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| At Kylemore Abbey |
The trip out
This trip was during the girls' half-term break from school. Our original idea was to drive to Hollyhead in Wales, take the ferry to Dublin, and then drive to our destination in Ireland. It was appealing until we looked at the overall travel time and the constraints that catching the ferry put on our schedule. Instead we decided to drive to Liverpool, fly to Knock, and then drive to our destination in Ireland. That destination wound up being a little village called Kilkieran on the Connemara peninsula, about an hour west of Galway. This was also a really good idea on paper. Except that the Hertz office didn’t have the GPS we were counting on to direct us to a grocery store en route, and also to direct us for most of our driving. And also except that we were in the west of Ireland away from the main highways. This meant most of our trip was on back roads that made the ones in Derbyshire look wide and straight. Ultimately it was a long day, but not a bad one. We found a LIDL grocery store in Castlebar with a wide open parking lot where the girls and I could play tag while Kristine shopped. A former secondee had given us an atlas of Ireland, which we had brought with us. It wound up being worth more than its weight in gold. Maggie, our landlady, graciously met us with a warm fire even though we didn’t pull into Kilkieran until almost 10 pm. Since we were that much farther west in the GMT time zone, the sun didn't set until after 11. The extended daylight for our drive helped us make the trip without getting lost.
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| Boarding the plane in Liverpool |
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| This atlas saved our bacon. Thanks, Steve Frey! |
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| Our drive from Knock Airport to Kilkieran |
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| In exchange for enduring narrow, windy roads, we got to enjoy the Irish country landscape |
The cottage
The cottage was another AirBnB find. Its combination character, solitary location, and beautiful views is pretty high up there on our list of favorite places we've stayed (maybe not as high as the cottage in Wales). The cottage was run down for many years, and then the subject of a dream to rebuild with traditional stone walls and a thatch roof. The dream withered and the cottage was vacant. Maggie's husband restored it, keeping the front of the cottage with stone walls, and putting concrete walls out the back for the kitchen, dining room, and extra bedroom. The cottage was set back a couple hundred metres from the road up a gravel driveway, and surrounded by fields cut through with stone walls. The driveway and fields provided ample opportunity to run around and explore. Unfortunately we left the girls' wellies at home in Melbourne. The previous week had been rainy, and we had rain about half the days we were there. The fields already had lots of boggy ground. The rain made those boggy fields even muddier.
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| Front view of the cottage |
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| The living room, with fireplace, was a favorite place to relax |
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| Close-up of the fire. It's burning peat. |
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| Morning card game on a day in. I think I lost. It's becoming a theme. |
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| View from the back of the cottage |
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| View overlooking the cottage toward the sea |
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| Stream behind the cottage |
Day out – Aran Islands (Inishmore)
We spent one day exploring Inishmore, which is the largest of the Aran Islands. I knew about Inishmore from an ethnographic film in graduate school (it was one of the early ethnographies that made Celtic peoples of exotic interest to anthropologists). Kristine knew about it because Aran sweaters are well known in the knitting community. The ferry ride to the island was a bit hair-raising for a couple of us who get motion sick, and fun for those us who could endure the lack of balance that the rolling sea imposed if you tried to walk around. No permanent harm came from the motion sickness. Charis entertained herself on the way back with an anthropomorphic rock that made her forget her motion sickness. Inishmore has some residents, but it looks like the island industry is pretty much tourism. There are a couple of routes to see the sites on the island. And you can get there by bicycle, horse-drawn carriage, or bus. We joined the hordes getting bicycles. You walk to one of the bike shops, pay your rental fee, and then fight the crowds to get a bike. Having grabbed a bike, you then elbow your way to the large bin that has helmets and hope there's one in your size. Not a problem if you're a 7 or 9 yr old. A bit of a problem if you're a 4 yr old since your head isn't quite big enough for standard small helmets. Or if you're 6'5" since your head is a big big for standard large helmets. Or if you're an adult woman with a pony tail since helmets don't really like pony tails. So much for modeling bike safety to our girls. It was more of a "do as I say, not as I do."
