Harbour Mill Westport

... brother in Cleveland. It was fun to talk with them for a while before we went back to the lodge. Because it had wireless, I was able to upload my blog, and I worked on that for a while. We had some tea and biscuits and went down to our room to finish watching some TV. I had told Bernie not to turn the heat on for just the two of us, and there was a little chill in the room. Once we got under the very heavy duvet, though, we were more than warm enough, and knew we would sleep well.

3rd stop Croagh Patrick,<br><br>The mountain of Croagh Patrick is supposed to be where St. Patrick climbed and fasted for 40 days and 40 nights like Jesus. There is a church on the summit and hundreds of people a day climb to its peak. It has become a pilgramige to the people of Ireland and it is an especially big ordeal to the people in Mayo. Every year on one day in July about 30,000 people climb to its summit! Many of these people do it in ...

... turlough (which is a shallow limestone lake that fills in the fall and dries up in the spring/summer) that the house overlooks and expansive lawns and gardens.<br><br>There was also a museum that showed us how the people who lived on their land would have lived and how they survived. Definately nowhere close to how the Fitzgerald lived... these are just some of the pictures that I took of the grounds....<br>

... 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 ...

Ok so we drove about two hours in the pouring rain to get to Ashford Castle. The roads were narrow and lined with stone walls. Quite a harrowing ride. We gasped at all the cars coming towards us at top speed. I kept thinking they were in our lane. We stopped in a little village for a break and to have a pint of Guinness. We tucked into a little place that was so quaint and old world. The little old lady behind the bar was ...

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>

... little more than my boyfriend. The guide took us out on the beaches for an exillerating ride and to top it I got to ride my horse, Katie right into the sea. She was hillarious and played in the waves. We galloped with the wind, it was terrific.<br><br>On the 2nd day we rode we decided to take the mountain trek which travels along the base of the Croagh Patrick mountain. Apparently this is a pilgramage route, but we didn't take that route.<br>I had heard ...

... silent and abandoned. The evidence of human activity were evident in several places as the landscape had been dug to extract the peat that was used as heating fuel in village homes. I passed one larger lough that displayed white swans gliding across its wind whipped surface. The sound of water was evident throughout the ride from the gentle waves on the small loughs to small streams burbling on their course. The hills presented themselves the perfect size to traverse as the ...

... set without so much as an &#8216;excuse me&#8217; or &#8216;sorry, dear&#8217; coming from their lips. Once I&#8217;d been shoulder-charged back outside by a running maul of old ducks, I was going to take issue with Nanna about the disgrace of her generation but I just couldn&#8217;t keep up with her &#8211; the wind was pushing her along so fiercely she was power walking like an Olympian. <br><br> After another ...