We shared the hostel last night with a couple of very weird French families who all seemed to sport concert T-shirts of which Neil Young was the headline act. Enough said. The breakfast period was played out like a pantomime. They all sat in different areas of the dining area and proceeded to walk over to each other and whisper in each others ears on a frequent basis. There was a whole lot of conversation going on, but it was all one on one and all whispered. Not a single word was said in an audible tone, however much of it seemed rather agitated. It was like musical chairs watching them go around and around. They were either up to something dodgy, or they were just weird.
Leaving Sligo we found that there was a nice part of town, unfortunately we didn’t get to experience it. We did a bit of a drive by Strandhill Beach which seemed very nice, but at that time of the morning the surfing crowd were just arriving and getting kitted up. Brave souls that they must be, it looks very cold out there.
CARROWMORE : County Sligo : Republic of Ireland
One of the four major passage tomb sites in Ireland
Our first real destination today was Carrowmore Megalithic Cemetery. Reputedly the largest Stone Age Cemetery in Ireland, and the second biggest in Europe. However we all know that size isn’t everything. As you look around this site, everywhere you look you will see small circles of stones, dolmens and mounds, there are about 60 within the immediate area and many many more beyond. What is nice about this site is that it isn’t over commercialized. Some may say that it is a little under whelming, others might say that it is better because it has largely been left alone. The exception is a large passage tomb that has been refurbished and reconstructed, giving a cutaway/cross section access to the tomb with the small stone dolmen in its centre, within which the original cremated human remains were found. These tombs and remains have been dated at about 4200 BC, that in itself is impressive. As you look around at the surrounding farm and notice the very large rocks in the stone walls, you can’t help but wonder how many more of these tombs have ended up unknowingly within stone walls and as building materials.
ERREW ABBEY : County Mayo : Republic of Ireland
Franciscan monastery. There are 22 brothers buried in the cemetery.
Our next stop was Errew Abbey. It was another interesting search taking us down a variety of roads that could be more accurately described as farm roads. They were narrow, winding, impregnable hedges down each side, a couple of ruts with grass growing down the middle. We eventually found the place, having accidentally driven through a couple of farm gates, and found the farmer strolling after us to tell us we were on private property. Evidently the only reason the gates were open was because he was herding some horses through. I don’t think our white car bouncing over the ruts did anything to calm the nerves of the horses. After extracting ourselves an appropriate distance and apologizing profusely to the farmer (which he accepted with a repeated ‘No problem’), we walked over his farm, past the self same horses, the 800 metres to the ruins of the abbey. It was a beautifully serene spot, surrounded on three sides by Lough Conn. We can understand the 13th century monks wanting to settle here. Back to the present, imagine being a kid growing up on a farm that has a 13th century Abbey sitting in its back paddock. ‘I’m the King of the castle …’ would take on a whole new meaning in those childhood games.
ACHILL ISLAND : County Mayo : Republic of Ireland : Population 2,700 : Area 148km2
A bridge connecting it to the mainland was built in 1887, The island is 87% peat bog. Manus Sweeney from Achill was hanged by the British in Newport for his part in the 1798 rebellion.
It was then on to Achill Island, once again connected by a main road. On crossing the bridge the first thing that catches your eye is that every shop and business seems to have the name Sweeney attached, ‘Sweeney Super Valu’, ‘Sweeney Hardware’, ‘Sweeney Engineers’, ‘Sweeney …’. My ancestors must have really liked it around here. We’re not sure why because the landscape around here is pretty rough and rugged. It would be a hard land to farm. Some paddocks seem to sprout nothing but rocks and in others their only competition is the heather.
Achill Island is quite a big Island, it has a population of 960 and is Ireland’s largest offshore Island. It has that remote other worldly feel to it with huge areas of blanket bog, large cliffs and even on a beautiful day like today the mists were rolling in. It is what the moorlands of our imaginations is like, cold, lonely and desolate.
We came here for one reason though, we came to see the Slievemore Deserted Village. This was really three villages whose occupants were driven out by starvation by the potato famine. This place serves as a reminded of what a dark blot that time was in Irish history. There were about 65 families living here at that time, and now there are rows of the empty husks of stone houses, the evidence of streets coated in wet bog, the desolation and sadness of what this place represents heightened by the cold mist rolling down the hill, and the graveyard nearby.
From here we headed to our home for the night via the Atlantic Coastal Drive along the Northern edge of the Curraun Penninsula. It is a very rugged coastline with a landscape no less forgiving than what we had seen on Achill Island, only without the mist.
WESTPORT : County Mayo : Republic of Ireland : Population 5200
It was a residence of the pirate chief, Grace O’Malley (Gráinne Ní Mháille), in the mid-to-late 16th century.
It has won the ‘Tidy Town’ status three years out of the last ten years, and is very proud of it.
When we arrived at our Westport accommodation we were impressed by what a difference 24 hours can make. Our Hostess was welcoming, chatty, and more than helpful in every way possible. After settling in we went for a walk down around the quay before heading to a seafood restaurant for dinner. Once again eating fish within sight of the sea.
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