A slightly sore head this morning after last night's shenanigans. Anyways time to move on. Weather today is far more Irish, cloudy with lots of drizzle which doesn't really entice photography or even clambering out of the van at viewpoints.
Exiting the Renvylle Peninsula towards Letterfrack is the Derryinver Bridge. Here in 1893 the daughter of Mitchell Henry died when her horse bolted. Mitchell had built the impressive, nearby, Kylemore Abbey (a tourist magnet that I avoided), but then sold it after his wife and daughter passed away.
Following the Wild Atlantic Way around Connemara is not fast. Roads are narrow, windy, and lots of uppy downy and bumpy. 4th gear, of 6, is the maximum and only briefly. 50 kph (30mph) is usually plenty.
Clifden centre is small but a traffic jam. Nowhere really suited for parking even my small van, I continue on the coast route towards Roundstone. Just outside Clifden is the Marconi and Allcock & Brown point of interest. There is a laid out boardwalk into the peat bogs around the site Marconi established around 1907 to transmit across the Atlantic but it fell into disuse and was largely destroyed around 1923. Allock & Brown landed nearby in the first transatlantic flight. 1919. Not really photogenic.
On the southern side of Connemara the boggy terrain starts to give way to larger rocky outcrops. Even sheep don't like it. The are a few smaller strands and harbours which would once have been a means of moving cargo via very small sailing craft called Galway Hookers. The weather didn't do the scenery justice.
It probably took 5 or so hours to work my way round the Connemara circuit, including diving off down some, but not all, side routes. But eventually the terrain flattened and became more inhabited as Galway beckoned.
Galway itself was best avoided. A traffic jam and even the WAW signage disappeared. I stopped off briefly for supplies (UK Tesco Clubcard doesn't work in Eire, so forget the discounts). The rest of road around the Galway County was quite boring. Fairly flat and not that much coast. Mostly the N class road.
My stopover for the night is just inside County Clare at Flaggy Shore, which looks out from the South towards Galway Bay. Potentially a good FLT spot and 15 minutes walk from Liannes Lobster Bar. The lobster was too much for my wallet but other seafood including oysters and Guinness proved good.
Exiting the Renvylle Peninsula towards Letterfrack is the Derryinver Bridge. Here in 1893 the daughter of Mitchell Henry died when her horse bolted. Mitchell had built the impressive, nearby, Kylemore Abbey (a tourist magnet that I avoided), but then sold it after his wife and daughter passed away.
Following the Wild Atlantic Way around Connemara is not fast. Roads are narrow, windy, and lots of uppy downy and bumpy. 4th gear, of 6, is the maximum and only briefly. 50 kph (30mph) is usually plenty.
Clifden centre is small but a traffic jam. Nowhere really suited for parking even my small van, I continue on the coast route towards Roundstone. Just outside Clifden is the Marconi and Allcock & Brown point of interest. There is a laid out boardwalk into the peat bogs around the site Marconi established around 1907 to transmit across the Atlantic but it fell into disuse and was largely destroyed around 1923. Allock & Brown landed nearby in the first transatlantic flight. 1919. Not really photogenic.
On the southern side of Connemara the boggy terrain starts to give way to larger rocky outcrops. Even sheep don't like it. The are a few smaller strands and harbours which would once have been a means of moving cargo via very small sailing craft called Galway Hookers. The weather didn't do the scenery justice.
It probably took 5 or so hours to work my way round the Connemara circuit, including diving off down some, but not all, side routes. But eventually the terrain flattened and became more inhabited as Galway beckoned.
Galway itself was best avoided. A traffic jam and even the WAW signage disappeared. I stopped off briefly for supplies (UK Tesco Clubcard doesn't work in Eire, so forget the discounts). The rest of road around the Galway County was quite boring. Fairly flat and not that much coast. Mostly the N class road.
My stopover for the night is just inside County Clare at Flaggy Shore, which looks out from the South towards Galway Bay. Potentially a good FLT spot and 15 minutes walk from Liannes Lobster Bar. The lobster was too much for my wallet but other seafood including oysters and Guinness proved good.
