Clew Bay Hotel Westport

... twinned&#8221; with Achill, and the woman wanted to know how anyone from Achill would wind up in Cleveland.<br><br>We continued our drive along the north coast of the island and into the hamlet of Bunnacurry. We decided to look for a b&amp;b, and we saw one as we drove by. The Hillside B&amp;B was next to the Achill Hill Lodge, and I found they were joint ventures. Instead of putting us in her &#8220;old fashioned&#8221; home, Bernie took us into the lodge that is owned ...

... bare feet and let me tell you it is not a smooth walk. Hundreds of people even go so far as to walk 21 miles from Ballintubber Abbey where St. Patrick baptized the people all the way to the mountain and then climb it... IN ONE DAY....crazy. One of my roommates says that she and her dad climb the mountain at least 2 times a year and she has seen old woman upwards of 80 climbing the mountain in just their bare feet...<br><br>Me and my group ...

... 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 ...

... priests of this church have never stopped preaching. They would tell the king that they had shut it down, but every day they still held mass. When The church was in too poor shape to use they held mass in the fields. The priests even had to dress like women at times to go out and bless graves and such in public...now thats perseverance! It was a good first stop on our weekend journey<br> <br> click on the pictures to view captions about them!

Guess who's is here??? The positive thinker...ME..sister Katie...I get clean clothes tonight..although I can honestly say I wish it had been Dad's that had arrived.. I can wear Care's clothes and he looks funny in them.<br><br>Great time today...I am definitely going to look into being adopted by the Irish..Love THEM.<br><br>Got to hear Irish music and see the countryside. Eating an drinking our way...just like the Irish have done for years..all 3 sisters tried ...

... credit cards for a quick lunch. <br>We continued on to our castle adventure.<br> When we finally arrived at Ashford Castle we were amazed at the beautiful setting the approach is a long drive through a forest, you cross a bridge and there it is, the castle. The service is definitely 5 star. The entire staff was there to make us comfortable and make sure our experience was beyond our expectations. And it was beyond our ...

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

... we did, but perhaps we're a little paranoid after previous experiences. All of the connections were actually unbelievably smooth.<br><br>We had lunch at the airport and then picked up our rental car. It's called a VW Jetta, but is nothing like the US equivalent of that make. The trunk was perfectly sized to fit all of our gear, which was a pleasant surprise. We have a lot of stuff. Initially mapless, we began the drive north toward Westport. A quick ...

... its final descent into the ocean. The gray fields ahead of me and the sinking ball of color behind me. I kept stealing glances to see the sun dip behind Dun Aengus and extinguish in the churning sea. Then I sped off over the gravelly road towards the other end of the island just fast enough to lose my two canine friends. Despite being tired they kept pace and I finally had to outrace them going downhill towards the hostel. There I was greeted by two Dutch roommates who ...

... of the hills on our right to the waterline on our left. There was next to no greenery in sight, no way for the barren and windswept terrain to be used to grow crops or for grazing livestock. That people were desperate enough to even try to farm here was real proof to me of the reality of the struggles and desperation to survive on the land during the potato famine. <br><br> We stopped for the night in Westport, the ...