Clare Cliffs and Mayo Cute

It took us several minutes to get over Killaloe Bridge this morning, waiting our turn while the complicated traffic light system funnels about 6 separate streets worth of traffic over the narrow bridge.

However, eventually we were driving along the shore of Lough Derg, a little gobsmacked at the very ( very!) plush homes we passed. The main street of Kilalloe was really a bit ordinary but there’s clearly a lot of well-to-do people that live nearby. I was really excited when we drew near Ogonnelloe, which is so tiny you’d miss it if you blinked.

Other than a sign, a church and a couple of cottages there really wasn’t a lot to see. However the view down to the Lough was lovely and I wondered where about me my ancestors had lived. Neil , rather rudely!, suggested that the ramshackle ruin we passed looked likely. I have to admit it bears some similarities to the tumbledown house in O’Connell NSW that was the later  home of the Clancys. 🙂

 

Rapidly passing through Ogonelloe we set off west again to one of the major sights in this part of the country, the Cliffs of Moher. They run for about 14km along the coast and at their tallest (near O’Briens Tower) they’re about 213 metres tall. We were lucky to pick a day when there was little wind so we really enjoyed our walk out and along the cliff edge to take in the wonderful views.The place was really packed with tourists, I counted 20 big buses in the car park and there were dozens of cars as well.

 

We dropped in to the visitor centre for a coffee and a muffin. The centre is a bit like something out of a Tolkein tale, built into the hill and the little row of hobbit hole shops behind it were doing a roaring trade!

Driving on we passed by Leamaneh Castle , a 15th century fortified castle, now rumoured to be haunted by “Red Mary”, who was a very fiery lady living at the time of Cromwell. Mary was aptly named, not just for her flaming red hair but also her foul temper, which was legendary. It is said that if a servant were foolish enough to displease her, they would be hung out of one of the castle windows, the men by their necks and the women by their hair. If the maids did not learn to bend to her will, she would punish them by cutting off their breasts!!  After the death of her last husband, it is alleged that she was captured by a group of her enemies and taken to a hollow tree. Here she was fastened up and left to die of starvation’

Not far down the road we passed through a region called “The Burren”.  The craggy terrain of the Burren is famously lunar in its appearance, its cracked grey stone peaking and troughing for acres upon acres. The pale grey of the limestone  hills is such a stark contrast to the green fields that we’re accustomed to seeing in Ireland.

We stopped to see the Poulnabrone dolmen , a portal tomb which ( like so many other stone structures we’ve seen on this trip!)  dates back to the Neolithic period. A couple of hundred years ago they thought it was a druids alter but now they know it’s the remains of a mounded tomb. They must have been a hefty bunch of lads to get that top stone up on top of the other two!

Soon we were dropping down from the Burren highlands to the shores of Galway Bay .

By the shores of the bay we stopped to take a quick look at 6 Dunguaire Castle , a 16th-century tower house. The castle was used in the 1969 Walt Disney movie Guns in the Heather, which I must admit I’ve never seen – I’ll have to look for it now 🙂

However, I have seen ( and love!) the movie that inspired my choice for our final stop of the day, and the town where we’re spending the night. The cute little town of Cong is in County Mayo ( but right on the border with Galway) and it’s claim to fame ( aside from a rather lovely ruined abbey) is that it was used as the location for the filming of the 1952 movie of “The Quiet Man” with John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. The town’s residents have been living off that ever since! There’s a statue of them at the corner of the street and several of the shops, pubs and cafe’s have adopted the names of characters in the movie.

 

As I mentioned before Cong also has a really lovely old ruined abbey, the Royal Abbey of Cong which stands just on the edge of town on the edge of a pretty river and woods. There’s been a church here since the 7th century, but it was destroyed and rebuilt many times. The current ruins date back to the early 1300s. It was a real pleasure to wander around and watch the fish and the ducks swimming in the crystal clear water.

Near the abbey is “The Monks Fishing House” , which is built out over the stream and has a hole in the floor so the monk could drop down and catch a line in the winter cold while still sitting in front of his little fire.

A cozy dinner tonight down in the bar was a nice finish to our day, scampi for Neil and Moroccan chicken for me. Heading further north tomorrow with more sea cliffs ( if the rain holds off long enough to let us see them!)