ISLAND LIFE

After my brief snorkelling session we had a peaceful night and walked down to the Connemara Smoke House on a bright and blustery morning for an enthusiastic and informative explanation of the various processes involved in producing hot and cold smoked salmon and mackerel. After purchasing selections of both we supported the other side of this family business by visiting the cafe next door. They all work hard but make a good living and benefit from the large number of affluent second home owners who have redeveloped many of the local houses and cottages. We filled up with water again at the hydrant near Keogh's before taking the Clifden road. 

 

 We stopped at the Marconi information centre and spent three fascinating and informative hours following the trail out to the site of the transmission station which had relied on a huge condenser hall to produce the enormous electrical charge required to transmit a message to America. This in turned was powered by four turbines in a turf fired power station consuming 6,000 tons per annum. Over 100 workers also lived on and around the site and unusually for the time in this area enjoyed domestic electricity to their homes. A small railway ran over the bog to deliver supplies and whilst little of anything remains on the ground some clever videoscopes allowed you to superimpose historic archive photographs on to the existing landscape. There was also reference to the record breaking flight of Alcock and Brown and we enjoyed discovering the modern peat farming methods involving bucket excavators and a tractor hauled multi port extruder. 

 

We stopped only briefly in Clifden to fill the fridge and cupboards and source a threaded bar and some nuts and washers to repair the tank fittings before taking the Sky Road and parking out at the beautiful Kingstown beach. Here I used the picnic bench fittings to fashion a hook bolt and re-secure the tank, easily done from a welcome clean concrete floor before we took a walk round the headland and later had a good chat with Michael from Dublin who was in another T4.

 

Back in Clifden I grabbed a much needed haircut after we had walked down to the harbour and spotted that the chef at a 4* restaurant was living in his somewhat run down camper parked down the road - a sign of the accommodation issues facing local workers. We then drove round to Claddaghduff and parked at the start of the tidal causeway to Omey Island which I had last visited in foul conditions in 2012. Today was very different as we unloaded the bikes, set off across the wide golden sands in warm sunshine and enjoyed the few miles of road and track followed by a final beach ride that enabled us to soak up the unique atmosphere of this remarkable place.

 

On our return we rode round to Cleggan to check out the arrangements for visiting Innishbofin and after a pint in the pub we returned to the van over some memorable miles. These carried on for Mandy as she rode after me as I took the van round to the Clifden Eco Beach campsite  (37 euros) which provided a night on hook up, the opportunity to empty tanks and refill with water but decline the dubious pleasures of a wood fired sauna that occupied a grand vantage point over the bay as the weather closed in. Before it got too wet we took a walk around the site to nose at other set ups and were amused by a German guy in a Volvo estate car camping out of a trailer made from the rear two thirds of an identical vehicle. With the bikes protected under the sturdy and well bungeed down cover and the heater on we enjoyed a very cosy night as the wind howled and the rain fell. Kris runs a tight ship which inevitably occasionally offends people but we appreciated the recycling policies, check in procedures and check out deadline of 11am which suited our need to be back at Cleggan for the 11am ferry. 

 

We were able to park for the day and stay the night for 4 euros which seemed reasonable and enjoyed watching the small freight vessel loading everything from barrels to bananas that would be supplying the island. Passengers travelled on a different vessel that left on time and after a half hour or so was slowly pulling up alongside the quay at Inishbofin. An old Airsteam caravan provided a trendy coffee stop and it was hard to ease ourselves out of the comfy sofas in a sunny spot for a walk round the island. We headed north initially on the West Quarter Loop enjoying the wide range of wild flowers, peaty hills and then descending to the coast to walk along a pebble bank,  eventually stopping by a sea cave for lunch. Blue skies and warm sunshine saw us follow the coast passing offshore rocks and islands, pausing at a memorial to two lads who perished whilst seal watching many years ago and then climbing up to a high point with views back across to the Arran Islands to the south, Clare Island to the north and Croagh Patrick's conical summit to the east. The Doonmore Hotel was nearly our undoing as we enjoyed a couple of pints of cider and underestimated the walk time back for the 5 o'clock ferry. With a few short jogs we were just in time and were back over to Cleggan for a quiet night in the car park after a thoroughly enjoyable day.

 

Kylemore Abbey was well worth a visit and seemed happy to admit us both as seniors so we walked up to the gothic church built by Mitchel Henry to honour the memory of his wife who passed away whilst visiting Egypt in the mid 19th century - that would have been some journey in those days.  His wealth and influence gradually declined and after establishing the large castle, a successful working estate and enormous walled vegetagble garden with numerous glasshouses he sold up to the family that eventually moved on leaving a community of Benedictine Nuns to run the enterprise as a place of worship and sanctuary. A new convent is under construction but sadly we thought the modern styling and extensive use of a particularly bland and almost industrial brick was unlikely to produce anything of significant beauty or merit. We followed the many American and other foreign visitors through the ground floor rooms of the castle surprised at how close you were allowed to the various displays of clothing, artefacts and furnishings. The fully laid out dining room was remarkable and all rooms had views out over the still waters of the lake. A short walk to the gardens saw us in the tea room there for soup and seafood sandwiches which were very well presented before we entered the gardens to gaze out over 12 acres of well tended lawns, borders, vegtables, soft fruits and tree fruits trained against the warm south facing walls all made from brick imported from Glasgow. A couple of the many glasshouses have been restored and the head gardener's smart cottage looked out over the whole plot. A woodland and river walk returned us to the main Abbey - unfortunately the path up the mountain to a small shrine is closed at the moment so we left after several absorbing hours to drive along the impressive Killarey fiord, stopping in the village for water and then following smaller and smaller lanes out to a superb park up on a pebbly strand looking across to both Innishbofin and Clare Island at Fahy. I booked our tickets over to Clare Island online for a 10 percent discount and after a very quiet night we turned up at Roonah Quay for the first sailing of the day.

It was a quick crossing, enlivened by three cyclists in good humour, to the small harbour and we were soon off on a 9 mile circuit of the island which was unexpectedly by far the most peaceful of the four we have visited. The road out to the lighthouse was marked private so we added on a different loop returning eventually to the new and old churches that sat on the south shore. The former had hosted a wedding earlier - we had seen the wedding party at the harbour, whilst the latter contained some lovely ceiling frescoes that had been slowly disappearing in the ever moist conditions. Back at the harbour we had time for one last drink at the community centre before returning to Roonah and then driving round to the windswept surfing beach of Carrownisky where a few brave souls were battling the incoming waves. We walked along the beach as heavy clouds created striking lighting conditions both out to sea and across to Clare before settling in to enjoy some of the smoked mackerel and spend a night sleeping to the constant roar of the surf.

 

 

As forecast today has been wet at times so we shopped in Westport, had a quick walk round and are now on a quiet pier heading towards Achill Island where we hope to ride the Mayo Greenway and add on loops around more of the headlands before heading north again for our final few weeks.

Additional pics at this link.