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| We drove from Kilkieran to Rossaveel, then took the ferry to Kilronan. |
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| Our ferry |
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| Big sister keeping little sister happy on the ride - this is a good thing |
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| Cheerful smiles as we left Kilronan at the beginning of our bike ride |
The bike ride was a good idea on paper that almost backfired. At issue was the statement on the flyer that the ride from Kilronan to Meenabool was short, at which point you could get refreshments and hike to the ruins at Dun Anghosa. What the flyer didn't say was that there were two routes you could take. And that one of them involved lots of hills and would take well over the supposed 20 min. Guess which route the chump father made his family take? Charis, who was riding a tagalong behind my bike, was happy. She provided cheerful commentary about the ride, how much fun it was, and how sometimes her mother and sister had to stop on hills while she kept going. Clare, who was in a trailer behind Kristine's bike, was mostly happy. But see my previous comment about oversized helmets (we finally let her take it off if she promised to stay inside the trailer, which she did mostly). She got a little bored, but was generally a good sport. I think she would have liked to ride the tagalong. Maybe on our next family ride. Kristine was a good sport about pulling Clare. Especially since the hills on the outbound route were not what she agreed to when I suggested a family ride. Elise was also a good sport. She let me know she didn't like the apparently neverending hills,and that she didn't appreciate peanut gallery comments about the easy ride coming from the tagalong seat behind her father.
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| The highlighted route was our way out. The coastal route was our way back. Google says they're the same. NOT. |
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| A rare flat stretch on the ride out. |
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| The more common road site - a hill. |
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| And another hill. |
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| We saw lots of stone structures along the road, including this tomb. |
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| This stallion kindly stood up and posed for us as we cycled past his field. |
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| Success! Ride from Kilronan to Meenabol complete. |
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| Eye candy for Kristine - knitted goods in Meenabool |
The kind owner of the cafe in Meenabool saw us in line, directed us to a table, and pulled out paper and crayons for the girls while Kristine and I waited to order our food. Dutifully refreshed, we decided to skip the hour hike up to Dun Anghosa because we didn't think we'd gave time to get back to the port and catch our return ferry. We made our return cycle route along the coastal road. Which involved less hills. Not surprisingly it went much quicker and involved cheerful family members. We made one more stop just outside town, as there was a decent sized playground. The girls and I stayed there while Kristine walked into town to look at the Arran Wool Shop. We had fun. Kristine came back in a bit of a huff. "The sweaters are machine-knit. I'm hearing all these poor tourists talk about buying multiples and shipping them back to the US. For over €100 each. And they're machine-knit!"
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| This one's included purely because of Clare's expression |
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| Refreshments for the ride back |
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| Remember what I said about 4 yr olds and helmets? |
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| Or 4 yr olds and lack of helmets. |
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| Making our way back along the coastal road |
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| Cows. We're remarkable cows. And wherever we go, it's a fabulous show. Yes you know we are cows. |
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| It may be machine-knit, but the pattern can still be an idea to consider making. |
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| More knitting eye-candy |
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| Large zipline with the ocean in the background. What's not to like? |
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| Role reversal - Kristine got to rest after pulling Clare for most of the day |
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| Playing on the beach while we waited for the ferry back to Rossaveel, under the watchful eye of a friendly border collie. |
Day out – Galway
We did make it into Galway for one (slightly rainy) day. The trip was partly utilitarian. Kilkieran is isolated enough that a decent-sized grocery store is a good 45 minute drive. Which gets you to Galway if you go east. The highlight for me was our lunch at McCambridge's. The food was fine, although not outstanding (my fault for getting a cheese platter instead of a real meal). It was the second day in a row that we ate out peacefully as a family. We all sat down at the table. We ordered food. The girls occupied themselves with coloring books while we waited for the food. We ate. We got up and left. It was more than a bit exhilarating.
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| Our route for the day. We drove to Galway through Oughterard (partly just because of the name) and returned through Spiddal. |
Day out – Kylemore Abbey
Our other big day trip was to Kylemore Abbey. Interesting history this abbey has. Evidently there was a stretch of time when Catholic education was not allowed in Ireland. Some Benedictine nuns from Ireland set up an abbey and boarding school at Ypres in Belgium, which Irish families would send their daughters to. The abbey and school were destroyed during WWI, relocated to Kylemore in 1920s, and took over an estate that had seen its heyday during the late 1800s but since fallen into disrepair (by all accounts, Mitchell Henry, the Englishman who bought the estate in 1850, was quite a progressive and considerate landlord, although subsequent owners were not). The school continued operating until 2010, and the abbey is still there. The iffy weather restricted us from doing as much walking as we would have liked, but we enjoyed the bits of the abbey that we were able to see.
