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Westport to Clifden by way of Connemara.
We drove the scenic route from Westport, County Mayo to Clifden, County Galway, going through the small village of Louisburgh and following R335 through the Doolough Pass, hugging the lake of Doolough, a sublime and majestic landscape in the middle of the Murrisk Mountains, to the small village of Leenane at the tip of Killary Harbour, Ireland's only fjord. The Doolough Pass was used by starving people of Ireland during the Great Famine, who walked through this harsh environment to reach Delphi where relief was said to be had, but they were turned away and hundreds died on the walk back. We passed the Famine Walk Memorial on the side of the road near the lake, lending a haunting quality to the beauty surrounding us.
At Leenane, we turned onto N59 and made our way to the Connemara National Park, one of six national parks in Ireland. Connemara National Park is over 2,000 hectacres of varied landscape from mountains of metamorphic rock, quartzite, schists, and green and grey marbles, to grasslands, heaths, bogs, and woods. Much of the park encompasses the Twelve Bens mountain range. The park was established in the 1980s to conserve and protect the unique landscape of Connemara. There is a herd of pure bred Connemara Ponies protected within the park and Irish red deer are being reintroduced to Connemara. Although I didn't see any deer, this pony and her foal were happily grazing on the low banks of Diamond Hill, one of the Twelve Bens. I took one of the shorter trails, less demanding than our hike on Croagh Patrick, and skirted the lower slope of Diamond Hill before dipping into the woodland trail. It was just enough up hill and down slope to stretch out my sore muscles from yesterday's excursion.
Tonight, we sleep in Clifden, another happy town, in a happy B&B, a house 150 years old, surrounded by gardens of fairy tale description. Tomorrow we're off to Dingle Bay by way of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher!
We drove the scenic route from Westport, County Mayo to Clifden, County Galway, going through the small village of Louisburgh and following R335 through the Doolough Pass, hugging the lake of Doolough, a sublime and majestic landscape in the middle of the Murrisk Mountains, to the small village of Leenane at the tip of Killary Harbour, Ireland's only fjord. The Doolough Pass was used by starving people of Ireland during the Great Famine, who walked through this harsh environment to reach Delphi where relief was said to be had, but they were turned away and hundreds died on the walk back. We passed the Famine Walk Memorial on the side of the road near the lake, lending a haunting quality to the beauty surrounding us.
At Leenane, we turned onto N59 and made our way to the Connemara National Park, one of six national parks in Ireland. Connemara National Park is over 2,000 hectacres of varied landscape from mountains of metamorphic rock, quartzite, schists, and green and grey marbles, to grasslands, heaths, bogs, and woods. Much of the park encompasses the Twelve Bens mountain range. The park was established in the 1980s to conserve and protect the unique landscape of Connemara. There is a herd of pure bred Connemara Ponies protected within the park and Irish red deer are being reintroduced to Connemara. Although I didn't see any deer, this pony and her foal were happily grazing on the low banks of Diamond Hill, one of the Twelve Bens. I took one of the shorter trails, less demanding than our hike on Croagh Patrick, and skirted the lower slope of Diamond Hill before dipping into the woodland trail. It was just enough up hill and down slope to stretch out my sore muscles from yesterday's excursion.
Tonight, we sleep in Clifden, another happy town, in a happy B&B, a house 150 years old, surrounded by gardens of fairy tale description. Tomorrow we're off to Dingle Bay by way of the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher!
Incredible pictures, Louise. This is great!
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