite bleak in the winter months.  We were lucky with the weather - the only rainy day was the Wednesday before we came home on the Thursday but we still got out in the afternoon.  We headed for Ballynahinch Castle where there is a nice hotel for lunch although we inadvertantly took the scenic route crossing a bog between mountains but the road was actually well surfaced and marked and we had more lovely views of a lake.

Ana is a great hostess and we all get on so well so there was lots of laughter.  Hopefully we'll be going again.