Connemara Day

Today was my bus tour up into Connemara. I took a similar tour1 seven years ago, and that tour was on a cold, misty day, with some rain, at the beginning of October. A spring tour, on a bright sunny day2, was a bit different.

Here’s the sort of terrain you get in Connemara. Peatlands, small mountains, scattered rocks, lots of sheep, and small lakes and streams. It reminded me a fair bit of the Scottish Highlands. But look at that gorgeous sky!
This is one of my favourite things – it’s called a crannog. It’s an artificial island built in the middle of the lake as a defense for local bronze-age clans. Some times, they would have special paths under water built up so those who knew the secret could get to the island quickly and safely, while outsiders would fall into the water.
This is the head of Killary Fjord, in the village of Leenane. Killary Fjord is the only fjord in Ireland.
A little further down Killary Fjord, they farm mussels. Apparently, they went to Norway to learn how to properly farm the fjord.
As with the last tour, Kylemore Abbey was the main stop. I took a lot of pictures last time; this is what it looks like when it actually sees the sun.
The walled Victorian Garden at Kylemore looks substantially better in the spring than it did in the fall.
Kylemore Abbey is beautiful, and one of the best things about it are the views. This is the view from the tea shop up near the garden.
I took a few pictures inside the abbey last tour, but I must have missed this thing, which is very cool. It’s a tabernacle and polyptych that the Benedictine nuns brought from the destroyed Ypres abbey.
This is a little stream going over a waterfall as it runs into Lough Scrib. I just think it looks neat, with the gorse and stuff.

So, that was my return to Connemara. Tomorrow, I go to Inismor, and have to get up early for that. And that means I’m going to bed, now.

  1. With a different tour company. []
  2. Which is what I had today. []

2 thoughts on “Connemara Day”

  1. Hey Rick, enjoying reading your blog. I love the stream picture is looks like it would have been fun to sit in one of those pools of water. Great photo also almost looks like Thunder bay with the power lines in the background.

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