Day in - the hike and the beach
We'd like to go to the beach. Can you please tell us how to find it?
Yes, it's very easy. You want the third beach. That's the nicest one. Drive out of Kilkieran until the road with the statue of the Virgin Mary. That's the road you want.
We had trouble finding the beach Maggie told us about; the one with the statue on the road. Can you tell me how to find it?
Yes, it's very easy. Drive out of Kilkieran until the pub. The road after the pub goes to a lovely beach, but that's not the one you want. Keep going another mile. There's a road that will take you past the statue to the beach you want.
We just aren't having any luck following verbal directions.
Would you like me to send GPS coordinates?
Yes, please.
Such comes from staying in a small village with friendly people. Anthropologists get lots of mileage out of studying how people communicate tacit knowledge. Fortunately Maggie's daughter, with whom I'd managed our AirBnB booking, was available via text from Barcelona. She gave me the explicit knowledge that her mother and the friendly store-keeper were giving me tacitly. It was a lovely beach, and we enjoyed exploring it. Once we finally found it.
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| Past the pub is a road that goes to a lovely beach. Don't take it. |
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| About a mile farther along is another road. That's the one you want. See the statue? Nope. Me neither. |
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| It's a road. May we run on it, please? |
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| Exploring the beach |
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| Exploring again a couple days later at low tide |
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| I confess to some Chitty Chitty Bang-bang thoughts about cars, beaches, oceans, and pirates. No such luck for us. |
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| Hero shot #1 |
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| Hero shot #2 |
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| Hero shot #3 |
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| Clare decided rocks make good shelter from chilly wind. |
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| Her sisters decided she was right. |
Our other "day in" activity was a hike that started from the pub we drove past to get to the beach. Fortunately the book we used, which described hikes in that part of Connemara, included both the name of the pub and a map of the hike. 6 km (3.7 miles) is the longest hike we've done as a family. The girls did a stellar job. Lots of walking ahead of us, and then some games of tag on the back half of the route. Some comments about the first half of the hike having lots of uphill, but not many. I think all the uphill cycling on Inishmore took it out of them.
Our flight out of Knock wasn't until 7 pm, so we took our time on the drive north from Kilkieran. We stopped at Ballintubber Abbey, which was founded in 1216 (there is an older church on the grounds which legend says goes back to the time of St. Patrick). It was good idea, except that we pulled up to discover the main church holding a wedding. We did some exploring of the grounds, held a brief "what are you thankful for on this vacation" discussion in one of the hermit huts, and headed north. We made a brief stop at the National Museum of Irish Country Life in Turlough. In hindsight we should have just come here. Admission is free, and the grounds have quite an extensive layout of trails and buildings that let you learn about Irish country life. As it was, we stopped long enough to eat a snack and climb some trees. Then it was on to the airport for an uneventful flight to Liverpool and drive home to Melbourne.
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| Front view of the abbey and some of the ruins |
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| The girls asked to sit on the hill in the cemetery and watch for the wedding party. We saw the front of the abbey, but no wedding party. |
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| Monastic ruins at the back of the abbey |
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| The abbey's extensive "stations of the cross" walk and accompanying stone sculptures provided plenty of chances to explore |
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| The girls got lots of good rolling in on this hill |
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| I've hit each vacation in 2015 tired. This one set the record so far. Tired body plus melancholy mind = melancholy Shawn. This stone was an encouragement. |
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| Cemetery behind the abbey |
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| This little hovel didn't have much explanation with it, and I couldn't find much online. But we had fun exploring. |
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| This house at the Museum of Irish Country Life was built using traditional methods and materials |
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| Tree to climb - welcome after a long day in the car |
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| This double rainbow greeted us when we left the airport at Liverpool to drive home. |
Final reflections
Other than the trips to and from the US, we've bounded our travel time pretty tightly since arriving in the UK. This was the first trip that involved more than 4 hrs of travel to and from our destination. It was also the first time that we've consistently had days out which involved more than an hour in the car. Everyone handled it well. It opens up opportunities for day trips that take some driving to reach (we went to Legoland in mid-June as a day trip; partly because the time in Ireland made me comfortable we could handle it), and for vacations with more distant destinations. I'm looking forward to exploring what that means we can do. As of right now (June 2015), we would love to go back to this cottage in Connemara next year when our things are in transit to the US. We shall see.
