Goodbye Ireland, Hello UK

 We’ve had such an amazing visit here with Robert’s family in the South and a visit to the home where his cousin, Merrily lived. The Irish certainly live up to their reputation of being friendly and hospitable. It’s really hard to leave.

Thanks to all the family we’ve seen parts of Ireland that are not on the usual tourist trails. Exploring on our own gave us a real chance to meet Irish folks in the countryside and to experience life as the regular folks live it.  We feel so lucky!

Our new friend Paddy came over to us in the pub and we had a wonderful chat about his visit to Kylemore Abbey in Galway.  A definite must see on our next trip! He also shared the history of Ireland with us in one hour. He did confess that this was all recently presented on TV and therefore was fresh in his mind.  He was so nice to just come and sit with us and get to know us and we him.

Here are a few photos from our last days around Strokestown.  The fiddler sculpture in the grass is on the highway outside Longford.  They are said to be the home of the most number of Irish fiddlers.  Must be their old reputation because when Robert asked a pub bar tender if they had live Traditional Irish music, he said he would like to but wasn’t able to find any musicians.

These are views again of the mountain that we stayed on.  If you are wondering what these windmills sound like, they sound like washing machines. This last photo is the view from Merrily’s painting studio which is at the back of her house.

This is another small town - probably just this one row of shops along the rural highway.  So lovely.

Here are a few more random shots of Ros Common castle and another remnant of a castle or church in the countryside.

Most people in this part of Ireland burn peat to heat their homes.  It’s been out lawed to cut peat, but we still saw plenty of it on the road.

We’re on the ferry to Holyhead Wales and a short drive to Robert’s cousin Danny and wife Maureen. All the family we’ve visited so far are on Robert’s mother’s side. Danny is a cousin from his father’s side. We enjoyed a few days with them a couple of years ago and look forward to seeing them again.