II Day 1: Highlights: Scenic Fly-Over the Aran Islands, Lovely Town of Cong, Sheep Dog Demonstration, Overnight Stay on the Aran Island of Inishmore
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Up, breakfast in the large dining room, finish packing, meet the rest of the tour group in the Wynn's Lounge. Brief talk, take gear outside, load it into the van and start the tour.
We fought our way west out of Dublin with Emily giving a running tutorial on the place. Eventually we got onto the M4 motorway going westward. At one point Emily asked if anyone had connections to the area. I told her "Moate" and the family names; she got out a map and plotted. We got off the motorway and went through the town of Moate, then back onto the motorway. That was a nice diversion. Moate's larger than I thought.
We continued out to Galway and went around it. Then out into the mountain area NW of Galway. We drove around in the mist and rain, then went to Joyce Country Dogs. We de-coached and went up to his place. He greeted us nicely and gave us a briefing on Border Collie sheepdogs. There were several dogs in kennels and six puppies running around wanting to be petted. There were also eight or so sheep way up the hill behind his place. He selected a dog (one halfway through training) and sent her off.
That dog climbed that steep hill in a minute and started rounding up the sheep. The proprietor gave some whistle instructions and the dog obeyed them. He said he could command the dog even if it were out of sight, and that he could trust the dog just to be sent off and bring back some sheep. The dog herded the sheep down the hill, then across the bottom of the place, through some practice gates, then into a paddock and back out.
Then he had the dog bring him a sheep. He grabbed the sheep and hoisted it over the fence and held it in position. He withdrew a pair of shearing scissors and sheared the sheep. He said the sheep would enjoy having been sheared because the warmer weather is here. He put the sheep back over the fence and it ran off.
It was a great performance. Part of it was filmed by an Irish nature program for TV presentation later.
We came back to the south to the shore west of Galway, to Connemara Airport the home of AirArann. We went in with our day-luggage (leaving our larger carry-on luggage with our van due to weight limitations). We and our bags were weighed. A cute little twin-engine piston-driven aircraft pulled up to the terminal. We were called by name to be placed in certain seats in the craft (for balance purposes, I suppose). Our group had the rear eight seats of ten.
The little BN-2 started up and scurried to the end of the runway as another one was coming in. It buzzed and snarled in preparation, then zipped down the runway and took off. Eight minutes later we landed on Arann Island, absolutely the shortest flight I've ever flown. No drinks service. We alighted and waited for the other BN-2 to arrive with the rest of the group. John the friendly van driver on the island took us to our B&B, which appears to be brand-new and purpose-built. Extremely efficient heating, very unusual.
John will return tomorrow to give us a tour of the island, then we'll fly another eight minutes back to the mainland.
We settled in the room and walked down to the Pier House overlooking the harbor for dinner. The place was nice, staff efficient, and the food was very good. A bottle of shiraz was had with D's steak and my chicken.
We took another hike on the way back, into a stiff breeze, to the B&B. Now we're doing chores and reading and settling
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II Day 2: II: Highlights: Inishmore Island Tour, Iron Age Fort of Dun Aengus, Aughnanure Castle, Town of Roundstone
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Up, breakfast in the B&B (excellent), and wait for John.
John O'Donnell gave us a very thorough tour of the island. The major part of that was to turn us loose to walk out to the 7,000 year old fort that backs up to a cliff of the very same material as the Cliffs of Moher, about 20 miles away over the water. Since we stayed at Ballyvaughn near the cliffs on the Go South tour three years ago, it's like we're picking up where we left off. But the wind was up and the threat of rain was present, so we didn't walk out to the old fort, choosing instead to do some shopping.
D took advantage of this time to get several gifts from this unique place that separates Galway Bay from the Atlantic Ocean. Then John continued the tour and dropped us off at the Air Arann terminal. The little buzzer took eight of us in one trip and the other buzzer went out for the remainder.
Emily cranked up the minibus and away we went to Aughnanure Castle, a 15th century tower castle that was built by the Flaherty tribe when they had control of the area. I'll have to put in a link here, since i can't describe it all.
After that we went up the road, passing the same intersection we used yesterday after watching the border collie demo.. A hour later, we pulled into Roundstone, was out on a peninsula jutting into the Atlantic. Very picturesque town, one street, harbor, and a great view of the mountains across the water.
We were assigned rooms in Vaughan's Hotel. After settling we went out to dinner at one of the several pubs, the Shamrock. Several people were there waiting for the Ireland-Italy game tonight and the restaurant part was full, but we got a little table and ate well. Ireland must win tonight or they're out of the playoffs. Roundstone Ale is quite good.
After dining we patronized the bar at Vaughan's for a drink, then up to the room to do chores and watch the game. While doing these, we watched Ireland win over Italy. Great joy all over the Republic.
Very weak internet here.
