Tuesday, September 10,
2013
Yesterday we traveled east from Galway; today we went west.
Our goal was to explore the Connemara region on the back roads. The roads were
very narrow, and the scenery so awe-inspiring that the small “loops” we planned
took much more time than we thought. We did circle the Roundstone bog and the
Connemara national park, where the “twelve bens” (smallish mountains) stood prominently
in the background. In the process, we stopped at Roundstone Village where
Malachy Kearns, master Bodhrain maker, has his shop. A bodhrain (in Irish, pronounced
bauw-rahn) is a Celtic drum. His
instruments are in great demand world-wide. Of course, I couldn’t resist buying
one.
The terrain today was unlike anything we had seen so far –
rocky and hilly, sprinkled with little lakes. It was a bleak day, which seemed
to fit the mood of the place. Clifden is a charming little town where we
stopped for tea before we headed north, passing through the village of Letterfrack and
the Kylemore Abbey – our last stop before heading home to Galway.
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| One of dozens of small lakes |
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| Kylemore Abbey |
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| Malacky Kearns bodhrain workshop |
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| Narrow roads and rocky landscape |
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| More lakes and rocks |
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| Some of the "Twelve Bens" in the background |
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| The village of Clifden |
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| View north from Roundstone. An inlet of the Atlantic Ocean |
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