Wasn’t expecting much from the town, but we found an excellent ‘Gastro Pub’ here – great food and Guinness…

For a Saturday Night, the town is quite pleasant as well!

This was fairly near Castlebar, and was set in lovely grounds.

The museum itself is in a very modern building.

And concentrates on Irish Folk life (mainly peasant life) from the great famine onwards.

A nice bit of culture to break up our journey to Roscommon, where we are spending the next two nights.

We stopped here for lunch – it looked like the main harbour for Westport, though it’s just posh shops and pleasure boats now.

We reached the coast after a fairly long drive along increasingly narrow roads, but it was worth it to reach this almost deserted beach.

As it’s a nice day today, we, yet again followed the Wild Atlantic Way northbound. The mountains and loughs really look super in the sunshine…

First stop were these falls, just above Killary Fjord.

We then followed along the north edge of the fjord, again with super views.

After a pub lunch, we followed the town heritage walk. It was very difficult to find information on this, and some of the navigation was hard work for someone who doesn’t know the town, but well worth it.

First up was ‘The Shrubbery’, a small patch of land by the river, with a little bridge leading to a tiny island.

Further up, the route crosses the river with a bridge by some waterfalls.

At certain times of the year, returning Salmon leap up the falls.

The walk goes under a railway bridge for the abandoned Galway to Clifden narrow gauge railway.

This is the site of the town workhouse burial ground.

Then back to town for a cup of tea. Two minutes after we got to the café, the heavens opened for the next shower!

This is only a mile or so from where we are staying. From the car park, a path leads along by a river, and eventually a tower looms out from the trees.

The path continues on, then doubles back on itself to approach the castle entrance.

The cows are safely outside the castle walls…

The main tower has been renovated, with 3 accessible levels inside.

And an excellent ‘new’ roof.

An enjoyable visit.

We continued following the Wild Atlantic Way along the Connemara coast today. Not as spectacular as some of our coastal drives around Ireland, but a fascinating landscape in the southern section.

The southern section is an odd mixture of boulders and autumn colours.

We stopped at Patrick Pearse’s Cottage, complete with a hi-tech visitor center opened last year. All geared to this chap who was dedicated to encouraging the Irish Language, and was executed by the British for his involvement in the Irish Revolution. Nice cottage and surroundings though!

Then to a beach for lunch, but it was so windy that we ate our sandwich in the car!

More nice beaches further on, but again, too wet and windy to explore…

Then on to Derrigimlaug, famous for the landing spot (in a bog) of Alcock and Brown’s first transatlantic flight, also the site of Marconi’s first morse code transmission across the Atlantic. Although all the buildings have now gone, this was a vast ‘industrial’ site with power stations, aerials, a narrow gauge railway and even a social club.

Then to the famous ‘Sky Road’ drive near Clifden, a spectacular drive along a peninsula.

Wonderful views, but very wet and windy!

The photos don’t really do justice to today’s route…

Much better views on the return journey across the Lough

An interesting day!

This is a now a vast posh hotel complex by Lough Corrib.

But with nice gardens that we were permitted to visit.

Wearing cagoules and rucksacks, we felt very out of place among the American tourists staying at the hotel!