Sept 7 Achill Head Hike (Day 346)
A beautiful day for a hike! We headed out of the cottage and down a few lanes out onto the moors towards a headland.
A beautiful day for a hike! We headed out of the cottage and down a few lanes out onto the moors towards a headland.
On our drive back to Achill Island from Galway we stopped in the small town of Clifden and found these ruins of a relatively ‘young’ castle outside of town. Built in 1835, it didn’t last very long for a castle!
At one point the castle was a school for young Irish girls training to be maids for the “Big Houses” of the English or Irish gentry landlords.
The 5 of us Fallon and extended family took a trip to Galway to experience the trad (traditional) music scene there.
After lunch we joined a city walking tour to learn some history of the city, including visiting a section of the medieval city wall preserved within a modern shopping mall! Much more scenic is the short 3.7 mile River Corrib that flows from Lough Corrib to Galway Bay through Galway City.
The harmonica player also did several Irish step-dance sets!
Robert spent the day on another adventure in London, visiting the Tower Bridge and the nearby attractions!
In 1968 the London Bridge which was opened in 1831, was sold to an entrepreneur who reconstructed it at Lake Havasu City in Arizona in 1971! A new London Bridge, in London, was constructed and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973.
The Tower Bridge is supposedly more impressive than the London Bridge!
After a tour of the bridge from below and above, Robert continued his walk around London.
We went for a late morning swim at Keem Strand in a light mist and cool breeze.
In spring the waters here are frequented by basking sharks that in the past were hunted for their valuable oil.
After our swim we decided to climb the cliff above the beach.
On the right in the above picture is Croaghaun mountain towering over the valley and sweeping down to Keem Strand. On the opposite side of the mountain the tallest cliffs in Ireland plunge down to the Atlantic, cliffs that are three times higher than the more accessible and tourist-mobbed Cliffs of Moher!
Our adventures today deserved a reward! The smallest pub on Achill Island and one of the smallest in Ireland!