Breaffy House Resort Castlebar

... brought back on the first train. Then in 1937, ten young men died in a fire in the village of Kirkintilloch. Their remains were transported back on the last train to Achill. (Information from the Achill guide) We had a few sober moments reading the names on their stones.

We did go to Lavelle’s bar and opted for soup and sandwiches there rather than drive farther for dinner. The barmaid’s brother and sister live near Cleveland, and one of the regulars has ...

... at some point and make it all the way to the peak.

When we got down we stopped at the Irish Famine Memorial which was really interesting. It is a large metal ship, but its covered with skeletons in memory of all the people who died on "the coffin ships" when they were emigrating out of Ireland. It was a pretty moving sight and I am glad that we stopped there....

Alot of these pictures have the same title, but they are different

... and given 7,000 acres. Still a lot, but not nearly as much or as good of land as they had. The Inside was furnished as it would have been in the 1900's (we werent allowed to take pictures inside) and got to see how the landlord would conduct business with his tenants...by hiding behind a secret bookcase and having an agent do everything! The grounds were absolutely beautiful too. There is a large lake ...

1st stop Ballintubber Abbey...

This Abbey has been around for a while to say the least....It is here that St. Patrick baptized the people of the area in 441 A.D.. There is a bit of lore to how it came to be
in the modern state it is now. It was said that the clergy of the church took in the prince of Turloch because he was fleeing the vengeance of Turloch's queen who wanted her own son to sit the throne. The clergy of the ...

... pudding this morning..Sister Leigh said it tasted like dog, I thought it tasted like a biscuit that had been laying next to a sausage...Sister Carolyn thought it was a cross between a snausage and a bisuit....maybe Dad wasn't so far off that dog thing...

I am having a great time...looking up even more that I have my clothes...

sister carolyn here...all good...everyone still getting along...funny people on bus the first day two ladies late and we ...

... the grounds after breakfast. We saw people taking falcon lessons while we wandered up and down the garden paths. Strangely though we did not see any small animals at all.
Eventually we had to check out and get on the road to our next adventure. We stopped by in the village next to the castle, Cong. It's half in Co. Mayo and half in Co. Galway. The river that flows into the lake rises in Cong. Next stop Galway City.

My bag has been packed. And re-packed. And unpacked. And squished.
I've informed the hotel of my late arrival.
I've got (some) foreign cash.
My electrical batteries are charged.
My print outs are in a waterproof folder in a waterproof bag.


Agh!

... stoned streets lined with quaint little shops and pubs) to the bus/train station. Our plan was to go to a little town called Cong, and travel to Knock (a place where Our Lady appeared). We found however, that because it was Sunday, no buses ran directly to Cong…only to a town six miles north, called Ballinrobe. Here, our company decided to split: Stevie and I to go to Cong (somehow…), and Mikey, Becky, and ...

... heat and became very cold. Toes numb, and hands unable to shift, we stopped in Leenaum for a warm-up. The big pot of tea was so nice, but didn’t completely do it’s job, as I was still shivering as we left.

Thankfully the headwind had died down by that time, but the rain had not. Even more depressing was the scenery. Most of the time I could not see through my glasses, or my heady was bowed ...

... It was not easy to find it at that time of the night, and we decided to take the first vacancy we could find. We were lucky to find some kind of B&B/Hostel that I can't remember the name. It seemed to be closed, but someone kindly answered the bell. We were saved.